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Sociology Ch. 3 S. 3 Social Change. Obj: Identify and describe the main sources of social change; Describe the factors that lead people to resist social change.
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Sociology Ch. 3 S. 3Social Change Obj: Identify and describe the main sources of social change; Describe the factors that lead people to resist social change.
All cultures change over time. Yet some cultures change much faster than others. The pace of change is closely related to the total number of culture traits that a culture has at a particular time. The more culture traits a culture has, the faster the culture can change since more possibilities for change exist. The rate of change can also accelerate because each change brings about other changes. For example, the invention of the automobile did more than furnish Americans with a new form of transportation. It also provided employment and affected they way people shopped, where they lived, and what they did with their leisure time.
Sources of Social Change The modern world changes rapidly. Each week brings new material goods, new styles of dress, new ways of doing things, and new ideas. What causes all of these changes? There are many factors that stimulate change. This section addresses six factors: values and beliefs, technology, population, diffusion, the physical environment, and wars and conquests.
Values and Beliefs As functionalist sociologists have noted, society is a system of interrelated parts. A change in one aspect of society produces change throughout the system. Changes in values and beliefs, therefore, can have far-reaching consequences for society. These consequences are particularly noticeable when new values and beliefs are part of a larger ideology.
An ideology is a system of beliefs or ideas that justifies the social, moral, religious, political, or economic interests held by a group or by society. Ideologies often are spread through social movements. A social movement is a long-term conscious effort to promote or prevent social change. Social movements usually involve large numbers of people. Examples of social movements include the prohibition movement, the women’s rights movement, the peace movement, the gay rights movement, and the civil rights movement.
The consequences of shifts in ideology can be seen by examining how the civil rights movement changed politics in the US. As recently as the 1950s, African Americans were forced to live as second-class citizens throughout the US, particularly in the South. Laws limited where they could live, go to school, sit on buses, and eat lunch. Through legal and illegal means, African Americans were denied the right to vote or to hold public office.
Civil rights supporters staged boycotts, marches, and demonstrations to publicize this situation. A surge of support for change among US citizens soon developed. Responding to public pressure, Congress passed a number of civil rights laws, including the voting Rights Act of 1965. This act outlawed the various methods that had been used to deny African American the vote.
The changes brought about by the civil rights movement transformed the American political landscape. Today African Americans are a powerful group of voters. The number of African American elected officials has jumped from fewer than 1,500 in 1970 to nearly 9,000 by the end of the 1990s. More than half of these officials hold offices in southern states.
Technology Social change also occurs when people find new ways to manipulate their environment. The knowledge and tools that people use to manipulate their environment are called technology. Two ways that new technologies arise are through discovery and invention.
Discovery occurs when people recognize new uses for existing elements in the world or begin to understand them in new ways. Examples of discoveries include atomic fission, chewing gum, and oil shale. Oil shale was discovered by accident. Many stones along the banks of the Colorado River contain rock shale saturated with oil. According to one story, a man used these stones to construct a fireplace. When he lit a fire in the fireplace, the fireplace itself burst into flames! Nevertheless, a new use of oil shale as fuel provided new resources for America’s growing industrial society.
Invention occurs when people use existing knowledge to create something that did not previously exist. Inventions can take the form of material objects, ideas, or patterns of behavior. New tools, such as a gadget to take the pits out of cherries or a computer small enough to hold in your hand, are examples of material inventions. Examples of nonmaterial inventions include political movements, religious movements, new hobbies, and business organizations.
Population A change in the size of the population may bring about changes in the culture. For example, the population of the US has increased rapidly since the early 1900s. The arrival of new groups of people with their own unique cultural traits, and values has influenced American culture. For example, food brought to the country by immigrant groups – such as Mexican, Chinese, and Italian food – have become common in American kitchens.
Population increases and decreases affect the economy. By increasing the demand for goods and services, a growing population may increase employment and stimulate the economy. On the other hand, a community with a declining population may need fewer goods and services. As a result, there may be limited employment opportunities for the people who remain. An increase in the general population also means that there are more people occupying the same amount of space, which creates more crowded conditions. In addition, the larger population brings increased demand for energy, food, housing, schools, stores, and transportation.
People bring about changes simply by moving from one place to another. When a family moves to a new community, change is stimulated both in the community it leaves and in the new community it enters. Migrations of people within a country can cause social changes, such as the loss of regional distinction within the country. Social and cultural changes also result from changes in the average age of a population. When fewer people are having babies, for example, there is less need for schools, recreation centers, and other services geared toward children. The need for specialized services geared toward elderly people, on the other hand, increases as more people live longer.
Diffusion People often borrow ideas, beliefs, and material objects from other societies. This process of spreading culture traits from one society to another is called diffusion. The more contact a society has with other societies, the more culture traits it will borrow. Today, with mass transportation and instant communication through radio, television, the telephone, and the Internet, diffusion takes place constantly.
Some culture traits spread more rapidly than others. Generally, societies adopt material culture and technology more freely than ideas and beliefs. For example, most societies readily accept tools and weapons that are superior to their own. Societies often adapt the culture traits they borrow to suit their own particular needs. For example, many of the societies in Africa Asia, and South America that have adopted Christianity have blended Christian beliefs with elements of their traditional religions. Sociologists refer to this process of adapting borrowed cultural traits as reformulation.
The Physical Environment The environment provides conditions that may encourage or discourage cultural change. People in some societies wholly rely on foods that they can grow locally. Other societies must import much of their food or adapt new crops to grow in their area. The introduction of new foods or the scarcity of a familiar food can bring about cultural change.
Natural disasters such as droughts, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and tidal waves can also produce social and cultural change. These disasters can destroy whole communities. Afterward, people often take precautions for the future. Dams may be built to lessen the effects of floods and droughts. People may also adopt new construction methods to enable buildings to better withstand earthquakes or tornadoes.
A change in the supply of natural resources may bring about cultural change. For example, in the 1970s high fuel prices and fuel shortages caused long lines at American gasoline stations. This shortage encouraged Americans to seek alternative sources of energy and to develop smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. The search for alternative forms of energy slowed in the 1980s in part because the fuel shortages eased. In addition, the production of less-fuel-efficient cars, such as high-performance sports cars, increased once again.
Wars and Conquests Wars and conquests are not as common as other sources of social change. However, they probably bring about the greatest change in the least amount of time. War causes the loss of many lives. It brings about the destruction of property and leads to the rise of new cities and towns that must be built to replace those destroyed. In addition, war causes changes in the economy as industry focuses on producing war materials rather than consumer goods. For example, after September Il, 2001, some industries contributed to the war on terrorism by providing military supplies and services. War can also promote advances in technology and medicine that can have civilian applications. War may also result in changes in government as new rulers come to power. These changes may contribute to new economic policies and political rights.
Resistanceto Change Cultural change, regardless of its source, rarely occurs without some opposition. For each change introduced in society, there are usually people who strongly oppose it. Social changes often result from a compromise between opposing forces. This is true both on an interpersonal level and on a societal level. Many people, after time, may accept a new idea that they strongly resisted at first. Other people may never accept the new idea but may simply adapt. Changes in the role of women in the workplace first met with some resistance that has wained in recent years. Ethnocentrism, cultural lag, and vested interests are among the reasons that people resist cultural change.
Ethnocentrism Change that comes from outside a society often meets with particularly strong resistance. People tend to believe that their own ideas and ways of doing things are best. This tendency to view one's own culture or group as superior to others is called ethnocentrism. Extreme ethnocentrism can make cultural borrowing difficult or even impossible.
The "Buy American" campaign of the I970s and 1980s provides an example of how ethnocentrism can affect one culture's acceptance of another culture's material objects and ideas. One target of the campaign was the importation of Japanese automobiles. Allowing these cars into the United States, campaign supporters said, would put Americans out of work. Some Americans agreed with this view and refused to buy Japanese cars, stating that this refusal was the patriotic thing to do. Some American autoworkers went further.
They demonstrated their feelings by publicly demolishing Japanese cars. Nevertheless, Japanese cars were eventually accepted in the United States. Today it can be difficult to differentiate between Japanese and American cars. Some Japanese cars are now made by American workers at factories in the United States. At the same time, some American automobiles are assembled at factories in foreign countries. Ethnocentrism and other economic factors led to the anti-Japanese- car bias, which has decreased in recent years.
Cultural Lag Not all cultural traits change at the same rate. Some traits change rapidly, and the transformation of others may take considerable time. This situation is called cultural lag. Material culture usually changes faster and nonmaterial culture lags behind. Often, technological change results in cultural lag.
Sociologist James M. Henslin identified the traditional school year as an example of cultural lag. In the 1800s the United States was a largely rural agricultural country. At that time, farming was a very labor-intensive activity. A long summer break from school was needed so that children could work on the farms. Over time, technological developments transformed the United States into a mostly urban and industrial country Today, therefore, a long summer break is not needed. Even so, the traditional school year persists. Efforts to introduce year-round schooling have met with significant opposition.
The development of computers and the Internet has led to a cultural lag. Computers and the Internet offer many educational opportunities. However, because of costs and other factors, some school districts have yet to put this new technology to effective use in the classroom. In addition, some elements of Internet technology-notably the "trapping" and storing of information about users-have created questions concerning privacy that the U.S. legal system is struggling to address.
Vested Interests A person who is satisfied with the way things are now is likely to resist change. Some individuals feel that the present, even if somewhat imperfect, is better than an unknown future. They will resist any change that threatens their security or standard of living. In other words, they have a vested interest to protect. For example, workers may oppose the introduction of new technology because they fear the technology may replace them and cost them their jobs.
Entire industries also have vested interests to protect. Consider the American oil industries, for example. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, oil prices rose dramatically. While many people around the country called for a new energy policy, the oil industry benefited from the rising prices. It was not until 1992, under President George Bush, that the Energy Policy Act was passed. However, critics charged that the new policy did not focus enough on conservation or on the use of renewable fuels
One reason it was difficult to implement an energy policy to permanently solve the energy problems of the 1970s and 1980s was that many people in the oil industry benefited from the high prices of petroleum products. To protect their vested interests, oil companies and workers in the oil industry have lobbied the government to protect their industry and interests in the energy issue.
