Why can

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Why cant things stay the same as they were?
Why do things have to change? What makes change
happen? The subject Societal Change
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"Change is inevitable. Change is constant."   --
 Benjamin Disraeli When youre finished
changing, youre finished. anon.
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In this class, we will discuss the subject of
Why Societies Change To do this, well explore
the major theories on this subject We will look
at these theories in chronological order, as they
appeared and were discussed.
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Theory One Evolutionary Based on studies of
Charles Darwin popular in last 19th and early
20th centuries Darwin - His 1859 book On the
Origin of Species . established evolution as the
dominant scientific explanation of
diversification in nature.
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In biology, evolution is the change in the
heritable traits of a population over successive
generations, as determined by shifts in genetic
makeup. Over time, this process can result in the
development of new species from existing ones.
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Sociocultural evolution(ism) is an umbrella term
for theories of cultural and social evolution,
describing how cultures and societies have
developed over time. If organisms can develop
over time according to certain laws, it seems
reasonable that societies can as well.
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The assumption here is that evolution/natural
selection results in growth and improvement (that
a man is somehow an improvement over an
ape). In comparison, then, societies change by
improving over previous societal states. For
example, civilization is an improvement over
barbarism.
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• Concepts of
• Progress
• Fixed stages through which human societies
  progress (savagery, barbarism, to civilisation)
• Strange customs are are throwbacks to earlier
  useful practices

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Human society as a kind of organism subject to
the process of growth from simple to complex,
from chaos to order, from generalization to
specialization, from flexibility to
organism Newer, more evolved society is better.
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• Lewis Henry Morgan promoted theories of change in
  three states (or eras)
• Savagery, barbarism and civilization divided by
  technological inventions
• Fire, bow, pottery in savage era
• Domestication of animals, metalworking in
  barbarian era
• Alphabet and writing in civilization era
• Technological process as force behind social
  progress , including economic forces

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Ferdinand Toennies evolution from informal
society (many liberties, few laws and
obligations) to formal rational society
(traditions, and laws, and restrictions on
actions) Tendency of standardization and
unification of smaller societies into larger
(globalisation?) Toennies also discussed
urbanisation process (Gemeinschaft (folk/rural)
to Gesselschaft (city/urban)
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Oswald Spengler Decline of the West wrote
about cycles of societal change, through
religion, art, and politics Spring cultural
creation, awakening Summer maturing,
urbanization, critical thought Fall high point
of disciplined organizational strength Winter
exhaustion, breakup, rise in irreligiousness
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Another way to look at this view of the societal
change process is the sine curve
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Every natural organism (including multi-organism
entities) has a cyclic process of birth, growth,
maturity, decline, and ultimately death due to
natural causes Societies also have this process
(consider the Roman empire) Is every great
society doomed to repeat this cycle and to
decline? Is the U.S. in decline?
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Evolutionary change theory Change is natural,
universal, perpetual, ubiquitous, inherent,
endogenous (from within), progressive,
inevitable, continuous, cumulative
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Theory Two Change as Conflict Society
functions so that each group struggles to
maximize benefit to themselves Conflict over
scarce resources (economic) Since resources
scarce, conflict is inevitable
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Pyramid structure of society Elite dictates
terms to masses Major institutions , laws,
traditions designed to support those in
power Others (those NOT in power) struggle to
overthrow those in power and gain hegemony
(dominance over other group/s)
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• Five assumptions
• Competition over scarce resources human
  characteristic
• Structural inequality power and reward
• Revolution change occurs as result of conflict
  between social classes
• War unifier of societies causes end to whole
  societies

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Major proponent was Karl Marx History of society
is history of class struggles He believed that
workers were being exploited by capitalists, who
were keeping too much for themselves (too much
profit) Revolt of proletariat (workers ) was
inevitable
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• Five stages of society
• Tribal/primitive
• Ancient communal (state ownership with slavery
• Feudalism ownership of land by few, over many
• Capitalism ownership of production by few, over
  many
• Communism ownership of production by many

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Ralf Dahrendorf claimed that power imbalance was
at root of class struggle Constant struggle for
authority Lewis Coser said conflict could be good
because it could solidify a group If a society
seems to be disintegrating, conflict with another
group could strengthen the group, cause more
integration (U.S. vs terrorists)
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THEORY THREE Structural Functional Structure
(organization) And Function (how it works) Are
related Based on new systems theory approach
to thinking Parts of society economic,
political, social, technological, cultural,
educational .
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• Explains society as metaphor of an organism or a
  system
• Parts function together for good of whole
  (interrelated)
• Equilibrium as a goal, although never attained
• Change as slow adaptive process
• System integration through shared values

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Older simpler societies held together by
solidarity, more cohesive , with shared values
(everyone doing similar tasks) Modern complex
societies all do different tasks strong
interdependence organic solidarity good of
the whole
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Equilibrium dynamic working balance of parts-
each subsystem adjusts to changes in other
subsystems will only work if changes happen
slowly Example sexual revolution Democrats
vs. Republicans Is change a result of
disequilibrium, or is disequilibrium a result of
change?
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Cultural lag (disequilibrium?) Society unable
to keep up with rapid pace of technological
change, social problems and conflicts caused by
this lag Example we had the technology for
personal computers long before we had the
software and before we had developed the ethics
of their use (hackers)
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Theory Four Social-Psychological What changes
society is people Personality theory of
change Social agents with high influence and
visibility drive social change Inventors,
political activists, business people, artists?
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Max Weber The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit
of Capitalism Capitalism evolved when
Protestant (particularly Calvinists) ethic
influenced large numbers of people to engage in
work in the secular world developing their own
enterprises and engaging in trade and
accumulation of wealth Tied in with Industrial
Revolution
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Weber saw individuals (heroic entrepreneurs )
as having characteristics of planning,
self-denial, hard work, pursuit of economic
gain Example Ben Franklin Others modern
society is a product of innovational
personalities breaking from status quo
creating new values Bill Gates, Tim Berniers-Lee,
Google guys . Did a strong cave man lead
change by beginning to use tools?
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David McClelland In The achieving Society (1961)
he asserted that human motivation comprises three
dominant needs the need for achievement , the
need for power and the need for affiliation. The
importance of each need varies by individual.
Need for achievement NAch linked directly to
societal growth 1961 study of British school
children showed strong correlation with
industrial growth and NAch
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So people who have a high need for achievement
become entrepreneurs. Schumpeter said these wild
spirits caused the innovation and technological
change of a nation He believed entrepreneurs were
the ones who make things work in the economy and
the country. (Heilbroner was a pupil of
Schumpeter) Great entrepreneurs cause societal
change
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Other change agents Political and social
activists and leaders like Martin Luther King,
Jr Franklin D. Roosevelt People who invent things
that change the course of history also create
societal change - Gutenberg Do great leaders
cause societal change or does societal change
cause great leaders to emerge?
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• So which societal change theory makes the most
  sense to you?
• Societies evolve to a higher and more complex
  level
• Societal change comes in waves
• Societies grow, then decline
• Change happens because of conflict between
  segments of society

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• Societies change as the segments of society grow
  and adapt to each other
• Societal change happens as a consequence of
  adjustments to changes outside the system and
  through internal innovations
• Societies change as strong individuals emerge to
  drive changes
• Societal change comes as the result of individual
  entrepreneurial, political, and social activity

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or all of the above?