ABSTRACT
The United States was a relatively new nation. Nowhere had a society started with so little and accumulated so much in so short a period. Its know-how could accomplish almost anything. In the past, when people contemplated social change, they often thought in terms of a Golden Age or a millennial future; either there had once been a Garden of Eden, or Christ's second coming would reward the good with eternal life. Then too, during the Dark Ages, people wondered at the magnificence of Roman ruins. The optimism to believe that moderns could surpass the ancients arose gradually. First, communities had to become prosperous enough to afford Gothic cathedrals. Positive change has been with us for some time now. Indeed, it is accelerating at a dizzying pace. Social changes are every bit as disorienting. The difficulties we confront in understanding social change derive not only from their complexity but from our lack of neutrality.
