Theoretical and methodological grounds for critical approach to revolution

Abstract

The article is devoted to the sociological approach to the phenomenon of revolution as a “pure type” free from political and historical content. It deals with socio-ontological, methodological, socio-psychological and ethical-axiological grounds for the critical approach to the phenomenon of revolution in classical and contemporary theories. Socio-ontological arguments are proposed by sociologists who regard revolutions as disaster because social systems (as “living organisms” or any complex systems, regardless of their origin) are certain to be in balance. According to the socio-psychological critical arguments, revolutions activate irrational aggressive crowds capable of destruction only. Besides, this approach is based on the study of false interpretations and the phenomenon of the “revolution of rising expectations”. Methodological criticism aims at social revolution as an inevitable integral element of Utopian engineering. The meaning of the confrontation is as follows: piecemeal technology versus holistic large-scale experiment. According to the ethical and axiological arguments, the revolution as a violent collective action, in the name of the desired equality and justice, leads to victims inevitably.