Theoretical models of social structure are analyzed in light of modern work patterns, social affiliations, and social attitudes. It is hypothesized that previous paradigms for society were based on classic theory which analyzed the then emergent forms of social structure and relationships. Because social structures and relationships have changed, the paper questions whether these theories are still valid. Classical developmental models examined are based on ideal type communal comparisons (tribal networks and feudal societies), and social structures shaped primarily by an economic rationality (capitalism, industrialization, and mechanization). The role of work, employer/employee relationships, economic values, and responsibility of society to the masses in pre-industrial and technological societies are compared. Findings indicated that many of the most influential factors affecting modern social structures and relationships were either absent or relatively unimportant in earlier societies. Among these factors are alienation, lack of meaningful work, inability to control the environment, replacement of workers by machines, increasing pressures on the economy, decline of real income of middle and lower class workers, and exclusion of the majority from meaningful decision making and social usefulness. The conclusion is that new and different methods of analysis are necessary to explain new forms of social relationships. (DB)