Toward a Theory of Religion and Social Change

Abstract

Any adequate theory of the interconnections of 4'eligion and social change must be an application of a more general theory of change. A skillful application can, in turn, contribute to the reformulation and improvement of the general theory. Unfortunately, serious problems of definition and conceptualization have retarded the investigation of the interconnections. We are lacking, I think it is fair to say, a widespread agreement on the meaning of social change. In such a situation there can scarcely be a generally accepted explanation. Theories of social change, to be sure, are abundant. Evolutionary, dialectical, and cyclical explanations; biological analogies of the birth and death of civilizations; descriptions of timeless and trendless fluctuations; one-factor emphases on technology, economic forces., geography, of theology-these are among the sweeping and overly-simplified, even if instructive, interpretations of changes in human institutions and behavior. These theories are often mutually contradictory, however, and frequently lack empirical grounding. None has won widespread assent. Social change as structural change, cultural change, and character change If we lack anything approaching a generally accepted theory, it is mainly because of the great complexity of the problem. It is partly due, however, to a failure to break the problem down into component parts, while describing the parts in such a way that their relationships can be examined. The result has been wide disagreement over the very definition of social change. In the hope of making the problem somewhat more manageable, I will offer a general definition of social change, before turning to its religious aspects, and then specify the elements of which it is composed 2.