Estimating functional relationships in a macrosociological model

S-shaped curves govern the behavior of many diffusion related social processes. It is shown here that these curves are good estimators for functional relationships in other macrosociological processes too. An example is provided using a mathematical model for change in norm systems. The model is developed directly from social theory and contains eighteen unknown monotonic functions. When these functions are chosen to be nonlinear and primarily S-shaped, the model reproduces a variety of empirical data sets well; when these functions are assumed to be linear, the simulated output is demonstrably worse.