Academic Integrity: tutoring, explanations, and feedback — we don’t complete graded work or submit on a student’s behalf.

identify and discuss several causes of social change, including cultural process

ID: 3486017 • Letter: I

Question

identify and discuss several causes of social change, including cultural processes (invention, discovery, and diffusion), social conflict, ideas, and demographic patterns. Of these factors, which do you think is the most important? Why? identify and discuss several causes of social change, including cultural processes (invention, discovery, and diffusion), social conflict, ideas, and demographic patterns. Of these factors, which do you think is the most important? Why? identify and discuss several causes of social change, including cultural processes (invention, discovery, and diffusion), social conflict, ideas, and demographic patterns. Of these factors, which do you think is the most important? Why?

Explanation / Answer

Social change may be defined as a new fashion or mode, either modifying or replacing the old, in the life of people or in the operation of society. Change in social structure, i.e. the size of a society, the composition or balance of its parts or the type of its organisation.

Culture and Change

As mention there are three main sources of cultural change i.e. invention, discovery, and diffusion. Invention is the combination of existing elements of culture into something new Invention of ideas, objects and social patterns bring social change.

Discovery occurs when people take note of existing elements of the world.

Diffusion is the transference of cultural traits from place and/or group to another. Diffusion creates changes as products, people, and information spread from one culture to another. Diffusion is considered as the most important factor as it changes and replaces the cultural in the society. In the present times, for purposes of diffusion, the two different societies don't have to have a physical contact with each other. Presently mass media of communication hasdemolished the physical boundaries for contacting other cultures. Now perhaps you have to have a controlover the "mouse" and reach anywhere in the world, know about its culture, understand it, and if like may borrow its cultural traits.

Inventions, discoveries, and diffusion, all bring change in culture which in turn bring change in the social structure and the relationships of people.

Conflict and Change

Tension and conflict in a society also produce change. Social classes are located in the different relationships of people to the means of production.

The relationships become important if group becomes conscious and organized for action.

Ideas and Change

Ideas generate social movements. For example we come across movements for bringing change in the ideas of people like social movements against "big dams" as part of environmentalism. There are movements for improving the lives of poor. There are movements for the rights of women.

Environmental Changes

Environmental change can bring changes in the structure of societies and relationship of people.

Environmental changes brought about by "development projects" can also be a factor for social change.

People maychange their occupations, develop new settlements, migrate to new areas; all these situations are situationsof social changes.

Modernization

Modernization is process of social change initiated by industrialization in the mid 18th century.

The structure and relations in the families also undergo change in the modern society.

There is an increasing diversity in the society. In the urban areas one could see the diversity of people,diversity of occupations, diversity of religions, diversity of races, diversity of ethnic groups.

All the causes of social change have interconnections and overlap each other.