ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the extent to which the industrial societies of the world are developing a common sociocultural system in response to what Benjamin Nelson termed "the pressures of 'Oikumenogenesis'". The concepts of convergence and divergence are defined and explained in relation to other relevant terms. The basic issue for convergence theory is to assess how far the increasing similarity in modes of production and their associated institutional forms and processes encourages the development of concomitant similarities in sociocultural subsystems. Convergence means moving from different positions toward some common point. To know that countries are alike tells nothing about convergence. Regional treaties, pacts, trading alliances, and the like may contribute markedly to the process of convergence within regions, which pulls them still further from other regions. The sheer passage of time may be associated with convergence even in the absence of prior convergence in major structural features of society like industrialization.
