LECTURE 10 SOCIAL CHANGE.pdfLECTURE 10 SOCIAL CHANGE.pdf

LECTURE 10 SOCIAL CHANGE.pdf

1. Social Change

2. Overview of the presentation
❑Social Change
❑Definition
❑Nature
❑Dimension
❑Factors
❑Measure of social change

3. Social Change
✓The word 'change' denotes a difference in anything observed over some period of time.
✓Change is the law of nature. What is today shall be different from what it would be tomorrow.
✓Modern world is a world of rapid change. People too much change and acquire the facility of
change.
✓The social structure is also subject to change.
✓Over a period of fifty years the government is changed. Family, religion etc. are also changed.
✓Our understanding of the society will not be complete unless we take into consideration the
changeable nature of society, however, differences emerge and discover the direction of change.
✓So let us see what are social change and its characters.

4. Definition:
❑According to Jones:
Social change is a term used to describe variations in or modifications of any
aspect of social process, social patterns, social interaction or social organization.
❑According to Gillinand Gillin:
Socialchangesarevariationsfromtheacceptedmodesoflife;whetherdueto
alterationingeographicalconditions,inculturalequipment,compositionon
thepopulationorideologiesandwhetherbroughtaboutbydiffusionor
inventionswithinthegroup.
❑According to Davis & Mac Iver:
Social change is change in the relationships.

5. Nature of social change
1.Onlysuchchangesaredesignatedassocialchangethataffectsthebulkofthecommunity.
Minoralterationsinsociallifedonotusuallyconstitutewhatisgenerallyacceptedassocial
change.
2.Socialchangeisauniversalprocess.Itisfoundedinallsocietiesandallstagesofsocial
evolution.
3.Socialchangedoesnotalwaysdependonthewillingnessofsocietyanditsmembers.
4.Speedofsocialchangediffersfromsocietytosocietyandinthesamesociety.Manytribaland
ruralsocietieschangeatmuchslowerpacethanindustrialsocieties.However,thepaceof
changeofcontemporarysocietiesismuchfasternowthanintheearlierstages.
5.Socialchangehasbothqualitativeandquantitativeaspects.Increaseinnumberofhousehold
isanexampleofquantitativechange.Changesinrolesaretheexamplesofqualitativechange.

6. 6. Change is not synonymous with development; it may or may not lead to
development.
7. Most of social change that took place in the earlier years was unplanned
and undirected. Now planned or directed social change is gaining in
importance as a means to achieve societal goals in shorter period in a
more orderly fashion.
8. Social change is the result usually of both internal (endogenous) factors
(the community itself recognises the need for change) and external
(exogenous) factors, e.g. industrialisation, land reforms and urbanisation.

7. Dimensions of Social Change
❑Athousandyearsago,thefaceofsocietywasvastlydifferent
fromthatwithwhichwearefamiliartoday.Sincetheoutbreakof
WorldWarI,numerouscountrieshavepassedthrough
profoundchanges,notonlyintheirpublicinstitutionsbutintheir
classstructures,theireconomicsystems,theirmoresand
modesofliving-inshort,inallthefundamentalrelationofmanto
man.

8. •Socialinventionsbringsocialchange.Inventionanddiscoveryare
significantcharacteristicsofourage.Thepresentageisoftencalled
the“ageofpower”,thescientificage.
•Mechanisationhavechangednotonlytheeconomicstructureofthe
societybutwasalsoprofoundlyalteredourmodesoflifeand
thought.
•Thechangesinthemeansoftransportandcommunicationhave
affectedoursocialrelationships.Asthemeansoftransporthave
changed,thespatialrelationshipshavealsochanged.Therapid
meansoftransportationandcommunicationhaveencouragedthe
growthofinternationaltradeandinterdependenceofcountries.
•Today,thereisgreatermobilityofpopulation.Therapidmeansof
transportandcommunicationhavebrokenthebarriersofcultural
isolationandplayedasignificantroleinthediffusionofcultural
elements.

9. •Differentpeoplemaylookonthesamesocialchangesdifferentlyand
tosometheymayspellprogress,toothersdecadence.
•Socialchangesarewelcomedbysomeandareopposedbyothers.
Plannedsocialchangei.e.socialchangebyplanninghasaverygreat
importanceinourlife.
•Civilmarriages,divorce,women’sparticipationinpubliclifefree
mixingofyoungboysandgirlsarethebestexamplesofsocialchange
inourlives.

10. Factors of Social change
Majorfactorsofsocialchangearethefollowing:
ThePhysicalEnvironment
•Physicalfactorsalsoknownasgeographicalfactorsincludeallconditions
ofnaturalenvironmentnamelyclimate,earth’ssurface,water,season,
storms,earthquakesetc,arepermanentandindependentofhuman
existence.
•Manychangestakeplaceinnaturalenvironmentandthesechangesare
regardlessofhumanactivities.Manysocialgeographershaveanalyzed
theimpactofnaturalconditionsonsociallife.Floods,earthquakes,
droughts,famineandstorms,changeofseasonetc.havesignificant
effectonthesocialrelationshipsandthesearemodifiedbysuchnatural
occurrence.

11. CulturalFactors
•Themaincauseofsocialchangeistheculturalfactor.Changesinthe
cultureareaccompaniedbysocialchanges.Culturegivesspeedand
directiontosocialchangeanddeterminesthelimitsbeyondwhich
socialchangecannotoccur.
•Thepaceofchangeofmaterialandnon-materialculturearenotthe
samealthoughtheyaffecteachother.Nonmaterialfactorsareaffected
bythematerialculture.

12. Population Factors
•Evenchangesinthequalityofpopulationhaveaneffectonthesocial
organisationaswellascustomsandtraditions,institutions,associations
etc.increaseanddecreaseofpopulation,achangeintheratioofmen
andwomen,youngandold,haveaneffectonsocialrelationships.
•Decreaseorincreaseinpopulationhasanimmediateeffectupon
economicinstitutionsandassociations.Theratioofmentowomenin
societyeffectsmarriage,familyandtheconditionsofwomeninsociety.
Inthesamewaythebirthanddeathratealsoinfluencesocialchange.

13. PsychologicalFactors
•Mostsociologistsregardpsychologicalfactorsasimportantelementsin
socialchange.Thecauseofsocialchangeisthepsychologyofman
himself.
•Manbynatureisaloverofchange.Heisalsotryingtodiscovernew
thingsinthesphereofhislife,andisalwaysanxiousfornovel
experience.Becauseofthistendency,themores,traditions,customs
etc.ofveryhumansocietyareperpetuallyundergoingchange.This
doesnotmeanthatmanalwaysconsidersthenewsuperiortotheold.
Whileheisalways,attendingtowhatisnewandunique;hewantsto
preservewhatisold.Changeisthelawoflife.Whenchangesdonot
occurattheappropriatetimerevolutiontakesplace,warsarefought,
epidemicsspread,andchangesareviolentlyintroduced.

14. BiologicalFactors
•Biologicalfactorstoohavesomeindirectinfluenceuponsocial
change.Amongthebiologicalfactorsisthequalitativeaspectofthe
populationrelatedtoheredity.Thequalitativeaspectofpopulationis
baseduponpowerfulandgreatmenandtheirbirthisdependent
largelyonheredityandmutation.Hence,biologicalfactorplayapart
insocialchangeinthatextent.
•Inthecourseofhumanhistory,itisremarkedthattherearephysical
andmentaldifferencesamongpopulationdistributedinthedifferent
countriesoftheworld.Thisamountstohereditarydifferencesin
racesleadingtoethnocentrism.

15. Technological Factors
•Thetechnologicalfactorhasimmenseinfluenceinsocialchange.Toquote
Ogburn,Technologicalchangessocietybychangingourenvironmentto
whichweinturnadopt.”Thischangeisusuallyinmaterialenvironment
andadjustmentwemaketothechangesoften
•modifiescustomsandsocialinstitutions.Inthisway,theincreaseinthe
machinesandmethodsduetonewdiscoverieshashadaverygreat
influenceuponsocialrelationships.
•Theformofsocietyisundergoingchangebecauseofthedevelopmentand
inventionofelectric,steamandpetroldrivenmachinesforproduction,the
meansoftransportandcommunication,andvariousmechanical
appliancesiseverydaylife.Eveninstitutionslikefamilyandmarriagehave
notremainedimmunetotheeffectofthesedevelopments.Theexplicit
effectsofthetechnologicaladvancearelabourorganisation,divisionof
labour,specialisations,highspeedoflife,increaseinproductionetc.in
modernage;technologicalfactorsareamongthepredominantcausesof
socialchange.

16. Other Factors
•Inadditiontoabovementionedfactors,anotherfactorofsocial
changeistheappearanceofnewopinionsandthoughts,e.g.changes
intheattitudestowardsdowry,castesystem,femaleeducationetc.,
haveresultedinwidespreadsocialvariationsandmodifications.In
fact,amajorityofsocialrevolutionstakesplacebecauseofthe
evolutionofnewwaysofthinking.Similarly,warisalsoacauseof
socialchangebecauseitinfluencesthepopulation,theeconomic
situation,andratioofmaletofemaleetc.

17. Measures of Social Change
•Following are the indicators of social change
1.Nutrition -Calories consumed per head, protein consumption
quantity, etc.
2.Clothing -Quantity and quality of cloth used per head.
3.House -Number of houses for the population. Normally one house
should be available for five members.

18. 5.Health-Numberofhospitals,beds,nursesanddoctors
availableper10,000populations.
6.Education-Percentageofchildrengoingtoschool,literacy
level,womenliteracylevel,technicaleducationfacility
availableatschoolandcolleges,etc.
7.Mediaexposure-Numberofradiosets,TVsets,cinema
seats,newspaper,etc.per10,000populations.
8.Communication-Lengthofrailways,blacktoppedroad,and
transportnumberofvehicles,etcfor10000populationand
numberofpostofficeandmaximumdistanceforthe
populationtowalktothepostoffice.

19. 8.Energy-Percentageofvillageandtownwithelectricity,domestic
consumption,electricityconsumption,numberofpumpsetsincultivation,etc.
9.Proportionofindustrialworkers
10.Birthanddeath-Decreasedtrendinboththebirthanddeathisagood
indicatorofratesociety'sdevelopment.
11.Urbanization-Proportionofpopulationlivinginurbanarea,proportionof
populationlivinginslums,etc.