ABSTRACT
The scope and magnitude of P. A. Sorokin's own work on the nature of sociocultural integration and change are so great. Sorokin's own theory of cultural cringe is one of several illustrations of the conceptualization of intracultural variation at a high level of generalization. This chapter focuses on the nature of cultural integration and the processes of cultural change. Several deductions about the nature of cultural integration can be derived from the theory of variation itself. First, the theory postulates that both the differences in the basic values of fairly distinctive total societies (between-cultural variation) and those found within societies (intracultural variation) are not absolute differences. The second deduction follows: Any social system which is at all differentiated is an expression of an interlocking network of the rank orderings of the possible value-orientation emphases. The chapter discuses some of the virtues of a theory of value-orientation variation for the analyses of cultural integration.
