Final answer:
Carlyle's histories suggest that societal stability is based on shared values which create social orders such as mechanical solidarity. Civic virtue and general will are also integral for a cohesive society, and historical customs and rituals reinforce this stability. Societal functions contribute to maintaining a stable and continuous social structure.
Step-by-step explanation:
Carlyle's histories contend that the basis for strong, stable societies is shared values, languages, and symbols that govern social life. Social theorists like Durkheim emphasized the importance of the collective conscience of a culture to create a mechanical solidarity in preindustrial societies. This sense of solidarity was crucial for maintaining social order and stability, supported by common practices and shared morals. In larger societies, civic virtue and engagement in community affairs were seen as necessary to cultivate and uphold the well-being of the political community, often placed above individual self-interests.
According to Rousseau, laws ensuring the general will would secure the true good of each person within a society. Such laws would aim to reduce income inequality and promote civic education to strengthen civic religion and civic virtue, thus maintaining a stable society. In parallel, theories about how inequality is justified through dominant state ideologies or how manual laborers bear the brunt for the wealth of society also play a part in discussions about societal stability.
Historical evidence shows that societies were structured to foster cohesion, seen in rituals and customs that corrected behavior and reinforced hierarchies, as well as in smaller communities where decisions were made collaboratively. Modern theories also look at the function of social elements and argue for dynamic equilibrium, where all parts of a society work together to achieve stability and continuity.