Revolutions
Revolutions are rapid, fundamental transformations of a society's socioeconomic and political structures (Huntington 1968). Social revolutions differ from other forms of social transformation, such as rebellions, coups d'état, and political revolutions. Rebellions involve the revolt of society's subordinate classes—peasants, artisans, workers—but do not produce enduring structural changes. Coups d'état forcibly replace the leadership of states but do not fundamentally alter state structures. Political revolutions transform state structures but leave social structures largely intact. What is distinctive to social revolutions is that basic changes in social structures and political structures occur in a mutually reinforcing fashion (Skocpol 1979). A social revolution is more than a change in the state. It is a change in the state of an entire society.
Recent sociological work on revolutions recognizes their importance in the making of the modern world order and the opportunities revolutions offer for building theories of social and political change. These opportunities were most emphatically embraced by Marx, who placed the study and the making of revolution at the center of his lifework. Virtually all theories of revolution since Marx share his concern with three separate yet interrelated phenomena: (1) the social conditions that lead to revolution or its absence, (2) the character of participation in revolutions, and (3) the outcomes of revolutions (see Tucker 1978).
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