COMPARATIVE SOCIAL SYSTEM

Contents:

Social Change

01. Introduction                        ———- 06

02. Meaning and Definition                ———- 06

Nature of Social Change

03. Nature and Characteristics                ———- 07

04. Social Change and Cultural Change        ———- 08

05. Causes of Social Change                ———- 09

06. Resistance to Social Change            ———- 10

07. Social Evolution                        ———- 11

08. The Concept of Progress                ———- 12

09. Conclusion                            ———- 13

ÿÿ Name of Reference Books                ———- 14

Social Change

Introduction:

Change is an ever present phenomenon everywhere. An ancient Greek Philosopher Heraclites is an emphatic way hinted at this fact when he said that it is impossible for a man to step into the same river twice. It is impossible, because in the interval of time between the first and the second stepping both the river and the man have changed. The nature is never at rest. It is changeful. Change is ever present in the world, because change is the Law of Nature. Similarly, society is not at all a static phenomenon, but it is a dynamic entity. It an “on-going process”. Society is subject to constant changes. Social changes has occurred in all societies and at all times. Of all the objects we study, no matter how traditional and conservative, is constantly undergoing change. Society changes in ceaseless flux and flow.

Meaning and Definition:

Any alteration, difference or modification that takes place in a situation or in an object through time can be called change. The term ‘social change’ is used to indicate the changes that take place in human interactions and interrelations. Society is a “web of social relationships” and hence ‘social change’ obviously means a change in the system of social relationships. Social relationships are understood in terms of social processes and social interactions and social organisation. Thus the term ‘social change’ is used to desirable variations in social interaction, social processes and social organisation. It includes alterations in the structure and functions of the society.

☺According to Kingsley Davis: “By social change is meant only such alterations as occur in social organisation, that is, structure and functions of society”.

☺According to Majumdar, H.T. “Social change may be defined as a new fashion or mode, either modifying or replacing the old, in the life of a people – or in the operation of society.”

☺According to McIver and Page, “Social changes refers to ‘a process’ responsive to many types of changes; to changes in the manmade conditions of life; to changes in the attitudes and beliefs of man, and to the changes that go beyond the human control to the biological and the physical nature of things”.

☺McIver also refers to social change as simply a change in the human relationships.

Nature and Characteristics of Social Change:

The main nature and characteristics of social changes are as follows:

01. Social Changes is Continuous:
Society is undergoing endless changes. These changes cannot be stopped. Society cannot be preserved in a museum to save it from the ravages of time. From the dawn of history, down to this day society has been in continuous flux.

02. Social Change is Temporal:
Change happens through time. Social change is temporal in the sense it denotes the time-sequence. In fact, society exists only as a time-sequence. Innovation of new things, modification and renovation of the existing behaviour and the discarding of the old behaviour patterns take time. But the mere passage of time does not cause change as in the biological process of ageing.

03. Social Change is Environmental: It must take place within a geographic or physical and cultural context. Both these contexts have impact on human behaviour and in turn man changes them. Social changes never take place in vacuum.

04. Social Change is Human Change: The sociological significance of the change consists in the fact that it involves the human aspect. The composition of society is not constant, but changing. The fact that people effect change and are themselves affected by it makes change extremely important.

05. Social Change Results from Interaction of a Number of Factors:
A single factor may trigger a particular change, but it is always associated with other factors. The physical, biological, technological, cultural and other factors may, together bring about social change. This is due to the mutual interdependence of social phenomenon.

06. Social Change May Create Chain Reaction: Change is one aspect of life may lead to a series of changes in its other aspects. For example, change in rights, privileges, and status of women has resulted in a series of changes in home, family relationships and structure, the economic and to some extent, the political pattern of both rural and urban society.

07. Social Change May be Planned or Unplanned: The direction and tempo of social change are often conditioned by human engineering. Plans, programmes and projects may be launched by man in order to determine and control the rate and direction of social change. Unplanned change refers to change resulting from natural calamities such as famines and floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.

Social Change and Cultural Change:

The difference between social change and cultural change has a great sociological importance. By ‘social change’ is meant only such alterations as occur in social organisation, that is, structure and functions of society. Social change, in this sense, is only a part of what is essentially a broader category called “cultural change”. The term “cultural change”, according to Kingsley Davis, “embraces all changes occurring in any branch of culture including art, science, technology, philosophy, etc., as well as changes in the forms and rules of social organisation.” As he says, cultural change is broader than social change, and social change is only a part of it.

All social changes are cultural changes, but all cultural changes need not necessarily be the social changes also. Cultural changes can be called social changes only when they affect human relations and the social organisation and cause some variation in them. Ex. Changes in the musical styles, painting styles, rules of writing poetry and drama, pronunciation of words, etc., represent cultural changes. They are purely cultural changes. They cannot be called social changes, because, they do not in any way affect the existing pattern of human interactions, social system and social organisation.

On the other hand, the rise of organised labour in the capitalistic society and the introduction of communism in the place of democracy, represent social change. These two changes may cause a series of changes in human relations and social organisation. They represent a basic alteration in the relation of employer and employee, rulers and the ruled. They may contribute to the changes in the economic organisation, methods of administration, legislations, economic policies and programmes, and so no. These may, in course of time affect the way of life of people. Hence, they can also be called cultural changes.

Cultural change is thus much broader then the social change. No part of culture is totally unrelated to the social order, but it remains true that changes sometimes occur in these branches without noticeably affecting the social system. Sociologically, therefore, we are interested in cultural change only to the extent that it arises from or has an effect on social organisation.

Causes of Social Change:

Social change is a complex phenomenon in which the cause and effect relationship is not always clear. No single cause produces a single effect in the social world. There is always the plurality of causation. Several factors or causes operate together to produce the same result. Now we see the causes of social changes are as follows:

01. Conflict:
Conflict of interest is always present to some extent in all the social systems. It is more evident in the political field. The concept of power virtually implies the idea of conflicting purposes. In the stable social systems conflicts of interest are settled largely within institutionalized rules. No society is free from conflicts.

02. Social Problems:
Problems such as caste prejudices, prostitution, juvenile delinquency, over population, unemployment, poverty, beggary, the need for slum clearance, etc., involve a good deal of social conflict, in the course of which social change occurs. These are social problems. They arise mainly due to some internal deficiencies.

03. Revolutions and Upheavals:
The most intense conflict in a society is found during a revolution. Various internal factors may contribute to it. For example, the American Revolution, the France Revolution and the Russian Revolution took place due to several factors such as – exploitation, suppression of liberty, hunger, bad roads, commercial restrictions, corruption, military or diplomatic defeat, famine, high prices, low wages, unemployment, and so on. These revolutions brought about far-reaching changes.

04. Cultural Change: Cultural innovation also contributes to social change. An innovation is a new combination of old elements which may come from the innovator’s own society or from some other. The diffusion of culture within society and from one society to another has been a great source of social and cultural change in every society.

Resistance to Social Change:

Though social change is universal, societies and cultures are relatively permanent. The social and cultural functions do not change ‘overnight’ even in the most dynamic populations. Certain resistance to change is there everywhere. In no society all the changes are welcomed by the people without questioning and resistance. The main reasons for the opposition to social change are as follows:

01. Lack of New Inventions: Social changes depend on the invention of new objects, techniques, thoughts, devices and plans to great extent. Changes will take place without much opposition if the people have the strong craving for new things. Lack of interest in inventions and lack of inventions as such, do not provide a favorable atmosphere for change.

02. Imperfections of New Inventions: In the beginning inventions are generally subject to imperfections, such as inadequate performance, easy breakage and difficulty of repair. Social inventions also have imperfections in the beginning. People may oppose them for their inadequacies.

03. Fear Towards the New: Man has not only love for the past but also fear towards the new. People express their fear towards the new while making use of the new objects, listening to the new thoughts and following a new practice. Indians have shown in the beginning their fear and suspicion while accepting the British medicine, undergoing English education and undertaking sea voyages.

04. Habit: Habit is another obstacle to social change. Individuals are very much influenced by habits and customs. People dislike or fear the unfamiliar. They are not ready to give up a practice to which they have been habituated to and adopt a new one. Hence the new practice is looked down upon or rejected.

05. Economic Disparity and Difficulty: Wide gap between the rich and poor and extreme economic distress also come in the way of social change. People who are suffering from various economic problems are not prepared to accept changes, for they are either sceptical about it or they are economically incapable of accepting a new change.

We cannot say that all the resistances are harmful. In some instances, opposition to social change is justifiable. Some innovations or changes will prove to be harmful when they are judged from the point of view of a certain standard of values.

Social Evolution:

The term ‘evolution’ comes from the Latin word ‘evoluere’ which means ‘to develop’ or to ‘unfold’. It clossly corresponds to the Sanskrit word ‘Vikas’. Evolution literally means gradually ‘unfolding’ or ‘unrolling’. It indicates changes from ‘within’ and not from ‘without’; it is spontaneous, but not automatic. It must take place on its own accord. It implies more precisely to the internal growth of an organism.

The term ‘evolution’ is borrowed from biological science to sociology. The term ‘organic evolution’ is replaced by ‘Social Evolution’ in sociology. Whereas the term ‘organic evolution’ is used to denote the evolution of organism, the expression ‘social evolution’ is used to explain the evolution of human society.

The concept of social evolution is highly useful in explaining the changes in and growth of society for the following reasons:

 The nature of any system can be better understood if we look at it as it ‘unfolds’ itself. Evolution is a principle of internal growth. It shows not merely what happens to a thing but also what happens within it.

‚ The evolutionary principle provides a simple means of classifying and characterising the most diverse social systems. Societies could be classified on the basis of their degree and mode of differentiation as revealed by customs, creeds, techniques devices, thoughts, etc.

ƒ Finally, the evolutionary clue helps us to know the direction of change. The direction of change is always the result of some persistent forces that are at work. If the forces at work. If the forces at work are known through them, the direction can be ascertained.

The Concept of Progress:

Human society has evolved into a demonstrable certainty. But we cannot demonstrate with no less certainty that society has progressed? We may only believe in progress, but we cannot show it to others unless they first accept our evaluations. People may look on the same social changes and to some they spell progress, to others decadence. In early modern times one of the most widely accepted nations of social change was that of continuous progress.

According to Ogburn progress “is a movement towards an objective thought to be desirable by the general group for the visible future”.

McIver writes: “By progress we imply not merely direction, but direction towards some final goal, some destination determined ideally not simply by the objective consideration at work”.

In simple words, it may be said that social progress, indicates a change or an advance towards a desirable end.

Our concept of social progress involves the following attributes:

01. There is change in progress:
The idea of social progress presupposes the presence of change. There can be no progress without some or the other change.

02. Change is towards some desired goal: Not all changes imply progress. A change can be called progress only when it fulfils or on the process of fulfilling the desired end. The “desired end” is demand to be beneficial to and supportive of human welfare.

03. Progress is communal: Progress from the sociological point of view is communal in nature. Here the progress or the welfare of entire group or society in the desired direction is taken into consideration and not the happiness of an individual.

04. Progress is defined in terms of values: It on the basis of our value system that we always decide whether a particular change implies progress or not. Our own values would tell us whether a change is taking us towards the goal fixed ideally or towards the desirable end or not.

Conclusion:

At last we say that, ‘Social Progress” is no doubt an abstract term. We may or may not agree that there is progress, but we cannot prove it. Progress is a reality which is immeasurable and undemonstrable. Anything that cannot be demonstrated and measured scientifically cannot be rejected socially. It is especially true in the case of social progress.

Name of Reference Books:

01. Sociology

— C.N. Shankar Rao

[S. Chand and Company Ltd. 7361, Ram Nagar, New Delhi-110055]

02. Changing Society in India and Pakistan

— A.K. Nazmul Karim

[Ideal Publications. Dhaka.]

03. Introductory Sociology

— K.M. Aminul Islam

[Ajijia Book Dipo. 38,Banglabazar, Dhaka-1100]

04. Principles of Sociology

— F.R. Khan

[Shirin Publications, Dhaka-1100]

Prepared By: Chinmoy Kumar Ghosh

BBA

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