useful for sociological understanding of change

1. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 1
Sociological Views of Social
Change

2. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 2
Processes of Social Change
• Lenski’s description of social evolution is one theory
• Note that this is a social version of Darwin’s theory of evolution…
sometimes called social Darwinism
– One cause of social evolutions is the introduction of new technologies.
Examples:
• Early Agriculture
– Predicting river floods
– Hoes
– The plow
• Transportation
– Canals
• Food preservation
– Canning food in 1810
» The Role of Napoleon in developing these technologies to
improve war.
» Canning was important because there was no other
alternative to storing food on ice.

3. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 3
– Mason Jars
– Refrigerators
– Frozen foods
• Automobiles and other forms of Transportation
– Sailing ships
– Steam powered ships
– Iron clad ships
• Penicillin and other drugs
– Process continuing to this day
– Extends to stem cell and genetic research
• Communication
– Telegraph
– Telephone.
– Cell phone
• Contemporary: personal computers, Internet
Examples of Technology

4. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 4
– Modern technology and the Need for Skilled Workers
• Craftsmen and apprentices
• Unions
– Machines and Unemployment
• More or fewer skilled workers needed?
• Unemployment or change in careers
– Railroads changing from coal to diesel
– Buggy whips to Automobiles
• Luddites
• Marx Saw this as leading to conflict and
– Alienation
– Ultimately to revolution
Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

5. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 5
• Durkheim saw this as leading to Anomie
– And he commented upon the change from an organic form
of social solidarity to a mechanical form
• Also called a shift from communal to associational
relationships
• A functionalist analysis focuses on the ways that society
achieves and remains in balance… in equilibrium
– Assumes that societies evolve from simpler to more complex
– Current views are that different societies may evolve along different
paths.
– Also that evolution is not always progress and industrialized societies
are not always better than traditional societies

6. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 6
• Modernization Theory
– Assumes that development into societies like the United
States , with similar attitudes and values
– That industrialization is good
• Conflict Theory
– Assumes that Power is an essential element of all social
relations
– Competition for Power between conflicting groups leads to
conflict and revolution

7. © 2007 Alan S. Berger 7
Bringing About Change
• Individuals
– Gandhi
– Martin Luther King
• Revolution and War
• Population Pressures
• Cultural Processes
– Innovation/discovery
– Diffusion
– Globalization