Page 598 - Sociology and You

568
Unit 5 Social Change
Section 1
Social Change
Key Terms
• social change
• social processes • discovery
• invention
• diffusion
• technology • revolution • war
Section
Section
Defining Social Change
Change is one of the most constant features of American society. This is so true that it is almost a cliché. In fact, all societies change—some rapidly, others more slowly. For sociologists, social change occurs when
many members of the society adopt new behaviors. The behaviors must have long-term and important consequences.
How fast has social change occurred?
Scientists use an analogy to help people un- derstand the pace of social change. Imagine for a moment the entire history
of Earth as a 365-day period. Midnight
of January 1 is the starting point. Today’s date is December 31. Each Earth “day” represents about twelve million years. The first form of life,
a simple bacterium, appeared in
February. More complex life, such
as fish, appeared about November
20. On December 10, the dinosaurs
appeared; by Christmas they were
extinct. The first recognizable human
beings did not appear until the afternoon
of December 31. Modern humans
(homo sapiens) emerged shortly be-
fore midnight that day. All of recorded
history occurred in the last sixty seconds of the year (Ornstein and Ehrlich, 1991). In the scheme of history, then, human social changes occur in the “blink of an eye.” Only when we look at social change from the perspective of the human life span does it sometimes seem to be a slow process.
Can social change be predicted? It is difficult to predict how a so- ciety will change. This is partly because the course of change in a society depends on the nature of the existing culture. For example, two societies that adopt a democratic form of government may develop in very different ways. Both Britain and the United States are democracies. But their histo- ries prior to becoming democracies were different, since Britain had a royal tradition. As a result, democratic government took different forms in these two nations.
Preview
Preview
Social change refers to new behaviors that have long-term and relatively im- portant consequences. Discovery, invention, and dif- fusion are the major social processes through which so- cial change occurs. Important agents of social change are technology, pop- ulation, the natural environ- ment, revolution, and war.
social change
new societal behaviors with important long-term consequences