A collection of papers which were the outcome of a conference organized by the editors of Jagiellonian University in Drakow, Poland, which took place between June 28 and July 1, 1988. The topic was Social progress and sociological theory: movements, forces, and ideas at the end of the twentieth century . The meeting was the first material result of our ongoing efforts to organize and invisible college of sociological theoriest on an international scale, and effort that has now come to fruition as a working group of the International Sociological Association, to be established as a Research Committee on Theory.