Evolutionary theories
Comte described a law of three stages (theological, metaphysical, positive); Spencer saw societies differentiating from simple militant to complex industrial forms. Classical evolutionism was criticised as unilinear and Eurocentric, prompting multilinear versions.
Cyclical theories
Spengler's The Decline of the West treated civilisations as organisms that grow and decay; Toynbee explained their rise and fall through challenge and response; Sorokin saw ideational and sensate cultures alternate.
Functionalist (equilibrium) theory
Parsons viewed society as a system tending toward equilibrium, with change occurring gradually through differentiation, adaptive upgrading, inclusion and value generalisation. It struggles to explain abrupt, conflictual change.
Conflict theory
Marx located the engine of change in contradictions between forces and relations of production and in class struggle. Dahrendorf traced conflict to the unequal distribution of authority.
Development and change
- Modernization theory: traditional societies move toward Western-style modernity, as in Rostow's five stages of growth.
- Dependency theory: Frank and others argued underdevelopment results from dependence on the core.
- World-systems theory: Wallerstein's core, semi-periphery and periphery.
Cultural lag
Ogburn used "cultural lag" for the strain that arises when material culture such as technology changes faster than norms and institutions, as in current debates over AI and biotechnology.
References
- Ogburn, W. F. (1922). Social Change with Respect to Culture and Original Nature. B. W. Huebsch.
- Parsons, T. (1966). Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives. Prentice-Hall.
- Dahrendorf, R. (1959). Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford University Press.
- Rostow, W. W. (1960). The Stages of Economic Growth. Cambridge University Press.
- Wallerstein, I. (1974). The Modern World-System I. Academic Press.