Cyclical Theory - Sociology PDF

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BANGALORE

UNIVERSITY

University Law College and Department of Studies in Law Jnana Bharathi Campus Bangalore-560 056

SOCIOLOGY I- Introduction to Sociology

Assignment/Presentation topic On

“Theories of Social Change: Cyclical Theory”

Submitted to Mr. Nagasena Gautam S.N Guest Faculty in Sociology University Law College and Department of Studies in Law Jnana Bharathi Campus Bangalore-560 056

Submitted By Name: Sharan S Banad Registered Number: 20LUL12044 I Semester 5 Year B.A, LL.B (Hons) University Law College and Department of Studies in Law Jnana Bharathi Campus Bangalore-560 056

2020

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INDEX Sl.no

TITLE

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 Introduction

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 Theories of social change

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 Cyclical Theory

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 Spengler’s view

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 Toynbee’s view

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 Sorokin’s view

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 Pareto’s view

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 Chapin’s view

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 Conclusion  Bibliography

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INTRODUCTION In contemporary life, social change is such a pervasive and sometimes alarming characteristic that one might be inclined to believe that it is peculiarly new. Social change is a major change in social systems, i.e. the patterns of social behaviour and interaction, including the effects and representations of such structures expressed in beliefs, cultural items and symbols of norms (rules of conduct). Changes are expected to arrive in our culture. These changes are very gradual in some cultures, while changes are rapid and swift in others. Yet no culture can avoid alterations. For the proper study of culture, it is also important to take these changes into consideration.

Theories of Social Change: One particular explanation for social change is really hard to assign. In the opinion of Oswald Spengler, birth, maturity of vigour and senile deterioration pass in a cycle and are causes of social change. For such a move, Sorokin finds ideational, sensible and idealistic explanations. Toynbee is of the belief that all social change is caused by inner spiritual power. A variety of general theories of social change have been proposed by these sociologists, historians and social anthropologists. These theories can be easily categorized into four major categories: Evolutionary, Cyclical, Conflict Theories, and Functional Theories. The following brief explanations provide a glimpse of these theories:

1. Determination Theory: According to exponents of this theory, society is declining with the passing of time and we are moving from pleasure towards discontent. Therefore, they feel that this ever-present resolve, which is inevitable, induces social changes. In support of their theory, they also make use of mythology.

2. Functional Theory: A number of American sociologists changed their focus from social dynamics to social statics in the mid-20th century, or from social change to social stability. The key proponents of this theory have been Talcott Parsons and his followers. Parsons emphasized that cultural patterns are important in controlling a society's stability. Society, according to him, has the capacity to absorb destructive forces while retaining overall stability. Because it is "constantly straining

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for equilibrium or balance". The conservative forces of society such as shared norms and values resist radical changes and serve to hold the society together.

3. Conflict Theory: The most famous and influential of the conflict theories, is the one put forward by Karl Marx, a famous German social thinker and philosopher. "All history is the history of class conflict" (1848). "Violence is the midwife of history" proclaimed Marx. Individuals and groups with conflicting interests are bound to conflict with each other, Marx believed. Since the two main social classes, that is, the wealthy and the poor, or capitalists and workers, have mutually hostile interests, they are in conflict with each other.

4. CYCLICAL THEORY The cyclic theory of social change has been put forward by many of our contemporary thinkers. Spengler, Vacher-de-Lapouge, Vilfredo Pareto, F. Stuart Chopin, Sorokin and Arnold J. Toynbee are among those involved. Spengler is of the view that society also has a predetermined path, including its birth, development, maturity and decline, like day and night. J.B. J.B. This concept has also been contributed to by Bury. He came to the conclusion that all these civilizations saw their demise due to cyclical theory on the basis of the study of some of the great civilizations, such as Egyptian, Roman and Greek civilizations. The opinion of Vilfredo Pareto is that social change is due to political conditions. The unilinear theory developed by Oswald Spengler (Decline of the West, 1918) and Arnold J. Toynbee is a variant of cyclical transition (A Study of History, 1956). They argued that, according to cycles of growth, decay and collapse, cultures and communities shift just as individual individuals are born, age, grow old, and die. Every society has a predetermined life cycle, according to the German thinker Spengler, birth, development, maturity and decline. Society returns to the original stage after going through all these phases of the life cycle, and then the cycle starts again.

(a) Spengler’s view: ‘The Destiny of Civilisations’ In his book “The Decline of the West”-1918, Oswald Spengler, a German school teacher, noted that the fate of civilizations was a matter of "destiny" Each civilization is like a biological organism and has a similar life-cycle; birth, maturity, old age and death; he said that the Page | 4

Western Society's modem is in the last stage after observing eight major civilizations, including the West. Old century, that is. He argued that, as demonstrated by wars, conflicts, and social decline that heralded their doom, Western Societies were entering a time of decay. This theory is almost out of fashion today. His idea of destiny' is hardly an adequate explanation of social change. His biological analogy is also too unrealistic and his work is too mystical and speculative.

(b) Toynbee’s view: 'Answer and Challenge' A much more promising theory of social change has been proposed by Arnold Toynbee, a British historian with ample sociological experience. A multivolume work, his popular book 'A Review of History'-1946, draws on materials from 24 civilizations. The core principles are those of "challenge and response" in Toynbee's theory. Both societies face challenges-the challenges raised by the world at first; the challenges posed by internal and external enemies later on. He argued that the Western civilization is now on its decline on the basis of his study of Egyptian, Greek Roman and several other civilizations. This hypothesis was also upheld by the world-renowned British historian, Toynbee. He studied the history of different civilizations and discovered that, like the civilization of Egypt, every civilization has its rise, growth, and fall. All of them have come and gone, repeating a recurring birth, development, breakdown, and decay cycle. He supported the "challenge and response" principle, which suggests that those who can cope with a changing world and those who can not die survive. The views of Toynbee are more positive than those of Spengler, for he does not think that all cultures are eventually going to decay. He pointed out that history is a sequence of cycles of creation and decay. But of modern civilization is capable of learning from mistakes and borrowing from other cultures. It is, therefore, possible to deliver higher levels of accomplishment for each new period. Still he has not explained why some communities are able to respond effectively to their challenges while others are unable to respond, or why a society can solve one obstacle but become a victim of another.

(c) Sorokin’s View: The definition of a well-known American sociologist, P.A. Sorokin, is a variation of the cyclical method. Sorokin, which is known as the 'pendulum theory of social change' (Social and Cultural Dynamics, 1941). He finds the history course to be constant, but sporadic, Page | 5

fluctuating across the ‘idealistic’ between two basic forms of cultures: the ‘sensate’ and the ‘ideational’. Community oscillates, according to him, like a clock's pendulum between two stages. Through the passing of time, the pendulum of a clock swings, but gradually it reaches its original location and re-proceeds to its previous journey. It is, therefore, just like a cyclical process, but character-oscillating. A sensate culture is one that appeals to the senses and sensual desires. It is hedonistic and emphasizes science and empiricism in its ethics. On the other hand, the culture of ideation is one in which representations of art, literature, religion and ethics appeal not to the senses, but to the mind or spirit. It is more abstract and symbolic than the culture of reasoning. The cultural pendulum swings from the sense pole and leads through the middle pole called 'idealistic' culture to the ideational pole, which is a mixed form of meaningful and ideational cultures, a more stable mixture of faith, rationality, and senses as the basis of reality. In the last stage of the disintegration of sensible society, Sorokin positions contemporary European and American cultures and argues that a modern fusion of faith and sensation is just a way out of our 'crisis'. There is no other choice. We find the seeds of both the theories of cyclical and linear transition in Sorokin's study of cultures. Culture may, in his opinion, continue for a time in a given direction and thus tend to adhere to a linear formula. Yet, inevitably, there will be a change in direction as a result of forces that are inherent in the society itself, and a new phase of growth will be ushered in. This new pattern may be linear, maybe oscillating, or may conform to some unique curve style.

(d) Vilfredo Pareto’s view: The theory of ‘Circulation of Elites’ by Vilfredo Pareto (1963) is also fundamentally of this type. According to this theory, major social change in society occurs when one elite replaces another, a process Pareto calls it ‘circulation of elites’. In the course of time, all élites appear to become decadent. They ‘are decaying in consistency’ and losing their ‘power’. According to him, Vilfredo Pareto promoted the idea that societies go through the cycles of political vigour and deterioration that reproduce themselves in cyclical fashion. According to him, society consists of two groups of people, firstly the ones who like to pursue conventional ways that he calls Rentiers, and secondly those who like to take chances of achieving their ends that he calls Speculators. Political change is initiated by a strong aristocracy, the speculators who later lose their energy and become incapable of vigorous role. Thus ruling class eventually resort to tricks

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or to clever manipulations and they come to possess individuals characterised by the rentier mentality.

(e) F. Stuart Chapin’s View: Another version of cyclical transition was given by Stuart Chapin. For his theory of social change, he made the idea of accumulation the foundation. Cultural change is “selectively accumulative in time,” according to him. He wrote, “The most hopeful approach to the concept of cultural change would be to regard the process as selectively accumulative in time and cyclical or oscillatory in character.” Therefore, according to Chapin, cultural change is both selectively accumulative and cyclical in character. He asserted a synchronous hypothesis of cyclical change. If the cycles of the major pieces, such as government and the family, align or synchronize, the entire community will be in a state of integration, the culture will be in a disintegrated state if they do not synchronize. Development and decay are, according to Chapin, as inescapable in cultural ways as they are in all living things.

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THE CONCLUSION Thus, if it can respond to the challenges constructively, a community can evolve and thrive. Cyclical shift theory, or often called 'rise and equal theory, presumes that social phenomena of some nature repeat over and over again, much as they were in a cyclical fashion before. Global changes are coming rapidly and their emergence is actually inevitable. But the pace of social change is what it is. A shift can occur at different times in different societies or in the same society. Deciding on the rapidity of change and deciding whether change is quicker than the other is more or less difficult. We can infer that to bring about a rapid and successful social change, different factors must come together. Anticipated and systematic efforts are needed, and this method is very conducive to such efforts.

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BIBILIOGRAPHY:  Websites: 1. www.yourarticlelibrary.com 2. www.wikipedia.org

 Books: 1. Introduction to Sociology by D.R. Sachdeva and Vidya Bhushan 2. Principles of Sociology by C.N. Shankar Rao

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