Abstract: dramatic social changes, such as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the consequences of the “Arab Spring”, occur throughout history and continue to affect millions of people every day. Unfortunately, empirical research “in the real world” is not enough, which is partly due to the lack of a basic theory that could provide the basis for guiding social and psychological research. The author of the article argues that the general theory of dramatic social changes and identifying their impact on the occurrence, course and resolution of conflicts has not been sufficiently studied in Russian sociology yet. Based on the foreign concept of “dramatic social change”, the author of the article argues that there is a need to create a new theoretical structure that can take into account dramatic changes in society in terms of their impact at the individual level. As a first step to achieving this goal, the article sets out two main tasks. The author offers a brief overview of the extensive literature in the field of sociology, and then a more in-depth analysis of a more limited literature on the subject of dramatic change. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that further domestic studies on the stated problems will significantly expand the sociological understanding of the nature, essence and cause-effect relationships between dramatic social changes and conflicts in society.
Keywords: collective action, perception of social change, the concept of “dramatic social change”