Chapter 24

Social Change: Traditional, Modern

and Postmodern Societies

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What is Social Change?

The transformation of culture and social institutions

over time. The process:
1. Is inevitable, but some societies or elements
change faster than others.
2. Is sometimes intentional, but often unplanned.
3. Is controversial.
4. Some changes matter more than others.

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Causes of Social Change

Invention
 Production of new objects, ideas, and social
patterns
Discovery
 Taking note of certain elements of a culture
Diffusion
 The spread of products, people, and information
from one culture to another
(Cont’d)

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Causes of Social Change (Cont’d)

 Conflict and social change: Tensions and stressors

between individuals and groups as they gain or lose
power can bring about change, e.g., capitalists and
workers
 Ideas and change: Ideas can fuel social movements
which bring about social change, e.g., human rights
(Cont’d)

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Causes of Social Change (Cont’d)

 Natural environment is under great stress because of

our development. The current patterns of pollution
are not sustainable.
 Demographic change: Increases and decreases in
numbers can lead to social change as society may
need to expand and/or contract housing, education,
and health.

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Modernity
Modernization: The process of social change initiated by
industrialization. The key dimensions are:
 Decline of small, traditional communities: Cars, TV, and
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 social diversity: Modernization promotes a
more rational, scientific world-view
 Future orientation and growing awareness of time

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Ferdinand Tönnies:
The Loss of Community
 With modernization comes the loss of
Gemeinschaft, or human community
 Modernity brings about a condition referred to as
Gesellschaft, or impersonal relationships
Critical evaluation:
– Gemeinschaft exists in modern society
– What is a cause and what is an effect?
– Romanticized traditional societies

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Emile Durkheim:
The Division of Labour
Specialized economic activity moves from
– 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: Society’s norms and values are strong
enough to avoid anomie for most people, and people value
the personal freedom of modern society despite the risks.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Max Weber: Rationalization

Modernization means replacing a traditional worldview 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
– Modern society is “disenchanted”: science replaces gods.

Critical evaluation: Rationalization could erode the human

spirit, but the alienation he attributes to bureaucracy could
stem from social inequality

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Karl Marx: Capitalism

Industrial revolution was a capitalist revolution

– Modernity weakened small-scale communities
– Social conflict in capitalism sows seeds of
egalitarian socialist revolution
Critical evaluation: Complex theory underestimates
dominance of bureaucracy, and stifling socialist
bureaucracies were as bad or worse than
dehumanizing capitalism.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Table 24-2

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Table 24-2 (cont’d)

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Structural-Functional Analysis

Theory of mass society, where industry and

bureaucracy have eroded traditional social ties
 Modern life is on a mass scale leading to the de-
humanizing of everyone.
 Ever-expanding states doom traditional values and
social patterns.
Critical evaluation: theory romanticizes the past and
ignores plight of women and minorities

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Social-Conflict Analysis

Theory of class society, a capitalist society with

pronounced social stratification
 Capitalism promotes self-centredness
 Persistent inequality and the state cannot combat
problems because it is controlled by capitalists
Critical evaluation: theory overlooks the increasing
prosperity of modern societies; human rights have
improved; and most Canadians favour unequal
rewards for talent and effort.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Modernity and the Individual
 Mass society can make finding an identity difficult
 People can shuttle from one identity to another
 According to David Reisman modernization brings
changes in social character, personality patterns
common to members of a society, from
– Tradition-directedness: rigid conformity to time-
honoured ways of living to
– Other-directedness: receptiveness to the latest trends
and fashions, often expressed by imitating others

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Class Society:
Problems of Powerlessness

 Persistent inequality undermines modern society`s

promise of individual freedom.
 Some are well off and many experience economic
uncertainty and powerlessness.
 Herbert Marcuse disagrees that modern society is
rational, and states that science causes problems not
solves them.

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Modernity and Progress

 Progress: a state of continual improvement

– Traditional cultures are seen as backward, but
– Is our society too fast and stressful?
– Does technology threaten privacy?
 Global variation: In other parts of the world, such as
the People’s Republic of China and Latin America,
combinations of traditional and modern are not
unusual.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Postmodernity

Patterns of post-industrial societies

 In important ways, modernity has failed: Much
poverty and and lack of financial security
 The bright light of “progress” is fading: Less
confidence about future
 Science no longer holds the answers: Science has
created its share of problems.
(Cont’d)

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Postmodernity (Cont’d)

 Cultural debates are intensifying: The promises of

social movements have not been fulfilled.
 Social institutions are changing: post-industrial
society is remaking society again
Critical evaluation: Great increases in life
expectancy and standard of living have occurred.
What are the alternatives?

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.

Looking Ahead
 Solutions to problems elude us
– Finding meaning
– Resolving conflicts among nations
– Eradicating poverty
– Controlling population
– Treating AIDS
– Establishing a sustainable economy
 9/11 has drawn us into the U.S. sphere of influence.
 We cannot isolate ourselves.

© 2005 Pearson Education Canada Inc.