SOCIAL CHANGE
• Transformation of culture and social
institutions over time.
Social change is:
a) inevitable
b) sometimes intentional but often unplanned
c) controversial
d) Variable.
Causes of Social Change
• Sources of cultural change
a) Invention
b) Discovery
c) Diffusion
• Social Conflict - Karl Marx
• Ideas -- Max Weber
• Demographic factors
Modernity
• Social patterns linked to industrialization
• Modernization -- social change that is
initiated by industrialization.
• Characteristics of Modernization are:
a) decline of small, traditional communities
b) expansion of personal choice
c) increase in diversity of beliefs
d) future orientation and time consciousness
• Ferdinand Toennies -- modernization leads
to loss of community.
• Emile Durkheim -- modernization increases
division of labor.
• Max Weber -- modernization replaces
tradition with rationality.
• Karl Marx -- modernization leads to
industrial capitalism.
Theoretical Analysis of Modernity
Structural Functionalism
• Modernization leads to emergence of a mass
society. A society where industry and
bureaucracy have eroded traditional social
ties.
• Two reasons why this happened:
a) scale of life has increased
b) the state has grown considerably
Social Conflict
• Sees modernity as a class society -- a
stratified society. Social inequality can only
be defeated through a social revolution.
Modernity and the Individual
• Preindustrial societies -- characterized by
tradition-directedness -- conformity to timehonored traditions.
• Modern societies -- reflect other-direction -receptive to latest trends and fashions.
Postmodernity
• Social patterns characteristic of
postindustrial societies.
• Argues that:
a) modernity has failed
b) promise of “progress” is fading
c) science not answer to all problems
d) cultural debates are intensifying
e) social institutions are changing