{Social Evolution [continued (6)]}[3rd October 1990]

[Redbook8:6][19901003:1045b]{Social Evolution [continued (6)]}[3rd October 1990]

.1045

[continued]

‘Cyclical and one-directional changes may be combined in one way or another. Very often short-term changes are cyclical while long-term development is in one direction. Figures on the production rates of industrialising countries conform, more or less, to this pattern, short-term business cycles occurring within long-term economic growth.

‘All of these pattern models cannot be applied simply and easily to social reality.* They are at best approximations of parts of social reality. Comparing the model with the reality is not always possible because of a lack of reliable data. Moreover, and more importantly, many social processes do not lend themselves to precise quantitative measurement.’

**

*(sic)

**– E[ncyclopaedia] B[ritannica] 27:418

[from ibid, 414ff,‘Social Structure and Change’]

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