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Change is one of the most constant features of American society.

It is difficult to predict how or at what rate a society will change.

The course of change in a society depends on the nature of the existing culture.

People in a society consciously decide for themselves how change will occur.

Social ChangeSocial change occurs when many members of a society adopt new behaviors that have long-term and relatively important consequences.

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Major social institutions would continue to exist.

Human nature would remain the same.

Equality and the trend toward centralized government would continue.

The availability of material resources limits and directs social change.

Key Assumptions in Predicting Social Change in America

Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville made several accurate assumptions of trends in American society.

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Change is directed by the past, but history does not strictly dictate the future.

There are no social forces aside from human actions.

Key Assumptions in Predicting Social Change in America

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Social Processes

Discovery is the process by which something is learned or interpreted.

Invention is the creation of something new from previously existing items or processes.

Diffusion is the process by which one culture borrows from another culture or society.

A process is a series of steps that gradually leads to a result. Sociologists have identified several important social processes. Three important social processes follow.

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Technology is the use of knowledge and hardware to achieve practical goals.

Demographics is a second factor for creating social change.

Interaction with the environment affects American life.

Revolution, the sudden and complete overthrow of an existing social or political order, changes society.

Forces that Lead to Social ChangeSociologists have identified some major forces that lead to change. They include the following:

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Technology includes knowledge and hardware that are used to achieve practical goals.

Technology

The appearance of new technology is generally a sign that social change will soon follow.

The computer revolution brought about technological change at an astounding rate.

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Interaction with the natural environment has also transformed American life.

The vast territory west of the thirteen colonies allowed the nation to expand to the Pacific Ocean.

This expansion helped shape our cultural identity and values, and caused untold changes.

The environment continues to shape historical events, especially when natural disasters occur.

A scarcity of natural resources has affected the American economy.

The Natural Environment

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Revolution and War

A revolution involves the sudden and complete overthrow of an existing social or political order, and is often accompanied by violence.

War is organized, armed conflict that occurs within a society or between nations.

Revolution and war are related factors that lead to social change.

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Theoretical Perspectives on Social ChangeFunctionalism depicts societies as relatively

stable.

Following a major change, these integrated systems seek a new equilibrium.

Conflict theory states that social change is the result of struggles among groups for scarce resources. Societies are unstable systems that are constantly undergoing change.

Symbolic interactionism identifies decreasing shared values as a source of social instability.

Click the hyperlink to view more information about the theoretical perspectives on social change or click the right arrow to proceed through the presentation.

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There are two functionalist theories of social change based on the concept of equilibrium.

The Functionalist Perspective

When used by sociologists, equilibrium describes a society’s tendency to react to changes by making small adjustments to keep itself functioning and in balance.

A society in change moves from stability to temporary instability and back to stability. This is a dynamic, or moving, equilibrium.

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As these conflicts are resolved, social change occurs.

Karl Marx wrote that “without conflict, no progress: this is the law which civilization has followed to the present day.”

The Conflict PerspectiveAccording to the conflict perspective, social change is the result of struggles among groups for scarce resources.

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Sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf believes that social change comes from a multitude of competing interest groups–political, economic, religious, racial, ethnic, or gender-based. Society changes as power relationships among interest groups change.

The Conflict Perspective

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According to symbolic interactionism, human beings interact with others on the basis of commonly shared symbols.

The nature and frequency of social interaction are affected by the extent to which people share meanings.

As shared interpretations of the world decrease, social ties weaken and social interaction becomes more impersonal.

Symbolic Interactionism

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Collective BehaviorCollective behavior is the spontaneous behavior of a group of people responding to the same stimuli.

For sociologists, the term collective refers to a large number of people who do not normally interact and who do not necessarily share clearly defined norms.

The study of collective behavior poses a large problem for researchers used to studying structured behavior.

Dispersed collectivity refers to people who are widely scattered following common rules or responding to common stimuli.

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Legends, Fads, and FashionsA rumor is a widely circulating story of

questionable truth.

Urban legends are moralistic tales passed along by people who swear the stories happened to someone they know or to an acquaintance of a friend or family member.

A fad is an unusual behavior pattern that spreads rapidly, is embraced zealously, and then disappears after a short time.

A fashion is a widely accepted behavior pattern that changes periodically.

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Mass hysteria exists when collective anxiety is created by acceptance of one or more false beliefs.

A panic occurs when people react to a real threat in fearful, anxious, and often self-damaging ways.

Mass Hysteria

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A crowd is a temporary collection of people who share an immediate common interest. Sociologist Herbert Blumer (1969a) has distinguished four basic types of crowds.

Crowd

A casual crowd is the least organized, least emotional, and most temporary type of crowd.

A conventional crowd has a specific purpose and follows accepted norms for appropriate behavior.

Expressive crowds have no significant or long-term purpose beyond unleashing emotion.

A crowd that takes some action toward a target is an acting crowd.

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What are mobs and riots?A mob is an emotional crowd ready to use

violence for a specific purpose.

A riot is an episode of largely random destruction and violence carried out by a crowd.

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Theories of Crowd BehaviorThe three most important theories of crowd behavior are the contagion theory, emergent norm theory, and convergence theory.

The contagion theory states that members of crowds stimulate each other emotionally until irrational behavior increases.

The emergent norm theory stresses the similarity and difference between daily social behavior and crowd behavior.

The convergence theory states that crowds are formed by people with similar mindsets.

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Social MovementsThe social movement is the most highly structured, rational, and enduring form of collective behavior whose goal is to promote social change. The following defining elements characterize social movements:

a large number of people

a common goal to promote or prevent social change

structured organization with commonly recognized leaders

activity sustained over a relatively long time period

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David Aberle identified four basic types of social movements.

A revolutionary movement attempts to change a society totally.

A reformative movement aims to affect more limited changes in society.

A redemptive movement focuses on changing people completely.

An alternative movement seeks only limited changes in people.

Primary Types of Social Movements

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The value-added theory identifies six conditions that must exist for social change to occur.

The resource mobilization theory focuses on the use of resources to achieve goals.

Theories of Social MovementsBecause of the highly structured nature of social movements, sociologists have been able to analyze this form of collective behavior and devise two major theories of social movements:

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In the value-added process, each step in the creation of a product contributes, or adds value, to the final entity.

The value-added theory identifies six conditions that must exist in order for social movements to occur: structural conduciveness, structural strains, generalized beliefs, precipitating factors, mobilization of participants for action, and social control.

Value-Added Theory

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Resource mobilization theory focuses on the process through which members of a social movement secure and use the resources needed to advance their cause.

What is the resource mobilization theory?

Resources include human skills such as leadership, organizational ability, and labor power.

Material goods such as money, property, and equipment are also required.