Laws of Socio-Cultural Change.

During the past decade, and especially during its latter half, historians and philosophers of science have given increased attention to the logical and empirical foundations of the social sciences. In part, this is a reflection of the growth of the disciplines so designated, in part, it is due to new developments in philosophical inquiry. Whatever the reason, several books have appeared recently wherein the social sciences are examined at length along with the physical and biological sciences. Comparisons are inevitably made, one outcome of which is a general consensus that the former have not yet produced laws of the same order, reliability, or applicability, as have the latter. This conclusion is not surprising, but some of the reasons for it deserve the consideration of those who believe that the comparison is a justifiable one. There is no intention of reviewing those reasons here. Rather, the author proposes to concentrate attention upon a particular aspect of the problem, namely, the circumstances which hamper the formulation of laws of socio-cultural change. To some extent these impediments are generally operative, some, however, are specifically related to change in human behavior. The term socio-cultural is intended to have its widest connotation. It signifies any customary or socially standardized concept, belief behavior, or artifact.