APS Perspective on Social Change

Learning Goals:

• Explain the causes of social change from three perspectives: Anthropological, Psychological and Sociological
• Describe the process of social change:
  • Why does it happen? 
  • How does it happen?
• Describe factors that drive social change:
  • What’s causing the change?
  • What slows change down?
  • What speeds change up?

Change is a normal part of all cultures, people and societies. Some changes are expected or predictable, others are not. What is a change that could be considered “predictable?”. What is a change that could be considered “unpredictable?”

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.
• The 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 the behaviour.
• How is behaviour modified?
  • Friends, family, information, experience, and 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 its own norms
• Social change is an observable difference in patterns of behaviour:
  • The 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?