19
Social Change—III: Focus on the Present
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
Prior to the advent of the social sciences, our understanding of society was guided by the perception of sages and savants, who mixed descriptions of ‘actually existing social situations’ with prescriptions regarding a desirable social structure, norms of behaviour, and cultural patterns. These native philosophers did not make a distinction between ‘what is’ and ‘what ought to be’. In fact, the treatises, particularly of the Indian sages, were couched in terms of a ‘desirable’ future for our culture. They can also be seen as a set of prescriptions and proscriptions to be followed by the people at a given time. These writings cannot be treated as dependable descriptions even of ...
Get Sociology now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
