Pitirim sorokin cyclical theory examples

Cyclical theories of Society don't represent a unified approach, but all of its proponents adhere to some of the same postulates: all civilizations go throw the same long-term patterned phases (cycles) of rise and fall, growth and decay; these cycles influence all or most aspects of civilizations – society, economy, politics, culture; social scientists can identify those cycles and their aspects using historical and comparative methods. As precursors to cyclical theories, we can point theories of English historian Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) and Russian philosopher Nikolay Danilevsky (1822–1885).

More elaborate cyclical theories are those of Pitirim Sorokin, Oswald Spengler, Arnold Joseph Toynbee, and Hans Freyer.

                                        Oswald Spengler

German philosopher Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) is best known for