Alan Sears and James Cairns in their book A Good Book, in Theory: Making Sense through Inquiry present the most influential theories of the social development and changes.
The battle against chaos as the main function of the societal regulation as it is outlined in the social order model and challenging inequities as the driving force for the social transformation as it is outlined in the conflict theory explain the main underlying processes of the societal development from different theoretical perspectives.
According to the social order perspective, the main function of the society rules is preventing the treat of chaos and savagery in the community. The battle against chaos can be defined as the society control over its members intended to protect them from their inherently brutal selves through socializing them.
It is assumed that were it not for the society regulations, every individual would act according to his/her narrow self-interests disregarding the interests of the others (Sears and Cairns 17).
An interesting example of the community degradation due to the lack of social order can be found in the book Lord of Flies by Golding in which a group of children left on a desert island do not manage to preserve their civilization and finally go wild.
Thus, the plot of this book illustrates the idea that the social order can be regarded as the product of the societal control which is significant for preventing the chaos and bloodshed characteristic of the primitive tribes lacking these regulations.
Another assumption which can be driven from the central idea of the battle against the chaos as the primary function of the social order is that a strong set of common values is required for preserving the society order.
As compared to the external policies, the self-control and the established habit of regulating oneself are more effective for preventing the degradation to the level of the self-serving brutality. In that regard, the social stratification can threaten the appropriate societal order because the individuals who have less power will consider the order as unjust and would not share the common values.
Then, the pluralism of the political processes and the negotiations between the competing interest groups when solving certain significant problems is significant for maintaining the social order.
For this reason Sears and Cairns develop the idea that a long-term modernization and constant social changes are important for eliminating unjust social practices, preserving social order and ensuring the country’s progress and prosperity.
In contrast to the social order perspective viewing the preservation of the social order as the necessary battle against the possible chaos, the conflict model emphasizes the role of modern society in creating the inequalities which are put into its basis.
The challenging inequities are viewed as the struggle between the disadvantages groups and those who occupy the power positions which results in the conflict of interests and is followed by social changes (Sears and Cairns 20).
The examples of labor unions intended to protect the rights of the employees and feminist movement struggling for the equal pay and rights of women can illustrate the conflict perspective upon the role of society control in the social processes and changes.
The central assumption of the conflict model is that the modern society is based upon challenging inequalities which can be regarded as the driving forces of the social changes.
In general, it can be concluded that the concept of the battle against the chaos was used by Sears and Cairns for explaining the role of societal regulations from the social order perspective, whereas the concept of challenging inequities was intended to illustrate the main driving force of the social change according to the conflict model of society development.
Works Cited
Sears, Alan and James Cairns. A Good Book, in Theory: Making Sense through Inquiry. North York: University of Toronto Press Incorporated, 2010. Print.