Perspectives of social change

What is Change?

the act or instance of making or becoming different.

Social Change can include

* A shift in the organization of society itself
* Politics
* Economics
* Infrastructure
* Residence, work, recreation
* Population
* A shift in the beliefs or values of a society
* Laws
* Religion
* Education

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A shift in the practices or behaviors of a society (changing norms)

* Travel/commuting
* Communication (computers/phones/video)
* Dating/courtship/marriage

### Anthropological Change

* Culture is a constantly changing organism
* Change is usually slow and steady
* *Think of the changing ideals of your selves vs. your parents vs. your grandparents or even great grandparents.*
* Change varies by country
* Geography
* Economy
* Connectedness with the rest of the world
* Change is driven by:
* Invention
* Discovery
* Diffusion
* Culture is learned and internalized by:
* The physical environment
* Level of technology
* Social organization
* Systems of symbols

### Psychological Change

* People’s attitudes and behaviours are strongly connected.   If attitude changes, so does behaviour.
* How is behaviour modified?
* *Friends, family, information, experience, social pressure… all influence attitudes, but different methods are needed for different people.*
* Why do we change our minds?
* Cognitive consistency –keeping attitudes consistent
* Cognitive dissonance –conflicts in knowledge need to be resolved, changing attitudes and behaviour
* Change is driven by:
* Thoughts/ideas/beliefs \n (seeking balance and resolving conflict)
* Attitudes
* Behaviours

### Sociological Change

* Change occurs in groups and whole societies
* Change is an inevitable process
* *Through shared experiences and social forces, change occurs in groups and societies*
* Varying concepts of social change
* Decay due to materialism and declining spiritualism
* Cycles of growth and decay (not just decay)
* Progress –building on the successes and experiences of other societies
* Social change is not universal or uniform:
* Different societies develop differently \n (different values and different rates of change)
* Each society has it’s own *norms*
* Social change is an observable difference in patterns of behaviour:
* Direction of change: *positive or negative?  Who says so?*
* Rate of change: *fast or slow?  Moderate or radical?*
* Sources of change: *exogenous or endogenous?  What is it?*
* Controllability of change: *Can it be controlled/directed?*