Upadek. Analiza problemu specyficznie (nie)obecnego w teorii socjologicznej
The Fall. An Analysis of a Problem which is Peculiarly Present/Absent in Sociological Theory

Summary/Abstract: The paper advocates for development of the theory of societal collapse. It consists of three main parts: analysis of related concepts already present in sociological vocabulary, conceptualizations in other social sciences’ disciplines and already developed theories of societal collapse. The concepts near to societal collapse analyzed in the paper are social disorganization, anomy and crisis all of which overlap with collapse when extremal severity of phenomena described by those concepts occurs. Presence in other disciplines covers collapse of Roman Empire, Fallen States, Eastern Island and Neo‑Malthusianism.The theories of societal collapse discussed in this paper include Arnold Toynbee’s theory of civilizations’ break down and disintegration, Oswald Spengler’s decline of the west and similar conceptualization by Florian Znaniecki. Recent theories recalled in the paper cover Joseph Tainter’s theory of diminishing marginal utility of social development and Jared Diamond’s theory of societal collapse.

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