Forces of social change

Forces of Social Change

Catalysts of Social Change

  • Leadership

    • A charismatic leader that people will follow can promote change –ex. Mandella, Martin Luther King
    • Those with social, economic or spiritual power can promote change.   Celebrities, business owners or otherwise socially powerful, can motivate people to action.

  • A Population Ready for Change

    • Undesirable conditions, such as economic depression, social discontent, oppression, injustice or inequality \n (though the opposite can be true)
    • Presented with new ideas and learning (exogenous / endogenous)
    • Education
    • Embracing new technologies / discoveries

Impediments of Social Change

  • Traditional Cultural Values

    • Ideals and values passed from generation to generation in the home, school and society at large
    • Religious beliefs maintain norms and values

  • Little Cultural Interaction

    • Low exposure to other cultures, practices and ideals
    • Reduces exogenous influences

  • Those in Power Maintaining the Status Quo

    • Workers staying employed at low wages/power, leaders staying in power, religious leaders as intermediaries between God and man
    • “The rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer”

  • Little Education/Innovation/Emerging Technologies

    • Limited learning and exposure to practices and ideals
    • Looking at things the same way
    • “In the box thinking”

  • The Expense of Change

    • Economic change and investment required
    • Social change may require new institutions, systems and order
    • A fundamental shift in ideologies may be hard to accept
    • Absence of research does not promote change
    • It’s often easier to do nothing

Adapting to Change (Blockbuster and Netflix example)

Adapting to Change: Emile Durkheim and Anomie

  • Emile Durkheim
    • Anomie

-Social condition in which there is a disintegration or disappearance of norms/values that were previously common to the society

–to be left behind in the wake of social change

  • Ease of communicating by digital means and accessing services online:
    • Teens vs. the Elderly
    • Literate vs. illiterate
  • Those who are left behind become alienated from society

Conformity vs Deviance

  • Conformity
    • To follow or adhere to social norms
    • Subjective validity = believing your ideas/attitudes are “right” based on your judgment and similarity to the ideas/attitudes of others
    • Normative influence = the social pressure/influence to follow norms
  • Influences in conformity:
    • Parents, friends, school, law, behaviours of other people
  • Deviance
    • To ignore or go against social norms
    • Deviant behaviour influences society and can reinforce or change norms
    • Challenges traditional norms/values
    • Can be constructive or destructive
  • Influences in deviance:
    • Friends, education, behaviours of other people, other cultures/ideas, differing perspectives

Conformity, Deviance and Social Change

  • Social exclusion or alienation creates a social group all it’s own.

    • Think of the workers (proletariat) and the factory owners (bourgeoisie)

  • These groups can create social change or accept their alienated position in society

    • Alienated teens falling into negative/self-destructive behaviours
    • Alienated teens/young adults revolting in Egypt due to high youth unemployment rates

  • Conformity generally helps to discourage social change

    • The nail that sticks out gets hammered down \n –Japanese Proverb
    • Asch’s conformity experiment
    • The desire to fit in outweighs the desire to not conform

  • When was a time that you went along with the crowd?