Social Evolution and Structural-Functional Analysis: An Empirical Test

Abstract

The study of social change as reviewed in the literature has either emphasized an evolutionary mode of analysis or a structural-functional mode of analysis. Using a Guttman scaling technique applied to fifty contemporary societies, the utility of combining these two major orientations is demonstrated. Empirical confirmation for Talcott Parsons' recent essay, Evolutionary Universals in Societies, is presented. However, some modifications in Parsons' conceptualization are suggested when it is viewed from a more particular level. Several possible extensions for future investigations are offered.