ABSTRACT
The concept of social change covers a lot of ground. Verbal concepts are rarely as clear-cut as scientists desire. According to Wittgenstein, complex concepts depend upon family resemblances to establish the scope of their inclusiveness. When deciphering social change, we started with three core categories: the cultural, structural, and institutional domains. The concept of culture derives largely from anthropological practice. Understanding the mechanisms whereby moral rules and values are created, maintained, and applied is critical to understanding social change. We humans normally take it for granted that we can communicate through speech. In the United States it is customary for people to wear shoes in public. Alongside the cultural orders are a number of structural suborders. Human societies are unlike shoals of sardines. Sardines do not distinguish between individuals. Philosophers and politicians have long speculated about the utility of property ownership.
