Theories of revolution revisited: Toward a fourth generation?John Foran -1993 -Sociological Theory 11 (1):1-20.detailsRecent developments in sociological theorizing about revolution are surveyed, critiqued, and evaluated in terms of an emerging new paradigm. The first section assesses the strengths and weaknesses of 1970s theorizing by Tilly, Paige, and Skocpol. A second section takes up themes of state and crisis from 1980s work deepening this tradition. A third section identifies and discusses recent work in new areas critical of the structuralists, on agency, social structure, and culture. Finally, the shape of a new paradigm based on (...) conjunctural modeling of economic, political, and cultural processes is suggested with a discussion of Walton and of very recent work by Farhi, Foran, and Goldstone. (shrink)