Social change or social evolution?

The critics of evolutionary theory have shown the weaknesses of the former theory of social evolution but they went too far in their criticism. The idea of progress was the main target of their critique. Anti-evolutionary thinkers tried to justify the separation of the concept of social change and that of cumulative development. I did not find this critique convincing. The criticism of anti-evolutionary theory should be taken seriously, but on the basis of the distinction between general and specific evolution the insistence of evolutionists upon the idea of cumulative development can be preserved even in the light of the criticism of anti-evolutionism. Social change may be interpreted as a process of cumulative development brought about by the selection process of social institutions in the back of individual actors. Cumulative social developments emerge as the unintended consequence of individual actions.