TY - JOUR PY - 1946// TI - Depression, War, and Logistic Trends JO - American journal of sociology A1 - Hart, Hornell SP - 112 EP - 122 VL - 52 IS - 2 N2 - This study presents twelve different series of statistical data, in which growth previous to 1928 conformed very closely to logistic trends. In seven of these, the great depression brought statistically significant departures from previous trends, with no clearly established post-depression trend; in five series, two or more successive logistic trends are shown. Of the nine series inaugurated before 1915, five maintained their logistic trends during World War I. The hypothesis is suggested that human culture develops through a series of growth surges, which tend to conform to logistic or Gompertz trends and that various sociological phenomena can be understood and dealt with successfully only if viewed as space-time configurations in which parts are mathematical functions of wholes.
LA - SN - 0002-9602 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/219958 ID - ref1 ER -