Sociology blog - Book Report/Review Example

According to our book Our Social World by Ballantine and Roberts, societies from the simplest to the most complex have the following variables affecting their processes: division of labor, interdependence of people’s positions, increasingly advanced technologies, and new forms and uses of energy. To my own musing, this evolution of each society is a race against time, that is, to accumulate more in a lesser amount of time. Perhaps rooted in our materialistic culture, efficiency is what all organizations strive for and the idea of “no time wasted” is one of the most common notions to all societies.

All of the variables mentioned by Ballantine and Roberts is founded on the notion that time is important and more complex, albeit developed, societies may even work so hard as if they are running out of time. We divide labor so as to have specializations and to produce more in less time. Interdependence of people’s positions often cuts time in producing a final product as in a supply chain, thus the birth of modern management techniques. Advanced technologies from information technology systems cuts down not only time but space too in communications and data transfer.

Finally, energy itself can be synonymous to time as energy spent to do a specific act also requires time.For me personally, one way you can try to cut down on wasting time is by employing Pareto’s Law of 80-20. That is you should try to achieve 80% of your work with 20% of the time you usually spend on doing it. Why so? Because according to Pareto, 80% of your outcomes come from 20% of your inputs (Starak).Ballantine and Roberts stated that none of these variables alone is sufficient to trigger evolution to a new type of society but I think if we all wasted less time, a transition to a better and brighter society is not far off.

BibliographyStarak, Yaro. What Is The 80/20 Rule And Why It Will Change Your Life. 29 March 2006. 23 May 2012 .