Sanderson’s Propositions
SOC 370: Social Change
Dr. Kimberly Martin
I.
• Evolutionary processes occur at every level of
social organization.
• Increasing complexity is a common result of
evolution, but is not inevitable.
• There are both similarities and differences
between social and biological evolution.
II.
• There are regularities/generalities in social
history that can be explained causally
(nomothetic approach),
• Stability and change are both part of these
regularities,
• Social change is not teleological
(progressing toward a given end)
III.
• The main causal factors of soc evol are
demographic, ecological, technological, and
economic.
• Causal factors operate probabilistically - "A
makes B more likely" (not "A always leads to B").
• These factors are primary because they relate to
meeting basic human needs.
• Different patterns of social change occur
because of different combinations of these
factors.
IV.
• Much of soc evol results from attempts at
adaptation (individuals trying to meet their
needs).
• Not all of these attempts work (or keep
working). Adaptedness refers to those that
work.
• Individuals are egoistic (focused on selfinterest) and this is important in
understanding social evolution.
V.
• Individuals create social structure and change
but not necessarily as they intend.
• Individuals act partly in response to structures
and changes that they have created.
• Individuals always act within the constraints of
their biopsychology and social structure.
VI.
• The social structures created by individuals are
the units of evolution.
• Social change is a response to a balance of
endogenous and exogenous factors.
• Endogenous factors are those existing within a
society.
• Exogenous factors are those that result from
contact between different societies.
VII.
• Soc evol is sometimes slow (gradualist) and
sometimes rather sudden (punctualist).
• Soc evol is faster and more punctualist now than
in previous eras.
VIII.
• Evolutionary analysis is a form of historical
analysis that in many cases only has
access to modern data (synchronic data
= data from a single point in time),
• By recording what happens now and in the
future, extrapolations from synchronic data
can be replaced by studies of actual
change (diachronic data = data across
time)
Study Guide
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Teleology
Synchronic data
Diachronic data
Gradualist
Punctualist
Endogenous
Exogenous
Adaptation
Egoistic individuals
Demography
Economy
Ecology
Technology
Nomothetic