SOCIAL CONFLICT AND THE THEORY OF SOCIAL CHANGE.

This article examines some of the functions of social conflict in the process of social change. Conflict not only generates new norms and institutions, it may be said to be stimulating directly in the economic and technological realm. Conflict within and between bureaucratic structures provides means for avoiding the ossification and ritualism which threatens their form of organization. Although conflict is apparently dysfunctional for highly rationalized systems, it may actually have vital latent functional consequences. However, not all social systems contain a degree of conflict and strain. Nevertheless, it is noticeable that the rigidity of the system and the intensity of conflict within it are not independent of each other.