SOCIAL CHANGE

Image source

The impact of education in changing people's mind, in providing scientific explanations of such things as modern illness, internet, computers and other natural events are mind boggling. The cultural institutions such as schools, family, mass media e.t.c have strong socializing effects on the individual but they do not themselves bring about fundamental changes.

Modernity and tradition can only be associated with the social change but not change in its entirety. Modernity is often pictured as good, desirable, progressive, efficient, innovative and technological advanced while traditional are always associated with old, local, out-dated, retrogressive and primitive.

Image source

Hence social change is the alteration in the structure of a society over time. It can take the form of historical, economic and political changes such as colonization and deconlonisation, transport and communication and the development of technology and commerce such as cash carrying societies to cashless societies

Social changes are some how dependent of economic, political factors, cultural institutions and values. From similar angles, social change involves at least three types of specialty namely civilization, cultural and social changes.

Civilization change involves the physical elements in the society such as its inventions, its technology, improved form of communication and scientific developments. The cultural change is concerned with the changes in knowledge and other cultural elements such as art forms, artefacts, ritual and religion. Social change is limited to the way human beings relate and interact with each other. It is limited to relationship and their balance or equilibrium.

Social change has a clear difference to a specific type of change and this makes its properties a little more scientific.