NCJ Number
70562
Journal
Police Studies Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1980) Pages: 20-33
Date Published
1980
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article traces the history of the idea of order since the 17th century, what disorder and disorganization has meant, and the various solutions--political, economic, and social--which have been advanced at different times to account for such disorder.
Abstract
Observations on the differences in the concept and practice of social order between primitive societies and Western societies note that contrary to the static 'eternal model' of primitive cultures, Western societies have always been in a state of disequilibrium and change, and that the history of Western ideas about order has been far more varied than any conceived by primitive groups. Three types of general theories have successively emerged during the process of uneven transition from tradition to modernity in the West: (1) those theories that have centered on the decisive importance of the nature of the political order for ensuring the stability of society, (2) those that have found in economic institutions and new forms of economic behavior the key to order, and (3) those that have seen the question in social terms, broader than the political or economic, related to the (presumed) self-organizing properties of society, or its structure, and their promotion. Characteristics of all three types are identified, and the third type is extensively discussed. Analysis includes the theoretical contributions of such well-known historical persons as Hobbes, Durkheim, Locke, Mill, Bentham, Spencer, Ricardo, Rousseau, and Marx, as well as the more contemporary Parsons, Cooley, Mead, and others. A total of 12 references is given.