2. Perspectives on Social Change

Theories of Social Change Functionalism, Evolutionism and Sociobiology Marxism and Conflict Theory

Major Themes Structure and Agency Society and Individual Consensus and Conflict

Theories of Social Change

The Problem of explaining social change was central to nineteenth-century sociology.

The preoccupation arose from an awareness of the radical social effects of industrialization on European societies, and an appreciation of the fundamental gap between the European industrial societies and traditional societies in Asia and Africa.

Theories of social change centered on the nature of capitalist and industrial development and the apparent absence of social development in those societies which had become part of the colonial empire of Europe.

These theories of social change were concerned with long-term and large-scale or macro development.

Evolution or Revolution?

Sociological theories of change, especially nineteenth century ones, may be divided into theories of social evolution and theories of revolution.

In the first, social change was thought to involve basic stages of development such as ‘military society’ and ‘industrial society’ (Spencer), by which society progressed from simple, rural, agrarian forms to more complex, differentiated, industrial, urban ones.

This type of evolutionary theory was developed by Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim.

The analysis of social change in functionalism continues to depend, to some extent, on evolutionary theory by the process of mental differentiation and increasing structural complexity.

Revolutionary social change

Theories of revolutionary social change, particularly deriving from Karl Marx, emphasized the importance of class conflict, political struggle and imperialism as the principal mechanisms of functional structural changes.

For Marx, a revolution involved the replacement of one mode of production by another, as in the transition from feudalism and capitalism.

The apparent survival of European capitalism, despite political conflicts, industrial strikes and economic decline, represents a major problems form Marxist theories of revolution.

The absence of revolutions is typically explained in terms of the countervailing role of welfare, citizenship rights and ideology.

Evolutionism and Sociobiology

Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary view (survival of the fittest) of change has it modern descendant in sociobiology.

Edward O. Wilson has presented a view of society that stress adaptation, but locates the process far more deeply in our genetic inheritance.

Functionalist theories The notion of social change as a special and distinct area of

sociological study is largely a legacy of functionalism. In developing a theoretical approach centering on the analysis of

self-maintaining social systems, functionalists contrived to make processes of change seems peripheral to the sociological research, and something of this attitude still lingers on in American sociology.

The Criticism of Functionalism

In the late 1960s functionalism came under sustained attack from various sources.

It was argued that this approach could not account for social change, or for structural contradictions and conflict in societies.

Its reliance on stability and on the organic analogy made it ideologically conservative.

Marxism and Conflict Theory

Marxist theory of change is more proactive, focusing on the ability of human beings to influence their own fates through political action.

Most Marxists put more emphasis on class divisions, conflict, power and ideology than many functionalist sociologists.

Conflict theories Conflict theories explain social change as the outcome of a

struggle for advantage between classes, races, or other groups, rather than a search for consensus.

Structure and Agency Structure and agency are two contesting theories about human

action and society. The debate regarding the interrelations of structure and agency

on human thought is one of the central issues in sociology. Structure refers to those factors such as social organizations,

social class, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc. which limit or influence the opportunities that individuals have.

Agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own choices and decisions.

Social Structure Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring

to the recognition of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society.

The concept of structure offers an account of what a system is made of: a collection of inter-related components or subsystems.

A social structure is a pattern of relations such as rules, law and constitution. Structures are applicable to individuals in how a society is as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships.

Structural Factors or Individual Factors Do you think that Hitler was responsible for the Second World

War? Or did international conflict between nations cause the war?

The Origins of the Korean War Civil right movement in United States

Theories of Structure and Agency

Many functionalists argue that social groups have emergent properties, that is, characteristics that are produced when individuals interact but are not reducible to individuals.

Against this, methodological individualism claims that all such functionalist arguments rest ultimately on assumptions about individual behavior.

Psychology and Symbolic interactionism, rational choice theory stresses the active, creative components of human behavior.

The other approaches (including functionalism, structuralism and Marxism) emphasize the constraining nature of social influence on our actions.

Emile Durkheim’s structural sociology “The first and most fundamental rule is: Consider social facts as

things.” – Rules of the Sociological Method(1895) “Society has to be present within the individual.” – Rules “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to

sacred things, -- beliefs and practices which unite in one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.” - The Elementary Forms Of The Religious Life (1912)

Path dependence Path dependence explains how the set of decisions is limited by

the decisions one has made in the past, even though past circumstances may no longer be relevant.

In 1985 American economist Paul David argued that a standardthat is first-to-market can become entrenched.

QWERTY vs. Dvorak is an example of this phenomenon.The QWERTY layout in typewriters still used in computer keyboards.

Paul David called this "path dependence", and said that inferior standards can persist simply because of the legacy they have.

Historical path dependence The “critical juncture” framework has been used to explain the

development and persistence of welfare states (Ruth and David Collier)

The “reactive sequences” has been used to link the invention of steam engine and the industrial revolution in England, and the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and welfare expansion under Johnson in US.

Historical determinism framework is subject to constant disruption from institutional evolution (Thelen)

Rational Choice Theory Rational Choice theory is a framework for understanding and

often formally modeling social and economic behavior. This uses a specific definition of ‘rationality’ simply to assume

that an individual acts as if balancing costs against benefits to arrive at action that maximizes individual advantage.

This often adopts methodological individualism, the assumption that social situations or collective behaviors are the result of individual actions, not influenced by larger social institutions.

However, many sociologists criticized rational choice theory's assumption that individual tastes and perspectives are given and inexplicable as they emphasize the role of social institutions.

Prisoner's Dilemma Two men are arrested, but the police do not possess enough

information for a conviction. Following the separation of the two men, the police offer both a similar deal.

If one testifies against his partner (defects/betrays), and the other remains silent (cooperates/assists), the betrayer goes free and the cooperator receives the full one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both are sentenced to only one month in jail for a minor charge. If each 'rats out' the other, each receives a three-month sentence.

Each prisoner must choose either to betray or remain silent; the decision of each is kept quiet. What should they do?

Game theory The movie Dr. Strangelove (a 1963 lack comedy film of Stanley

Kubrick) satirizes game theoretic ideas about deterrence theory. For example, nuclear deterrence depends on the threat to

retaliate catastrophically if a nuclear attack is detected. The movie takes this idea one step further, with the Soviet Union

irrevocably committing to a catastrophic nuclear response without making the threat public.

Society and Individual Contemporary sociology has generally aimed toward a

reconciliation of structure and agency as concepts. Social institutions do precede the existence of any given individual;

it is also evident that they exert constraint over humans. On the other hand, it is obviously mistaken to suppose that society

is external to us in the same way as the physical world is. The physical world would go on existing whether or not any human

beings were alive, whereas it would plainly be nonsensical to say this of society.

While society is external to each individual taken singly, by definition, it can not be external to all individuals taken together.

Social Structure and Action

The way forward in bridging the gap between structure and actionapproaches is to recognize that we actively make and remake social structure during the course of our everyday activities.

For example, the fat that I use the monetary system contributes in a minor, yet necessary, way to the very existence of that system. If everyone or even the majority of people, at some point decided to avoid using money, the monetary system would dissolve.

Giddens’ Structuration Theory

“Sociology is not about a 'pre-given' universe of objects, the universe is being constituted -or produced by- the active doings of subjects.”

“The realm of human agency is bounded. Individuals produce society, but they do so as historically located actors, and not under conditions of their own choosing.”

“Structures must be conceptualized not only as constraints upon human agency, but also as enablers.” – The Constitution of Society, 1984

Anthony Giddens’s developed "Structuration Theory" in such works as The Constitution of Society (1984).

He presents a developed attempt to move beyond the dualism of structure and agency and argues for the "duality of structure" -where social structure is both the medium and the outcome of social action.

Bourdieu’s Theory of habitus

The keywords in Bourdieu's theory are habitus, field and capital. The agency is socialized in a ‘field’, an changing set of roles and

relationships in a society, where various forms of "capital" such as economic and cultural resources are unevenly distributed .

As the individuals play their roles in the context of their social positions in the field, the individuals internalizes relationships and expectations for operating in their social domain. These internalized relationships and habitual relationships and expectations produced the habitus.

Bourdieu criticized Rational Choice Theory as grounded in a misunderstanding of how social agents operate. He argued that individual agents do not always calculate according to explicit rational and economic criteria. Individual agents act according to an implicit practical logic.

Consensus and Conflict As a general rule of sociological analysis we have always to

examine the connections between consensus and conflict withinsocial systems.

The values different groups hold and the goals their memberspursue often reflect a mixture of common and opposed interests.

For example, even in Marx’s views on class conflict, differentclasses share some common interests as well as being pittedagainst one another. Thus capitalist depend on a labor force towork in their enterprises, just as workers depend on capitalists toprovide their wages.

Open conflict is not continuous in such circumstances; rather,sometimes what both sides have in common tends to overridetheir differences, while in other situations the reverse is the case.

Functionalist Views

For most functionalist thinkers, in fact, society is treated as an integrated whole, composed of structures which mesh closely with one another.

According to Durkheim and Parsons, a society has a continuing existence over time, its specialized institutions such as the political system, religion, the family and the educational system must depends on cooperation, which in turn presumes a general consensus, or agreement, among its members over basic values.

Marxist Views

Those who focus mainly on conflict have a very different outlook. Their guiding assumptions can easily be outlined using Marx’s account of class conflict as an example.

According to Marx, societies are divided into classes with unequal resources. Since such marked inequalities exist, there are divisions of interest which are ‘built into’ the social system.

These conflicts of interest at some point break out into active struggle between classes which can generate processes of radical change. Society is seen as essentially full of tension.

Even the most stable social system represents an uneasy balance of antagonistic groupings.

Power, ideology and conflict A useful concept which helps analyze the interrelations of conflict

and consensus is that of ideology – values and beliefs which help secure the position of more powerful groups at the expense of less powerful ones.

Power, ideology and conflict are always closely connected Many conflicts are about power, because of the rewards it can bring.

Those who hold most power may depend mainly on the influence of ideology to retain their dominance, but are usually able also to use force if necessary.

For instance, in traditional societies aristocratic rule was supported by the idea that a minority of people were ‘born to govern’, but aristocratic rulers often resorted to the use of violence against those who dared to oppose their power.

The Change of Theories

Nineteenth century theorists saw change as a total, homogenous process, where every aspect of society would change together.

Today most scholars agree that change is often uneven and partial.

Cultural lag is a commonly observed phenomenon, where the development of culture falls out of step with developments in technology, politics, or economics. See Daniel Bell’s Cultural Contradiction of Capitalism (1976)

Methods

The problems presented by the empirical study of social change are formidable.

Historical data are invariably incomplete or biased, and long-term studies of ongoing change are expensive and difficult.

Official statistics, repeated surveys (like Gallup Polls), and panel studies are among the tools the student of social change must use.

Middle Range Theory

It is widely agreed that a general theory of change (in Parsons, for instance) is necessarily too vague to be of much use in the explanation of historical change.

The trend in contemporary sociology (at least since the 1970s) has been towards middle range theory (Merton, 1957).

Middle range theory accounts for the development of particular institutions, social groups, items of culture, or particular beliefs rather than for the transformation of societies as a whole.

Examples: relative deprivation, protestant ethics and capitalist spirit, bureaucracy, path dependence.

Social change and progress

The nineteenth century equation of change with progress is no longer widely accepted.

Change may be regressive, or destructive, or confused by cultural lag.

It remained an open question to what extent sociologists can explain or predict social change.