Cyclical theories have been concerned with the repetitious change of conditions, events, forms and/ or fashions over a long period of time, although the period of recurrent phases (cycles) of change would vary. The cyclical theorists believe that societies pass through a series of stages. However, they do not consider the notion of ending in a stage of perfection but see them as a return to the stage where it began for further round in a cyclical manner.
A.L. Kroeber (1876-1960), a well-known American anthropologist, provides classical analysis of cyclical patterns of clothing-style changes of Western women. Kroeber found that clothing styles in Western societies followed certain patterns over long periods of time, and even within these patterns were observed changes in more or less regular cycles.
Kroeber also discovered that the basic pattern of Western women’s dress in the medieval and modern ages spanning about a thousand years has gone through a constant remodeling without any fundamental change. Kroeber found that the general pattern included a long skirt, a narrow waist, and a top with arms and breasts partially exposed. Periodically, within this general form, there is a cyclical change.
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Hemlines rise and fall, the waistline moves up and down from just under the bust to the hips, and the amount of cleavage shown increases and decreases. Kroeber also discovered that women’s dressing in the West repeat themselves over and over within cycles of about hundred years.
Pitirim Sorokin (1889-1968), a Russian-American sociologist, believed that all great civilisations pass through three cultural systems in a cyclical way: (i) the ideational culture/society based on faith and revelation; (ii) the idealist culture/ society guided by a ‘mixed’ notion of supernatural beliefs and empiricism; and (iii) the sensate culture/society, which are guided by empirical sense perceptions. He opined that all societies need not necessarily decay but rather they go through various stages by shifting from one cycle to another as the needs of the society demand.
The structural-functional and conflict theories are generally concerned with micro and middle range theories of social change. The structural-functionalists assume that society, like the human body, is a balanced system of institutions, each of which performs a function in maintaining society. They consider ‘change’ as a constant that requires no explanation.
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They hold that changes disrupt the equilibrium of a society, until the change has been integrated into the culture. Societies accept and adopt those changes that are found useful (functional), while they reject changes that are useless (dysfunctional). They opine that when events within and without the society disrupt the equilibrium, social institutions make adjustments to restore stability. For instance, a natural calamity, a famine, an influx of immigrants or a war may disrupt the social order and compel the social institutions to make adjustments.
Most theorists today integrate the various ideas and theories of social change. There are very few theorists that still hold on their own ideas and theories. There are also not many theorists which believe that social change always results in improvement or that societies inevitably decay.
There is a general agreement, however, that societies change because of various factors conditioned on the society. These factors could be both within and without the society and/or planned and unplanned. Many theorists do believe that changes in societies are not necessarily good or bad. They opine that although a stable society is usually better than a chaotic and conflict-ridden society, stability would sometimes imply exploitation, oppression, and injustice.