Change cycle

There are many kinds of cyclical changes: hydrological cycles, economic cycles, and agricultural cycles. There are many theories of cyclical change by sociologists about society. The philosopher Hegel proposed that a given course of events, he called a thesis, would give rise to its opposition, called antithesis, resulting in a synthesis. This synthesis would become the new thesis, giving rise to a new antithesis, and so on. Some futurists have created cyclical models of change too. Richard Slaughter proposed a model showing how social innovations may go through a four-stage process before being adopted: 1) Breakdowns of meaning (problems); 2) Re-conceptualizations (suggested solutions); 3) Negotiations and conflicts, and 4) Selective legitimization ('winnowing'). His model can be used to investigate social innovations past, present and future. Sometimes called the 'transformative cycle' or 'T -cycle' for short.