HBSE3-Social-Change.docx

Social Change

Social Change

Refers to the alterations in the pattern of social organization of specific groups within a society or of the society itself, leading to the development of new norms, role expectations, sanctions, ranking criteria, and production techniques.

Characteristics of Social Change

Inevitable, ubiquitous, multi-leveled, contagious, with a rate (rapid or slow), and detectable and measurable, affecting both micro and macro levels of society.

Evolutionary Theory

Views social change as progress, holding a linear perspective that sees recent societies as having achieved the highest level, with change being natural, inevitable, continuous, and moving in a particular direction based on adaptation to the environment.

Herbert Spencer

Divided society into traditional/military and industrial society, proposing an evolutionary theory of fixed stages and 'Law of Evolution' moving from simple to complex forms independently of man.

Karl Marx

Conflict theorist contributing to the evolutionary perspective, proposing Historical Materialism theory where societies evolve through stages like primitive communalism to scientific communism.

Evolutionary Theory

Views social change as gradual, holistic, and unidirectional from traditional to modern, emphasizing structural differentiation and maintaining equilibrium.

Diffusion Theory

Suggests social change results from diffusion of cultural patterns, spread of traits from group to group, and external influence on societies.

Cyclical Theory

Holds that civilizations go through cycles of growth and decay, learning from predecessors, with social changes following cyclical patterns.

Functionalist Theory

Developed by Emile Durkheim, emphasizes society's interdependent parts maintaining stability, with change as movement from one state of social stability to another.

Conflict Theory

Propounds that change arises from conflict and class struggles among competing groups, rooted in dialectic approach and material conditions influencing social life.

Modes of Production

Different stages of societal development from primitive communalism to capitalism, characterized by ownership and control of means of production.

Social Inequality

Unequal distribution of power and resources among different social classes based on ownership of production means.

Conflict Theory

A perspective that views social change as a result of conflicts between different social classes, emphasizing the role of revolution in addressing inequalities.

Factors Promoting Social Change

Various elements like environment, technology, culture, and population dynamics that stimulate societal transformations.

Processes of Social Change

Mechanisms such as social evolution, borrowing, invention, assimilation, and planned change that drive societal development.

Agents of Social Change

Institutions like the economy, government, religion, education, and mass media that influence and facilitate social transformations.

Acceptance and Resistance to Social Change

Factors like cost, utility, attitudes, vested interests, and technical difficulties that determine the reception or rejection of societal changes.