Society, Seventh Edition Social Change Modern And Postmodern Societies.

Society, Seventh Edition

Social Change

Modern And Postmodern Societies


Social Change – the transformation of culture and social institutions over time

Four major characteristics1. Social change is inevitable, only the

rate of change varies2. Social change is sometimes

intentional, but often is unplanned3. Social change is controversial4. Some social change matters more

than others


Why Cultural Change Takes Place

• Culture and change– Invention

• Production of new objects, ideas, and social patterns

– Discovery• Taking note of existing elements of a

culture

– Diffusion• The spread of products, people and

information from one culture to another


Other Reasons Why• Conflict and social change

– Tensions and stressors between individuals and groups can bring about change

• Different groups gain and lose power and privilege as they struggle for their own positions

• Ideas and change– Ideas can fuel social movements which bring

about social change• The idea of equal rights for everyone

• Demographics and change– Increases and decreases in numbers can lead

to social change as society may need to expand and/or contract

• Need for jobs, housing, education, etc


National Map 16-1 (p. 440)Who Stays Put? Residential Stability across the United States


Types of Social MovementsSocial Movements – an organized activity that encourages or

discourages social change• Alternative

– Least threatening, limited change for a limited number of members

– Example: planned parenthood• Redemptive

– Selective focus, radical change– Example: some religious organizations

• Reformative– Limited social change that targets all members of society– Example: equal rights amendment movement

• Revolutionary– The most severe, striving for basic transformation of society– Example: ultra-conservative political movements


Figure 16-1 (p. 441)Four Types of Social Movements


Theories of Social Movements

• Deprivation Theory– Social movements arise among people who feel

deprived– Result of experiencing relative deprivation – a

perceived disadvantage arising from some specific comparison

– Critical evaluation• Why do social movements arise among some groups

and not others• Theory suffers from circular reasoning• Focuses exclusively on the cause telling us little

about movements themselves



Wm. Kornhauser’s Mass-Society Theory– Social movements attract socially isolated

people who feel personally insignificant.– Movements are personal as ell as political,

giving people with week social ties a sense of purpose and belonging

– Critical evaluation• Gives no clear standard fro measuring the extent to

which we live in a mass society• Belittles the social justice issue suggesting it is

flawed people not flawed society that are responsible• Research is mixed on support of theory



• Neil Smelser’s Structural-Strain Theory• Six factors encouraging social movement

1. Structural conducivenessArise out of perceptions of problems

2. Structural strainExperiencing relative deprivation

3. Growth and spread of an explanationMaking clear reasons and solutions for suffering


Theories of Social Movements• Neil Smelser’s Structural-Strain Theory• Six factors encouraging social movement

(cont.)4. Precipitating factors

Specific events give rise to collection action

5. Mobilization for actionAction stage; Protest and rallies

6. Lack of social controlQuick, harsh response, or giving the “green light” for change?

– Critical evaluation• Same circular arguments as Kornhauser’s theory• Overlooks important role of resources, mass media

and international alliances



• Resource-Mobilization Theory– No social movement is likely to succeed or

even get off the ground without substantial resources

• Money• Human labor• Offices and communication facilities• Access to mass media

– Critical evaluation• Powerless can promote change if they are organized

an have committed members• Overstates the extent to which powerful people are

willing to challenge the status quo



• Cultural Theory– The people in any particular situation are

likely to mobilize to form a social movement only to the extent that they develop shared understandings of the world that legitimate and motivate collective action

– Critical evaluation• Does not address how and when powerful cultural

symbols turn people from supporting the system toward protest



• New Social Movements Theory– Emphasizes the distinctive futures of recent

social movements in postindustrial societies• Most of today’s movements are international• Tend to focus on cultural change and improving social

and physical surroundings• Draws support from middle and upper classes

– Critical Evaluation• Tends to exaggerate differences between past and

present social movements


Stages of Social Movements• Stage one: emergence

– Perception that something is wrong

• Stage two: coalescence– Defining itself and “going public”

• Stage three: bureaucratization– Organizing rationally to get job done

• Stage four: decline– Is the movement in need of regrouping or is it simply

time for its demise?• Reasons:

– Signals success has been reached– Signals organizational problems (leadership, etc.)– Leadership sells out to other interests– Demise may result from state-sponsored repression


Modernity – Social Patterns Resulting From Industrialization

Peter Burger identified four characteristics of modernization – the process of social change begun by industrialization

• Decline of small, traditional towns– 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 diversity in beliefs

– Modernization promotes a more rational, scientific world-view• Future orientation and growing awareness of time

– People living in industrialized nations tend to focus more on the future than on the past


Ferdinand Tonnies & Loss of Community

• With modernization comes the loss of gemeinschaft, or human community– Loss of community caring and the beginning of

individualization and a business-like emphasis

• Modernity brings about a condition referred to as gesellschaft, or impersonal relationships– People live among strangers and ignore most

they pass on streets

• Critical evaluation – Gemeinschaft exists in modern society– Didn’t distinguish between cause & effect– Romanticized traditional societies


Emile Durkheim & Division of Labor

• Modernization is marked by increases in a complex division of labor– People performing highly distinctive roles rather than

everyone performing the same daily routines

• Society transformed from mechanical to organic solidarity– 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– Societies’ norms and values strong enough to avoid anomie– People value the personal freedom of modern society

despite the risks


Max Weber and Rational Society

• Modernization means replacing a traditional worldview is nothing more than the 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

• Critical evaluation– The alienation he attributes to bureaucracy

actually stems from social inequality


Karl Marx & Capitalism

• Industrial revolution was a capitalist revolution– Social conflict in capitalism sows seeds of

egalitarian socialist revolution

• Critical evaluation– Complex theory underestimates dominance

of bureaucracy– Stifling socialist bureaucracies as bad or

worse than dehumanizing capitalism


Theoretical Analysis of Modernity

• Structural-functional theory – Mass society is a society in which prosperity and

bureaucracy have eroded traditional social ties– Draws upon the ideas of Tonnies, Durkheim and Weber

• Social-conflict theory– Class society is a capitalist society with pronounced

social stratification– Draws upon the ideas of Marx

• Critical evaluation– Mass society ignores social inequality, romanticizes the

past– Class society overlooks the way equality in modern

society has increased


David Riesman & Modernity & the Individual

• Personal identity can be a problem since society changes so rapidly; Inherent instability– Social character refers to personality patterns

common to members of a particular society– Tradition-directedness refers to rigid conformity

to time-honored ways of living– Other-directedness refers to a receptiveness to

the latest trends and fashions, often expressed in the practice of imitating others


PostmodernitySocial Patterns Characteristic of Postindustrial

Societies

• In some ways, modernity has failed– Much poverty and stress

• The bright light of progress is fading– Less confidence about future

• Science no longer holds the answers– Science has created its share of problems

• Cultural debates are intensifying– The promises of social movements have not been

fulfilled

• Social institutions are changing– All institutions are going through change, including the

most basic, the family

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Society, Seventh Edition Social Change Modern And Postmodern Societies.

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