ABSTRACT
There are many views about the unseen driving force in human society. These diverse views include the mutually exclusive ideas of man as the plaything of forces beyond his control and of man as an active agent of change in the world. But even scholars who argue for a more active role for humanity see that role changing in response to cultural developments within society. Man, according to this view, is not as independent and influential as he appears at first sight. It is suggested in earlier chapters that these views are unable to explain the changing fortunes of human society since its emergence. This chapter presents an essentially new view of the driving force in human society, which I have called dynamic materialism. It is a view that places mankind at the centre of our story about the Dynamic Society. In this story, mankind is driven by its genetically determined nature,
which is unmodified by historical changes in its environment, either physical or cultural. In this story, the unchanging materialistic nature of humanity is the incredibly powerful force that drives, and has always driven, the Dynamic Society.
