Download Section 1: Explaining Social Change

Sociology
Chapter 18
Social Change And Modernization
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Section 1: Explaining Social Change
Section 2: Modernization
Chapter Wrap-Up
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
Read to Discover
• What theories have social scientists
offered to explain the process of social
change?
• How have the theories on social change
evolved?
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
Question
What are the four theories of social
change?
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
THEORY
TYPES
CRITICISMS
Cyclical
 Spengler
 Sorokin
 focused on describing what is, instead
of why things happen
Evolutionary
 Early
 Modern
 biased toward the West; does not
explain why change occurs
 does not explain short-term
changes or wars
Equilibrium
 Parsons
 does not explain wide-spread social
change within or between societies
Conflict
 Marx
 Dahrendorf
 does not always lead to revolution
 does not explain change without
conflict
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
• Cyclical
• Spengler—four stages: childhood,
youth, adulthood, old age
• Sorokin—fluctuation between ideational
culture (spiritual) and sensate culture
(scientific) with idealistic culture in the
middle
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
• Evolutionary
• Early—progress through distinct stages
toward complexity
• Modern—tendency to go along many
paths toward increasing complexity
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
• Equilibrium
• Parsons—occurs as society adapts to
maintain stability after a change in one
area; involves differentiation and
integration
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
• Conflict
• Marx—results from class conflict and
revolution
• Dahrendorf—results from social
conflicts in all forms
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 1: Explaining Social Change
How Theories of Social Change Evolved
• Older theories focused more on describing
social change and suggested that all societies
follow similar patterns of development
• Modern theories provide for different patterns of
development and focus more on why societies
change
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 2: Modernization
Read to Discover
• How do modernization theory and worldsystem theory differ in their views on
modernization in less-developed nations?
• What are some of the positive and
negative effects of modernization on social
life and the natural environment?
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 2: Modernization
• Modernization Theory—argues that lessdeveloped countries will eventually modernize
as they begin to industrialize
• World-systems Theory—argues that the
concentration of wealth and power in core
nations slows modernization in less-developed
countries
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 2: Modernization
Question
What are the positive and negative
consequences of modernization on
social life?
Sociology
Chapter 18
Section 2: Modernization
EFFECTS OF MODERNIZATION
Positive
 Increase in standard of living
 Longer life expectancies
 Lower birthrates
 Higher rates of literacy
 Decrease in economic and
social inequality
 More personal comforts
 Improved infrastructure
 Electricity and
communication technology
 Establishment of educational
institutions
Negative
 Loss of some traditional
authority for the family and
religion
 Weaker social relationships
and increased feelings of
social isolation
 Moral and ethical questions
 Some environmental problems
 Some health problems
Sociology
Chapter 18
Chapter Wrap-Up Understanding Main Ideas
1. According to Pitirim Sorokin, how do ideational and sensate
cultures differ?
2. What are the major features of the evolutionary theory of
social change?
3. Briefly describe the equilibrium theory of social change. Why
does this theory appeal to some sociologists?
4. Why do conflict theorists view social change as inevitable?
5. Why did modernization theory have a strong following in the
1950s and 1960s?
6. What moral and ethical issues does modern technology
pose?