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PATTERNS
OF SOCIAL CHANGE
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1)
Linear models
(aka evolutionary theories/models) |
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Change
is cumulative, nonrepetitive, developmental, usually permanent (Tonnies
theory of change from gemeinschaft to gesellschaft);
2 or more stages; view
broad historical pattern of change in human societies as involving
transition from small, undifferentiated societies with homogeneous
culture to large societies with high degree of structural
differentiation and heterogeneous culture. |
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Lenski’s
macro stage theory or historical development of human societies:
caused by innovations in the technology of economic
production that produced ever larger surplus of material resources
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hunting
and gathering
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pastoral
and horticultural
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agricultural
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industrial
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Urbanization:
involves ancient process of interaction between cities and
surrounding countryside; cities
have 3 distinct characteristics of a marketplace (economic
production), of a centre of political and administrative authority
(political power) and of urban community (community conflict);
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ancient
and medieval cities: community
conflict dealt with peasant tax and rent revolts in countryside,
competing elite groups and dynasties
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commercial
cities: community
conflict dealt with import-export taxes on trade, competition
between merchant families, wages & working conditions for craft
workers and seamen,
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industrial
cities: community
conflict from disadvantaged US farmers, urban factory workers and
industrialists
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corporate
cities: decentralized
industrial production and more service-based economy, postwar
1950’s; community conflict and popular protest was about the urban
community itself, about issues to do with urban decline, i.e. slums,
poverty, jobs, housing, crime and racial discrimination
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world
cities: global economy,
international banking & trade, recent decades;
community conflict deals with old residents and newer
immigrant communities, disparities in taxes and municipal services
between political jurisdictions, foreign investment and capital
flight
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2)
Cyclical models:
change is cyclical and repetitive; expressions history
repeats itself and from French plus
ça change plus c’est the meme chose; classic rise and fall theories
of civilizations; argues important aspects of change are historically
repetitive but what are these important aspects – problem of
selectivity.
E.g.:
some patterns of cyclical change: business cycles,
families, college life.
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Classic
models: |
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Pitirim
Sorokin: initially had
moral cycles of recurring decadence - cycles of idealism (e.g.
Medieval Europe), and then hedonism and materialism (e.g.
contemporary Western societies) with transition periods (e.g.
Rennaissance & Reformation) blending the two in between; |
| Cycles
based on biological models of growth and decay, societies were like
organic systems;
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Contemporary
macro cyclical models:
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political
& economic cycles in US (Phillips): pertains
to inequality and concentration of wealth;
characteristics – free market capitalist expansion and
extraordinary technological creativity, rags to riches myth renewal,
entrepreneurialism, public philosophy of laissez faire, tax cuts,
lower inflation, doubts about role of gov’t, depression in
agriculture, strong financial markets, increasing corporate
restructuring, steady concentration of wealth;
e.g. Gilded Age aka Gay 90's (1890s), Roaring Twenties
followed by Great Depression;
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long
cycles and global change: |
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Kondratieff
cycles of long wave cycles of expansion and contraction in world
economy approx. every 50 years (1830s, 1890s, 1930s,
1990s);
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Chirot’s
theory: repetitive cycles are embedded in longer term
historical eras; had preindustrial cycles (premodern era) and now industrial cycles
(modern era) – cycles begin with new technological invention applied to
production, new profits and economic growth then market saturation
and aging industries lead to economic crisis with high levels of
unemployment, political stress and social disruption, then
development of new economic technologies leads to economic expansion
once again. Describes 4
industrial cycles beginning with industrial revolution; now may be
in 5th cycle (post-industrial).
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3)
Dialectical models |
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Contains
elements of both cyclical and linear change, and thus change is spiral;
significant change takes place as an attempt to resolve the accumulation
of intolerable contradictions, the unraveling of stresses that are inherent
in social life; short term
repetitive change but with long term cumulative directional change;
processes of change persist but the contents of the processes are
changing. |
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Materialistic
dialectic perspectives: |
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Classic
Marx
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Contemporary
- Immanuel Wallerstein: 3
contradictory modes of political and economic organization:
1)
contradiction between older subsistence agriculture with its
serfs and the newer commercialized cash crop agriculture with its
wage workers
2)
contradiction between the older decentralized craft
production and the newer centralized factory system
3)
the contradiction between the small market system of local
trade with the vast expansion of markets that attended the colonial
expansion into the non-European world
Also
developed World systems theory (stemming from dependency
theory): have core,
semiperiphery and periphery nations (used to be referred to as
1st, 2nd, & 3rd world), all at different levels of developement
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| Contradictions
result from differential rates of change in various institutional
sectors of society, e.g. technology and production change more
rapidly than political and ideological superstructure, e.g. Ogburn's
cultural lag theory |
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Non-materialistic
dialectic perspectives:
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Contradictions
are between structural characteristics and individual aspirations/cultural
themes (Aron) - common sources of inner contradictions in contemporary capitalist
societies: |
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egalitarian
aspiration of people versus hierarchical structure and organization
of society thus dialectic of equality;
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individualism
versus mass society thus dialectic of socialization;
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high
levels of affluence and national autonomy versus global
interdependency, thus dialectic of universality.
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Differences
between the three models are units of analysis and levels of
abstraction. There is yet to be a unified, integrated theory which
provides a complete understanding of social life where the relationship
between equilibrium processes, cyclical processes and cumulative
processes is explained. |
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