As such, there are no criteria for social progress, since progress in one area of social life is continuously associated with regression in another area of social relations. However, there are certain well-established views regarding social progress, its possibilities, direction and speed.
Instructions
Step 1
Progress is movement forward from lower to higher, from less perfect to more perfect. Regression is the opposite concept. The essence of social progress and its criteria remain a controversial issue. Even in ancient times, disputes arose about the cyclical nature of history and the sequence of progress and regression of society. French thinkers saw history as a continuous renewal and improvement. Religious movements, on the other hand, believed that society was inevitably regressing. The great philosophers of antiquity, such as Plato, Aristotle, Toynbee, believed that society moves forward along the steps of a vicious circle. Such a movement corresponds to moving along a spiral of a cylinder, moving along which society goes through the same stages, but regressing or progressing at the same time.
Step 2
Modern sociologists are sure that progress in some areas of public life is always associated with stagnation in another area. Scientists have come to the conclusion that society never regresses, but periods of stagnation are inevitable, and sometimes stagnation is delayed for a long time. If you build a graph of the progress of society, then it will look like a zigzag curved line, where a period of progress is replaced by a period of stagnation.
Step 3
There is even more controversy about the criteria for social progress. The main, and only recognized, is the humanistic criterion. This concept includes the life expectancy of a person, the state of health, the development of certain areas of cultural life, the level of education, attitude towards their own kind and wildlife, respect for human rights and the degree of their freedom and other aspects.
Step 4
Society is a complex mechanism in which various social groups interact and different processes operate in parallel. These processes do not always coincide in their development, which means that it is impossible to determine a specific criterion for the progress of society.
Step 5
The very concept of progress is always based on a certain value or their combination. Moving forward without a goal is meaningless. The goal is some kind of idealistic idea of what society should be like. However, the concept of Aristotle and the methods he proposed for analyzing the development of the state to this day have an impact on the research of sociologists and political scientists, who are increasingly inclined to the impossibility of progression of some processes in society without regressing others.
