Understanding Social Change - Essay Example

People are more knowledgeable today and therefore have more opportunities and choices than they had in the past, do you agree Introduction: Social change can be defined as the alterations in society as observed in values, norms, culture, behaviour and social relationships. Herbert Spencer offered the theory of change that was based on population growth and structural differences, Karl Marx examined change in revolutionary terms and that change is brought about by struggle for supremacy between economic classes. Augusta Comte in his theory on social dynamics said that change in society progresses through a series of predictable stages based on development of human knowledge. Knowledge can be defined as a body of skills that we posses that we use in practical ways and which are cumulative. Due to change people now have more opportunities and choices than they had in the past. (Workbook 5 page 2) Knowledge and knowing: In society knowledge is produced and disseminated; knowledge has caused change in society making a development in various institutions in society, a good example is the development of medicine, there has been a shift from traditional cure to scientific discovery of medicine to cure various illnesses, there has been increased knowledge in that people can now self diagnosis, improvement in over the years, in the example given the example on a patient who is ill in the year 2000 BC the medicine will come from a certain tree or root, in the year 1000 AD the patient would be asked to recite a certain prayer, in the year 1850 AD the patient would be advised to drink a certain potion and lately in the world we are in today the patient will be asked to take a certain pill. Therefore in the world we are today we can say we are in a better position than we were in the past. Still in the medicine part, today we are in a position to choose from various medicines to cure certain illnesses, there is also the development of health institutions which is now improved to offer better health care and the training of doctors has led to development of educational institutions to train the doctors. All these have led to creation of more and complex institutions which have led to creation of more opportunities and choices. Religious knowledge is defined as knowledge based on beliefs, over the years this knowledge has been passed on to many people in the world, these is made possible by the development of science, the bible is now published and available to all unlike in the past, the improvement of modes of communication especially the mass media has made it easier for the dissemination of these knowledge. There are now many churches and denominations and people have now many choices, the improvement of this institution over the years. The emergence of religious leaders and increased belief in religion has led to change in society leading to a better society despite critics by Karl Marx that religion was an institution that legitimized capitalism and that religion led to a state of false consciousness. An improvement in environmental conservation knowledge has led to development of environmental conservation movements and institutions to improve on environmental degradation. In the past environmental degradation was not accounted for but in the present times there has been increased efforts to improve and conserve the environment, pollution has increased over the years due to improvement in science on sources of energy especially fossil fuels, in the present there is increased knowledge on environmental degradation and people are now looking for alternative sources of energy that are less pollutants. The sensitization of the deterioration of the ozone layer by the media has led to more conservative measures. The source of this knowledge is the development of science and technology, people in the present are have more knowledge than in the past, and these improvement has led to a better society that has more opportunities and choices. An example is the improvement of modes of transport, in the present one can move anywhere in the world. Structure and agency: Agency refers to actors who operate independently off the constraints of social structures, Weber in his theory of structure and agency argued that social events such as families, capitalism and religion were products of human beings. This theory emphasise the capacity of individuals to construct and reconstruct the world. To Weber power is seen in as system of rule seen in structures, the change that have occurred is that people nowadays can reject dominant rule and fixed ways of doing things, it is evident that people in the present times have established democratic systems of rule and there fore power domination has reduced. The Yir Yorot: To illustrate that the improvement in knowledge has led to positive change I will focus on the Yir Yorot, this was a tribe originally from south eastern Australia, this tribe depended on the stone axe. The stone axe was not only a basic tool but also a symbol of status, male dominance and also played a role in religious ceremonies. Anyone who wanted to use this axe had to ask for permission from one of the leaders, the leader would access if the person was worthy to use the axe. The arrival of the Europeans who brought with them a steel axe caused a great change to this tribe, the Europeans gave their steel axes to young men and women to use and this upset the relationship between the young and the elderly. In the past women were not allowed to use the stone axe but the Europeans gave women axes and these eroded the status symbol between the male and female. Further the tribe could explain the origin of its artefacts with myths and therefore this undermined the importance of mythical stories. In conclusion we can see by the story of the Yir Yorot that the social change brought about by the coming of the Europeans made the society to have various changes, women now were allowed to use axes, there was a better axe made of steel meaning that work was made easier. (Cohen (1978)) We can also ague that people are more knowledgeable today but they do not have more opportunities and choices, this is evident from early theorist such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber. Marx criticises the modern world with the emergence of capitalism which is characterised by alienation, pauperisation, exploitation, false consciousness and domination. Weber on the hand criticises the modern world as one that is characterised by the emergence of rationality and organisations, and this has led to what he termed as the lion cage of rationality. Finally Durkheim criticises the modern world as one that is characterised by a decline in collective consciousness. On these bases we can say that due to increased knowledge we do not have much of choice and opportunities because as Marx says there are the problems associated with capitalism. Conclusion: The modern world is better, although there are many disadvantages due to improvements in science and technology such as pollution and the lack of values and norms, we still would prefer better lives through increased knowledge. Improvements in the health institution has led to the cure of previously incurable illnesses, increased production of goods and services has led to increased choices and also more job opportunities for various specialists. Marx also criticises capitalism whereas the alternative system is socialism which has not worked even in developed countries. References: Cohen A. (1974) Man in adaptation: the cultural present, 2nd edition, Aldine publisher, Chicago, USA. DD100.An Introduction To Social Sciences: Understanding Social Change, Work Book 3, (2004) 3rd Edition, the Open University, UK. Read More