TRENDS IN THE SOCIETAL EVOLUTION?

Abstract

The author argues that the rejection of the ideas of the inevitable uni-linear progress of the society should not lead to the rejection of the evolutionary trends altogether. Instead of looking for universal trends he suggests to investigate some of the probable ones, as they can be deduced from the general principles of the systems’ and evolutionary theories. The emergence of the complex systems, which are likely to be more adaptable than the less complex ones, becomes more probable in the latter stages of the evolution. In order to survive, however, they need to organize their complexity through differentiation and co-ordination. The higher complexity also requires the upgrading of the unplanned and central forms of co-ordination with the planned and acentral ones. The author notes that these trends are quite widely accepted within several classical and recent sociological theories.