Social Change - [PDF Document]
What is Social Change?
What is Social Change?
Social change is defined as “the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure,
characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behavior, social organizations or value systems.” Such changes affect our way of life on both a macro and micro level, with the former involving major social institutions, and the latter our value and belief systems.
Characteristics of social change
1. Social progress Totality
Everything is social change. Each culture is defined by it. There is no stagnant community. It’s in constant flow. The fact that every modern society is different today than it is in its past form makes this obvious. social development in sociology encounters shifts in its roles, activities, systems, and procedures under the influence of several internal and external factors.
2. Uniform Social Change
The cultural shifts are unique. The Law of Nature is Changing. The essence of life is
Improvement. Every community has its own history and culture, and therefore the
mechanism and purpose of social changes are ever different from society to society.
It may also be proactive or regressively, positive or negative, scheduled or unplanned. To social scientists, researching the mechanism and the essence of social development in every culture is therefore important.
3. The social change includes improvements in the Community
The changes in society are not changes in the lives of individuals or groups of people, but they are the changes that involve the life of the entire community. They are the characteristics and effects of the lives of the entire community.
