Chapter 8- Textbook Flashcards
What is social change?
changes in the typical features of a society (e.g., norms and values) over time
ongoing and inevitable
What are collective behaviours?
behaviours that occur when people come together to achieve a meaningful short therm goal
What are social movements?
collections of people who are organized to bring about or resist social change
operate outside existing social power structures
What are some evidence of social change?
From what is considered deviant over time to the clothes we wear
When does social change occur?
modifications or adjustments to public policy, cultural traditions, or social institutions that are at times inspired by collective behaviours
When is social change most likely to occur (4 points)?
- the change originates within what are seen as cutting-edge sources
- the change addresses a strong felt need among the public
- the change is material rather than nonmaterial
- the change is broad compatible with people’s existing values
What is Prensky known for?
His concepts of digital natives and digital immigrants. He argues that the education system is ill-suited to the needs of today’s students
What are digital natives?
Prensky’s term for people who grew up with digital technologies
-“native speakers” of the digital language
What are digital immigrants?
Prensky’s term for people who grew up before digital technologies became commonplace
What is Prensky’s concern?
That since the school system is staffed by digital immigrants, students and teachers cannot understand each other because they respond to technology in very different ways.
What is the life cycle of social change?
Innovation: something new that inspires social change. Adopted by 10-25% of the population (mostly youth and upper-middle class)
Exponential growth: the adoption of a new technology or behaviour by the majority of the population
Saturation: the point at which a new technology or behaviour becomes a part of everyday living (enters a society’s traditions and normal daily practices)
What is Thorstein Veblen’s concept of vested interests?
Term to describe why privileged members of society resist change
Why do privileged members of society resist change?
Veblen argued that since many in the leisure class gain their wealth and social position not by personal actions or attributes but through inheritance, these people would resist any change as it might cost them their lives or privilege.
What are luddites?
a loosely bound group of displaced textile workers who destroyed the new machines that put them out of work in the early nineteenth century
-term now used to refer to someone who is resistant to new technology
How is technology defined and how is it an inspiration for social change?
- anything that provides an artificial means to achieve a given end or result
- builds on past discoveries and inspires a great deal of social change that similarly accumulates over time
How does your physical environment inspire social change?
- living through a cold Canadian winter is proof that people are able to adapt to a harsh physical environment in order to survive by altering their material culture
- diverse environments provide the inspiration for social change
How do demographic shifts inspire social change?
- growing population of healthy seniors resulted in changes to mandatory retirement legislation and greater public awareness of such issues as long-term-care requirements
- immigration and migration patters
- society needs to adjust to these people’s preferences and expectations
How does economic competition inspire social change?
- emergence of China and India as industrial powerhouses
- reordering of global capitalism
- dominant national economy continues to be the US
- competition inspires innovation and progressive social change, but it can also create very clear winners and losers
How does war inspire social change?
- warfare has always been a prime inspiration for technological development
- from gunpowder to nuclear weapons
- technologies developed for military application find their way into larger society
- US greater access to people’s private information in order to protect everyone
- US heavy use of drone warfare
How do ideas inspire social change?
- power of ideas to inspire change
- importance of Enlightenment ideals to human social development
- ideas such as free will, evolution, democracy, and freedom played an important role in social change
How do governments inspire social change?
- strong political leadership can mobilize large-scale efforts to alter the character of a society
- human rights legislation, health car reform, and environmental protection
How can individuals inspire social change?
- certain people inspire social change through their personality, charisma, and conviction
- some have diminished the value of human life while others have helped to make the world a better place
How do social movements inspire social change/
- emergence of grassroots movements, such as Greenpeace
- ordinary people come together to fight for or against something
- strong organizational capacity, a clear position on their grievances and goals, and active engagement with existing political power structures to facilitate the achievement of these goals
What are the 4 theoretical perceives on social change?
- functionalist
- conflict
- evolutionary
- cyclical
How do functionals view social change?
- more interested the forces that keep a society stable than those that change it
- Talcott parsons saw that change did occur through a process of differentiation
- emergence of a social problem indicates that the social system needs to make adjustments to regain a state of equilibrium
What is the functionalist approach to change guided by? Describe this.
- the equilibrium theory
- the assertion that a system’s natural state is one of balance and harmony
- changes in one part of society require changes in other parts in order for a society to return to its natural state of balance and harmony
- adjustments then actually help to maintain social stability
What do critics of the functionalist perspective point out?
- at times social changes amount to far more than a simple adjustment
- to argue that societies can be understood as organic entities that maintain equilibrium is also problematic in that it confers intent nd conscious action the the conceptual notion of society
How does conflict theory view social change?
- since the rich and powerful maintain their control over society to benefit their interests anything that challenges the status quo will be resisted
- consider conflict as inevitable and necessary to inspire social change that will ultimately rid the world of equality
What did Marx accept about social change?
a broad evolutionary path along with societies evolve. He did not believe that each was necessarily an improvement over the earlier form. Societies that moved through states defined by the exploitation of the poor.
What is Marx’s final stage?
True equality is possible only in the final stage of social development: communism
How did Marx view social change?
as coming about through active revolt against oppression and exploitation
What is the critique of the conflict theory towards social change?
less able to explain long-term stability and change that can occur without conflict
What is evolutionary theory? (describe Comte, Durkheim, Spencer)
Darwin’s theory of genetic evolution to explain how societies change over time
Comte: societies evolving from the theological and metaphysical stages to ultimately arrive at the scientific or positive stage
Durkheim: over time, societies become more complex
Spencer: society was similar to a living organism with interrelated and interdependent parts that would to achieve a common end
In short, they proposed what are referred to as unilinear and universal evolutionary theories
What are unilinear evolutionary theories?
the assertion that there is only one path through which an organism or society can evolve
What are universal evolutionary theories?
The assertion that all societies must progress in the same manner
What is neoevolutionary theory?
Lenski’s analysis of the role that technology plays in people’s adjustment to the physical world
-argues that social change is multilinear, continuous, and fluid
What would all evolutionists agree on?
That all societies have some internal drive that inspires them to adapt to he environment better so that they can compete more effectively for survival
What are the criticisms of evolutionary theory?
- no evidence to suggest that all traditional societies were alike
- there does not appear to be a fixed set of stages through which they pass
- underlying assumption to a societies progress over time, defining process is difficult
What is cyclical theory?
the idea behind cyclical theory is that social change occurs in a way similar to the changing seasons throughout the year
-does not argue that social change occurs in a defined direction, but instead, that there is an ebb and flow through time according to a series of endless cycles