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Researchers have observed that primarily collective behaviour and social movements drive social changes. They can even be caused by social movements and other external reasons, such as environmental shifts or technology advancements. Any disruptive activity in the status quo, planned or unintentional, artificial or natural, can result in societal change. In simple words, social change refers to a shift in overall value and attitude, and these reasons mentioned above are considered agents of social change.
Let us understand the meaning of social change, what causes social changes in the society, and how the agents of social change help us drive the change in society.
What does Social Change mean?
The term Social Change literally refers to a shift in morals and values of a society. Social change is a revolution that has evolved humanity to what it is to be today. Change is a universal phenomenon, a natural law, and human civilization is also not an exception to any law made by nature, considering that a static society is unimaginable.
Culture is influenced by various variables (such as demographics, ideas, and so on). In some regions, change is swift, and in others, it may be gradual. Change is occurring faster now than in the past due to industrialisation and urbanisation. Societal change impacts all other elements of culture – economic, social, or religion.
What leads to Social Change?
As we discussed above, change is a natural law, and humanity is no exception to it. In fact, we are what we are today because of social changes, imagine a world where the sati system would still be in practice, where LGBTQ communities are still deprived of their basic rights, where females are still oppressed and are bound to the kitchen. Sounds erratic, right? Social Changes are why we are free from these curses, social changes led by reforms and revolution are what have abolished powerful practices and will keep abolishing them whenever needed.
Societies go through change because of many reasons, including but not limited to technological advancements, social institutions, social conflict, or environmental factors. These elements can be regarded as agents of social change, let us understand them further.
Agents of Social Change
The phrase, agents of social change, was first used in 1965 at Calgary’s Canweresity Annual Conference. Since then, the whole world has been on the lookout for various agents that can cause a social change. Some of them are as follows:
Technology
Since the late 19th century, technology has been an integral part of society, and human reliance on technological advancement is only increasing. It is not surprising that technology can be an agent of social change, and it can be considered the bridge that allows us to exist in this connected world. Technology has acted as the driving force behind globalisation.
Social Institutions
Social institutions play a very vital role in changing the ideals of any individual through the power of education. Education has been an important tool and it is often said that education is the light which takes over all the darkness. For example, it has been noticed in several states that in villages where people are more educated, there have been far less cases of child marriage compared to villages with low literacy rate.
Modernization
According to Irwin, modernization refers to the processes that enhance specialisation and structural differences in civilizations, resulting in the transition from an underdeveloped to a developed, technologically oriented society. A society’s level of modernity is determined by the sophistication of its technology, particularly as it pertains to infrastructure, industry, and the like. It is an important agent of social change because it increases accessibility to resources and drives humanity forward to innovation.
Environment
In terms of human ecology, we understand that people and the environment interact. We witness a rise in the number of people impacted by natural disasters when human populations migrate into more susceptible places, and we find that human involvement with the environment worsens the effect of those disasters.
Conclusion
As we saw in the article above, Social Changes have played a vital part in the development as well as evolution of human beings. We studied various agents of social changes which have helped us towards a world with enhanced Emotional Quotient. And as the EQ keeps increasing, the world will notice many more changes which will gradually drive us to be a better society each day. We have evolved through millions of years, and the current social framework results from numerous social changes. To drive change on a societal level, one must use the agents discussed above. Change is inevitable and is constant in our evolution.
