ABSTRACT
It has been argued at some length in another placet that the mechanical equilibrium model, the functionalist view, and the homeostatic organismic models of society that have underlain most modern sociological theory have outlived their usefulness. A more viable model, one much more faithful to the kind of system that society is more and more recognized to be, has developed out of, or is in keeping with, the modern systems perspective. In Chapter 5 we explored the pros and cons of an evolutionary perspective, and here we shall explore further such a view in conjunction with systems conceptions discussed in the previous chapter, and consider society as a complex adaptive system.
