ABSTRACT
A number of things need addressing. First, many theories of social change have been viewed as excessively deterministic in touting such causes as technology and economics as significantly limiting human choice. Second, a frequently overlooked factor such is the actual ongoing process of change itself-often reference is just made to the results presumed to have been generated by the determinants, such as introduced technology, environmental shifts, or new contacts. Better asked might be what happens while the actual change process is under way. Third, we could ask what exactly changes-is it society or is it people? Fourth, how precisely do people change their behavior during the process or also in the attempt to change the behavior of others with varying degrees of success? Fifth, there is much need to query the role of individual intention and action in change-agency, as it is commonly referred to. Sixth, related to this is the examining of the results of collective agency-the role of individuals united in common purpose for change or in parallel or convergent action and intention (social movements among other social actions; see Chapter 9).
