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Chapter 24
Social Change: Traditional, Modern and Postmodern Societies
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What is Social Change?
The transformation of culture and social institutions over time. The process:
Is inevitable, but some societies or elements change faster than others.
Is sometimes intentional, but often unplanned.
Is controversial.
Some changes matter more than others.
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3. Causes of Social Change
Invention
Production of new objects, ideas, and social patterns
Discovery
Taking note of certain elements of a culture
Diffusion
The spread of products, people, and information from one culture to another
(Cont’d)
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4. Causes of Social Change (Cont’d)
Conflict and social change: Tensions and stressors between individuals and groups as they gain or lose power can bring about change, e.g., capitalists and workers
Ideas and change: Ideas can fuel social movements which bring about social change, e.g., human rights
(Cont’d)
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5. Causes of Social Change (Cont’d)
Natural environment is under great stress because of our development. The current patterns of pollution are not sustainable.
Demographic change: Increases and decreases in numbers can lead to social change as society may need to expand and/or contract housing, education, and health.
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Modernity
Modernization: The process of social change initiated by industrialization. The key dimensions are:
Decline of small, traditional communities: Cars, TV, and high-tech communications puts small towns in touch with the world
Expansion of personal choice: An unending series of options referred to as “individualization”
Increasing social diversity: Modernization promotes a more rational, scientific world-view
Future orientation and growing awareness of time
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7. Ferdinand Tönnies: The Loss of Community
With modernization comes the loss of Gemeinschaft, or human community
Modernity brings about a condition referred to as Gesellschaft, or impersonal relationships
Critical evaluation:
Gemeinschaft exists in modern society
What is a cause and what is an effect?
Romanticized traditional societies
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8. Emile Durkheim: The Division of Labour
Specialized economic activity moves from
Mechanical solidarity refers to a time when society was held together by social bonds anchored in common moral sentiments
Organic solidarity refers to modernity during which time social bonding is accomplished by way of mutual dependence
Critical evaluation: Society’s norms and values are strong enough to avoid anomie for most people, and people value the personal freedom of modern society despite the risks.
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9. Max Weber: Rationalization
Modernization means replacing a traditional worldview with a rational way of thinking
Modern people value efficiency, have little reverence for the past and adopt whatever social patterns allow them to achieve their goals
Modern society is “disenchanted”: science replaces gods.
Critical evaluation: Rationalization could erode the human spirit, but the alienation he attributes to bureaucracy could stem from social inequality
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Karl Marx: Capitalism
Industrial revolution was a capitalist revolution
Modernity weakened small-scale communities
Social conflict in capitalism sows seeds of egalitarian socialist revolution
Critical evaluation: Complex theory underestimates dominance of bureaucracy, and stifling socialist bureaucracies were as bad or worse than dehumanizing capitalism.
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11. © 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Table 24-2
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12. © 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Table 24-2 (cont’d)
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13. Structural-Functional Analysis
Theory of mass society, where industry and bureaucracy have eroded traditional social ties
Modern life is on a mass scale leading to the de-humanizing of everyone.
Ever-expanding states doom traditional values and social patterns.
Critical evaluation: theory romanticizes the past and ignores plight of women and minorities
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14. Social-Conflict Analysis
Theory of class society, a capitalist society with pronounced social stratification
Capitalism promotes self-centredness
Persistent inequality and the state cannot combat problems because it is controlled by capitalists
Critical evaluation: theory overlooks the increasing prosperity of modern societies; human rights have improved; and most Canadians favour unequal rewards for talent and effort.
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15. Modernity and the Individual
Mass society can make finding an identity difficult
People can shuttle from one identity to another
According to David Reisman modernization brings changes in social character, personality patterns common to members of a society, from
Tradition-directedness: rigid conformity to time-honoured ways of living to
Other-directedness: receptiveness to the latest trends and fashions, often expressed by imitating others
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16. Class Society: Problems of Powerlessness
Persistent inequality undermines modern society`s promise of individual freedom.
Some are well off and many experience economic uncertainty and powerlessness.
Herbert Marcuse disagrees that modern society is rational, and states that science causes problems not solves them.
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17. Modernity and Progress
Progress: a state of continual improvement
Traditional cultures are seen as backward, but
Is our society too fast and stressful?
Does technology threaten privacy?
Global variation: In other parts of the world, such as the People’s Republic of China and Latin America, combinations of traditional and modern are not unusual.
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Postmodernity
Patterns of post-industrial societies
In important ways, modernity has failed: Much poverty and and lack of financial security
The bright light of “progress” is fading: Less confidence about future
Science no longer holds the answers: Science has created its share of problems.
(Cont’d)
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19. Postmodernity (Cont’d)
Cultural debates are intensifying: The promises of social movements have not been fulfilled.
Social institutions are changing: post-industrial society is remaking society again
Critical evaluation: Great increases in life expectancy and standard of living have occurred. What are the alternatives?
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20. © 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Looking Ahead
Solutions to problems elude us
Finding meaning
Resolving conflicts among nations
Eradicating poverty
Controlling population
Treating AIDS
Establishing a sustainable economy
9/11 has drawn us into the U.S. sphere of influence.
We cannot isolate ourselves.
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