John McLeish - The Theory of Social Change

SOCIAL THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
In 22 Volumes

First published in 1969

by Routledge

Reprinted in 1998, 2001 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN

or

270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

First issued in paperback 2010

1969 John McLeish

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

The publishers have made every effort to contact authors/copyright holders of the works reprinted in The International Library of Sociology. This has not been possible in every case, however, and we would welcome correspondence from those individuals/companies we have been unable to trace.

A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

The Theory of Social Change

ISBN 978-0-415-17520-3 (hbk)

ISBN 978-0-415-60508-3 (pbk)

Social Theory and Methodology: 22 Volumes

ISBN 978-0-415-17818-1

The International Library of Sociology: 274 Volumes

ISBN 978-0-415-17838-9

ISBN 978-1-1362-2671-7 (ePub)

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent

This short study is intended to be read by students in departments of social studies, education and social psychology in Universities and Colleges of Education. It is an attempt to expound four theories of social change of contemporary significance, and to indicate to the student some of the criteria which might be used in evaluating them. Some care has been taken to avoid dogmatism, either in attempting to force a too-ready assent or a curt dismissal of what are complex and elaborate viewpoints. The author accepts John Stuart Mills dictum that all views are to be listened to attentively, since no one is capable of grasping the absolute truth on any subject, whereas all human beings can see different aspects or parts of its totality. Especially in assessing the four theories of society and social change must this principle be adopted: there is a certain complementarity and comprehensiveness about these theories which should silence the callow armchair critic and demand considered thought before passing judgement on them.

John McLeish

KARL MARX

Karl Marx (18181883) was born in Prussia, the son of a Jewish lawyer who was converted to Protestantism when Marx was a child. After a brilliant school and university career (Trier High School, Universities of Bonn and Berlin: Ph.D. 1841), Marx found it impossible to obtain a University post because of his radical opinions and Jewish origins. After a brief career as editor of several newspapers (which were successively suppressed by the censors) and after being expelled from France, Marx settled in London where he died in 1883.

In his theoretical views Marx was the first of the modern Communists, developing the characteristic and basic theories of economic determinism, social revolution, and the levelling of class distinctions. The main influences on his thought were successively: Hegelian dialectical philosophy, French Utopian socialism, and British political economy (Adam Smith, Ricardo and others). For many years he was the intellectual prompt of the revolutionary movement in most countries with a decultured and exploited working class (Germany, France, Russia) and attempted to guide the proletarian masses of all countries to revolution by means of the First International which he founded in London in 1864. He played a large part in interpreting, inspiring or justifying the revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune of 1871 (which he believed to be the prototype of the Communist revolution and the harbinger of the New Society). He is the main authority on Communist theory and practice in all the countries of Eastern Europe, China, and Cuba where Communist revolutions have taken place. Between one-half and one-third of all human beings now living implicitly accept his views as a correct description of reality and of their social condition.

Throughout his life he worked in extremely close comradeship with Friedrich Engels who is the co-founder of Marxism including the theory of dialectical materialism, social revolution and scientific socialism. Although pressing for the abolition of bourgeois marriage5, Marx had an extremely happy married life with Jenny von Westphalen (from 1843). She was descended from the 9th Earl of Argyll (Archibald Campbell) who was beheaded by James II of Scotland in 1681. Living often in great poverty in London, the Marx family (father, mother, two daughters and an aged retainer) often survived only by pawning the Argyll silver plate.