U2L6: External Factors Influencing Social Change

Question 1

What is Physical Environment?

Answer 1

• Habitat where Society exists
• climate, weather, vegetation, animal populations, and humans; when one of these factors change, it has a ripple effect on society.
• EX: soil erosion + droughts = impact ability of a society to produce enough food

Question 2

What is Population Changes?

Answer 2

• Caused by immigration and emigration.
• New immigration creates diverse cities and challenges the social system; it impacts jobs and housing.
• Can lead to cultural exchanges between different groups resulting in new attitudes, beliefs, and values.
• EX: more gurudwaras, less jobs, harder to find homes

Question 3

What is Proximity?

Answer 3

• Proximity of a cultural group to other cultural groups = changes.
• Society’s located close to each other tend to change and develop more rapidly.
• High Intercultural contact between cultures = more changes.
• EX: trade and war, globalization and tourism, Toronto Film Festival

Question 4

What is Social environment, Culture and social values?

Answer 4

• Collectivist - common values include conformity, uniformity, and cooperation; individual duties to the group are more important than personal privileges = make social change hard.
• individualist - Guided by personal rights; more tolerant of cultural variability and receptive to change. society’s values/attitudes = how the society accepts change.
• ethnocentrism - one’s culture is superior to all others
• EX: Seating plans. Individualist - sitting where u wanna sit, Collectivist - teacher moves students who talk ™ for the better of the group.

Question 5

What is technology?

Answer 5

• Impacts a culture’s social institutions, customs and values
• Changes the way we interact with each other - most important mechanism during progress in society
• EX: self checkout machines - effective cuz u can DIY but crime rates can increase because more people may steal