SOCIAL-CHANGE AND FUTURES PRACTICE

The study of society contains two branches: statics and dynamics. Soci al stability is the ability afa group to persist over time, even as it s members come and go. Stability rests on biology, culture, and agreem ents (laws, contracts, etc.). Social change is the ability of a group to behave differently, even to creating brand-new elements, within the same social identity. The mechanisms of social change are more comple x, involving natural selection, self-organization, and the emergent pr operties of organic systems. As a result, transformational change is r are, but so is natural, incremental change. The results ''sticky'' cha nge that waits too long, then lurches to catch up. Human intention, al though the single most powerful force for change, is not as powerful a s the many unconscious forces at work in society and the environment. These assumptions are different from those of many futurists.