After a critique of current “social system” theory,
showing specifically where its underlying models break down,
the book is devoted to the construction of a new model.
This new model of the sociocultural system sees the latter as
a complex, adaptive system which, by its very nature
continually generates, elaborates, and restructures
patterns of meanings, actions, and interactions.
The new model also takes into account those features of society
that are widely recognized as particularly poorly handled
in dominant theory—specifically, conflict, deviance, collective behavior,
coercive power, and social change.
In developing the new model of the sociocultural system,
a number of very recent departures in social theory are
discussed critically and related to the modern systems view.
These include:
The reader is warned that he will not find here a new sociological theory,
in the stricter sense of that term,
but he will find a newer social system model and
a number of current middle level theories outlined that suggest
that modem systems theory is not foreign to much of the pioneering work currently produced.