Pareto cyclical theory of social change
Cyclical Theory of Social Change
The advocates of this theory believe that we reach from the point we started. They must probably have been inspired by natural changes. These scholars said that society and culture go through the cycle of rise and fall. For this, they mentioned the various civilizations of the world and said that history is witnessed to the fact that societies which are at the top today were backward and pre- modern at some time. They see social change in the form of life cycle and some such scholars are Spengler, Toynbee, Pareto and Sorokin.
Theory of Pareto:
Vilfredo Pareto propounded his Theory of Circulation of Elites in his book Mind and Society and explained the social changes on the basis cyclical changes. According to him, society may be divided into elites and lower society, which are not stable but the change is cyclical in nature. People of inferior class, by an increase in their qualities and expertise, get into elite class whereas people of elites class lose their expertise and become inferior. The continuous swining between these two classes constitute social change. These changes bring changes to the social structure too. Since this change is cyclical in nature, it is known as Theory of Circulation of Elites. He has mentioned it in political, economic and idealistic areas.
In political area, we see two kinds of people- lions and foxes. Lion people believe in idealistic aims and use power to attain them such people are in power. Since they use power, it may bring about intense reaction, so they use real politick and transform themselves into foxes and rule with cunning. But there are some real foxes too in the society who are on the lookout to usurp power and a time comes, when power comes into the hands of the foxes and this leads to changes in political system and organization. Pareto believes that in every society, power is used more as compared to logic. When the will to use power reduces in lions, they become foxes and use cunningness to rule. Foxes of the ruled class are more clever and usurp power from the ruling foxes. Thus, when rulers change, it brings changes to society also.
In economic areas, Pareto has mentioned speculators and rentiers. The income of the speculators is not fixed-They earn sometimes more and sometimes less. Such people earn money by using their brains and are inventors, businessmen and experts. As opposed to this, the income of the latter is fixed. Speculators use power and cunning to safeguard their interest besides using corrupt means which bring about their downfall and are replaced by honest people. This, besides changes in society, economy is also changed.
There are two kinds of people found in Idealistic area- people who have faith and people who do not have. In a society, people who have faith, lord it over but when they become too much, they are replaced by people of the second type.
In this way, according to Pareto, the cycle of social change keeps on moving continuously. This cyclical theory of social change is an important contribution to the field of sociology and social thought.
Pareto’s cyclic theory of social change is linked with his ‘theory of circulation of elite’. These theories work in almost all the types of political system, in all fields say political economical and intellectual etc.
According to Pareto, the cycle of social change is helpful in maintaining balance. Crisis, according to Pareto, is a part of every political and economic set-up and it leads to social change.