ABSTRACT
Revolutions of the classical sort do not succeed. Revolutionaries indulge in a truncated selection phase. Revolutions also collapse because they overdo compulsion. For starters, an evolutionary theory must explain why predictions of change are rarely accurate. Integrated social evolution also explains why social conflict is pervasive. Although revolutionaries envisage a world from which discord is eliminated, evolutionary mechanisms inevitably entail conflict. As for social roles, if the inverse force rule is credible, the mechanisms that create and sustain them are assuming greater import. Conventional wisdom has it that sociologists must either be function-alists or conflict theorists. Structural functionalism was born out of evolutionary theory but traveled a dangerous step further. Conflict theorists have also been dismissive of functionality. Political infighting is no less damaging to understanding social change. The conflict between liberals and conservatives can also be understood as a struggle between bureaucrats and professionals.
