Q. Examine any two theories of social change in detail society. (2017)
Model answer
Social change refers to any significant alteration over time in behaviour patterns and cultural values and norms. By “significant” alteration, sociologists mean changes yielding profound social consequences.
Examples of significant social changes having long‐term effects include the industrial revolution, the abolition of slavery, and the feminist movement.
Today’s sociologists readily acknowledge the vital role that social movements play in inspiring discontented members of a society to bring about social change
In their search to explain social change, sociologists examine historical data to better understand current changes and movements. They also rely on three basic theories of social change: evolutionary, functionalist, and conflict theories.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
According to evolutionary theory, society moves in specific directions. Therefore, early social evolutionists saw society as progressing to higher and higher levels. As a result, they concluded that their own cultural attitudes and behaviours were more advanced than those of earlier societies.
Identified as the “father of sociology,” Auguste Comte subscribed to social evolution. He saw human societies as progressing into using scientific methods. Likewise, Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of functionalism, saw societies as moving from simple to complex social structures. Herbert Spencer compared society to a living organism with interrelated parts moving toward a common end. In short, Comte, Durkheim, and Spencer proposed unilinear evolutionary theories, which maintain that all societies pass through the same sequence of stages of evolution to reach the same destiny.
Contemporary social evolutionists like Gerhard Lenski, Jr., however, view social change as multilinear rather than unilinear. Multilinear evolutionary theory holds that change can occur in several ways and does not inevitably lead in the same direction. Multilinear theorists observe that human societies have evolved along differing lines.
Functionalist theory
Functionalist sociologists emphasize what maintains society, not what changes it. Although functionalists may at first appear to have little to say about social change, sociologist Talcott Parsons holds otherwise. Parsons (1902–1979), a leading functionalist, saw society in its natural state as being stable and balanced. That is, society naturally moves toward a state of homeostasis. To Parsons, significant social problems, such as union strikes, represent nothing but temporary rifts in the social order. According to his equilibrium theory, changes in one aspect of society require adjustments in other aspects. When these adjustments do not occur, equilibrium disappears, threatening social order. Parsons’ equilibrium theory incorporates the evolutionary concept of continuing progress, but the predominant theme is stability and balance.
Critics argue that functionalists minimize the effects of change because all aspects of society contribute in some way to society’s overall health. They also argue that functionalists ignore the use of force by society’s powerful to maintain an illusion of stability and integration.