What I see at the moment is that each social model can predict or see a part of society / elephant. That is:
- Dialectical materialists say the problem is resources and wealth, they see the trunk.
- Dialectical idealists say the problem is the forces and anti-forces of our spirit, they see the tail.
- Positivists say that social movements can be measured and predicted as in the physical sciences, they see the ears.
- Symbolic interactionists focus on the exchange of symbols during micro-social interactions, and only see the animal's eyes.
And so on, the critical theorists, the positivists... they see other parts of the elephant or society but in my opinion nobody can predict much and the only possibility to know how is the society or the elephant is in having all the perspectives.
PS. Yes, sorry for the metaphor