Social change

The word “change” denotes a difference in anything observed over some period of time. Social
change, therefore, would mean observable differences in any social phenomena over any
period of time.

“Social changes are variations from the accepted modes of life; whether due to alteration in
geographical conditions, in cultural equipment, composition of the population or ideologies
and whether brought about by diffusion or inventions within the group.”

Obstacles in the Way of Social Change

The people do not readily accept social change and more particularly some types of changes
which accompany it. They invariably oppose social innovations, inventions and changes. It is
matter of surprise that all inventions have invariably always faced strong oppositions.

The inventors always encounter several difficulties before they are in a position to draw
benefits from their inventions. The following have been some of the major hindrances in the
way of social change.

 Traditionalism and Social Conservatism

Traditionalism acts as one of the greatest hindrance in the way of social change. Every human
being loves his traditions, customs and way of life. He likes to perform his activities according
to his habits, customs and conventions.

It is difficult for him to adapt to new changes, habits and attitudes. He respects the traditional
institutions and distrusts new social inventions. That is why social change comes slowly into
each tradition-bound society.

 Ignorance:

Ignorance is the second major hindrance in the way of social change. The ignorant and the
illiterates always have a deep faith in their blinds beliefs. They cannot fully comprehend the
new social inventions and hence tend to oppose these. For example, it took several generations
before the people accepted the use of an iron plough and in modern times computers.

The people believed (or wrongly believed) that iron destroys both the land and seeds. The
people opposed the new machines and computers because they believed these create
unemployment and miseries in society. People oppose these out of fear, ignorance and social
conservatism.

 Indolence

People also refuse to accept social innovations due to their indolence and mental inertia in
European societies.

Man is largely a lazy man. He wishes to obtain things from others instead of producing them
by his effort. He prefers beaten tracks instead of looking for new and unknown ones.
  Religion:

Religion also acts as a hindrance in the way of social change. According to Marx, religion acts
as opium for the people. Religion gives birth to blind beliefs, rituals and superstitions. Religion
even accepts social inequalities as the will of GOD. Religion tends to make people fatalist,
cowardly, indolent and slavish.

It tends to cloud the human logic and scientific view point. All this is not cent percent correct
and valid. However no one can deny that religion acts as a source of continued presence of
some social conservatism among the people of almost every society.

 Caste System:

The caste system is another hindrance in the way of social change. Due to caste system the
society remains divided into several castes and sub-castes. It generates and maintains a system
of social inequality and discrimination.

The people belonging to a particular caste tend to look upon themselves as superiors and
people belonging to some castes as inferiors. The higher and lower castes remain involved in a
conflict which always hinders the process of orderly social change.

 Love for Stability and Status quo:

People mostly love stability and status quo. Such an orientation hinders social change. People
desire to have a secure future. They fear to adopt those things which are new and have not been
tested. They are prone to maintain status-quo because they believe that in the new
circumstances they will be not happier than they are in the existing setup.

 The Values:

The role played by values in social change is a subject of much contro-versy. For example,
Hegel felt that social change was a result of the unfolding of ideas. Marx felt that values had no
effect on long-term social change. He felt that social change was exclusively a result of the
interplay of economic forces and was manifested in class struggle.

Most of the In-dian sociologists agree that values do influence both individual and collective
behavior, thereby influencing social processes. Many also feel that values are the result of
change and therefore should not always be considered as primary factors in social change. The
values of caste system (hierarchy, pollution, endogamy, etc.) were a great barrier in changing
In-dian society

 Cultural factors

Cultural factors also play a central role in resistance to social change. When technology enters
a society, non‐material culture must respond to changes in material culture. Culture lag refers
to the time during which previous aspects of a society still need to “catch up” to cultural
advances.
  Group Introspection

In any group setting it is possible to lose perspective of a situation when nothing appears to
be wrong or needing change. Being on the inside of such a group can lead to a lack of
perception when it comes to seeing a need for change. Group Introspection, according to
Ellsworth can best be summed up “with the metaphor of not being able to ‘see the forest for
the trees’” (2000, p. 173). When a group does something for so long one way and does not
see any problems, it may be hard to reach them when the opportunity to implement a better
system presents itself

In dealing with this particular barrier to change, the change agent must actively involve both
insiders and outsiders in the change movement. Outsiders will help to bring fresh ideas and
views to the change initiative, while insiders may help to spread the message to other insiders
that the change is indeed worthwhile and needed. The insiders help to wake up the collective
group to the reality that a change may be needed and the benefits are worth the change

OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

There are following techniques which are used to overcome resistance.

Education and Communication: One way to reduce resistance is by communicating. If

people are fully aware of the facts and their misconceptions are removed then resistance would
be negligible. Change can be communicated through face to face discussions, memos, group
presentations or reports. For example, if someone is fully aware of using android cell phones
then he will definitely aware about the positive and negative effects of android. And the people
who have a lot of education about android will deliver it to people who are against the change
then they make valued suggestions and their involvement would reduce resistance.

Facilitation and Support: Change in technology can provide opportunity to people in a

number of ways to minimize resistance. When people’s tension are at a peak then the change
agents can provide them with counseling a, teaching them new skills and helping them. For
example, By providing farmers with new tools for ploughing. Farmers will use tool for some
days and will change their perception about new techniques of ploughing. After that they will
be in favor of new change and this will cause reduce in resistance.

Negotiation: For instance a particular reward can be given to individuals who are resisting
change and have a strong influence in the society. For example, if a new brand launches
owners will offer by one get one free to encourage people to buy their product.

Creation of a learning: Finally the creation of a learning organization or the one that has the
capacity, elasticity and flexibility to change is ideal. In learning, people share their views and
make suggestions and participate willingly in change decisions. for example, In past, in
villages women were not allowed to vote in elections. Nowadays opinion leaders like a
politician party member educate all the members of family to give them vote and educate them
and women to perform participation in election.
 University of Gujrat, Rawalpindi Campuus

Study program: BS

Semester: Fall 2019 (5th)

Course Code/Title: MCM 319

Resource Person: Gull-e-Muqaddas

Assignment # 01 Total Marks: 5

SUBMITTED BY Mehwish Mehboob 17271516-008

Shanza Anwar 17271516-013