CHAPTER 2

SOCIAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL ORDER IN RURAL AND URBAN

SOCIETY
Social Change-Causes/ Sources
The causes may be internal and external.
There are five types of sources or causes of social change.

1. Environmental Causes
2. Technological Causes
3. Economic Causes
4. Political Causes
5. Cultural Causes
1. Environmental Causes

Nature, ecology and the physical environment make

significant influence on the structure and shape of
society. Technology alters nature and our relationship
to it in new ways. Sudden and catastrophic events such
as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, or tidal
waves (like the tsunami that hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
Andaman Islands and parts of Tamil Nadu in December
2004) can change societies quite drastically.
Environmental or ecological factors need not only be
destructive to cause change, they can be constructive
as well. A good example is the discovery of oil in the
desert regions of West Asia (also called the Middle
East). Like the discovery of gold in California in the 19th
century.
2. Technology and Economy
Combination of technological and economic change leads
to social change. Technology has created impressive
changes in the society in combination with the market.
Example: Industrial Revolution. The inventions like steam
ship, railway, gunpowder, writing paper, textile industry etc.
transformed the economy and social geography of the
world. Sometimes the non-technological changes in
economic organisation can also change society. Example,
plantation agriculture.
3. Political Causes
Political forces have been the most important causes of social
change. Examples: wars bring various social changes in society. After
the Second World War Japanese surrender, the United States
occupied and ruled over Japan for several years, bringing about lots
of changes, including land reform in Japan. Political changes need not
only be international - they can have enormous social impact
nationally. A more recent instance is to be found in the Nepali
people's rejection of monarchy in 2006.4. Cultural

4. Cultural Causes
Changes in such ideas and beliefs lead naturally to changes in social
life. Max Weber's study 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism' showed how the religious beliefs of some Christian
Protestant sects helped to establish the capitalist social system.