DIALECTIC IN SOCIOLOGY.

The term "dialectic" is troublesome for sociologists, as for others. A dialectical bent has been discernible in significant sociological work for two centuries. What is meant by such a bent is indicated in an array of seven meaning-clusters. These have to do with (1) unanticipated consequences; (2) goal shifts; (3) adaptations that, once made, inhibit more effective ones; (4) development through conflict; (5) phenomena of the type of contradiction, paradox, negation; (6) the "contradictory logic of passion" in particular; (7) dissolution of conflict in coalescense of opposites. These clusters suggest uses of dialectic in analyzing social change, illuminating certain distinctive statements and sharpening the sense of scientific notions that sociologists have found helpful in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]