Succession and success: A new look at an old concept

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Abstract
The concept of “succession,” originally borrowed from plant ecologists, has been employed fruitfully by sociologists for over half a century. Social scientists. however, have tended to use the inherently dynamic concept in a relatively static way. Building on recent critiques, this paper notes that there are basically four meanings of the term that have special relevance to sociology, with traditional usage representing only one of the four. A meaning that has largely been ignored to date—"autogenic sociocultural succession”, in this paper's terminology—holds particular potential, drawing attention to the possibility that apparently “successful” actions can be self‐displacing as well as self‐reinforcing. Succession, as redefined, offers promise for conceptualizing social change not as a series of discrete steps, but as an ongoing process.

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