Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics - Change and Innovation
REVIEW!
What are The Theory of Human Needs?
What are the three religions we talked about last meeting?
What are the five health domains?
Cultural, Social, and Political Change
Defining Social, Cultural, and Political Change
Social change: Alteration in patterns of culture, social structure, and social behavior over time.
As observed by Heraclitus, no society can successfully prevent change, not even those that try to do so. (Robertson, 1987).
Cultural change: Change in the cultural patterns of behavior and values.
Changes in tangible or material aspects of culture and Intangible or non-material aspects of people's lives are also part of cultural change.
Political change: Change in the political patterns of behaviour and values of individuals as well as political institutions that hold power and control society.
Sources of Change
Sociologists have identified four key sources of social, cultural, and political change: innovation, diffusion, acculturation, and assimilation.
Innovation
Innovation: An "independent invention to creatively find solutions to problems" (Kottak, 2000).
Two Types of Innovation
Primary innovation: Occurs when an individual or a group comes up with a completely new idea, method, or device (Haviland, Prins, Walrath, and McBride, 2008).
Example: The invention of photography has altered how people view reality as it allowed individuals to capture moments and, later on, record events through video cameras.
Secondary innovation: Occurs when an individual or a group further develops or improves on an already existing idea, method, or device (Haviland, Prins, Walrath, and McBride, 2008).
Example: Smart phones and other forms of wireless communication are improvised versions of the telephone.