SOCIAL

CHANGE
AND ITS
THEORIES
PRESENTED BY,

SHIMIL
ABRAHAM
15SO10119
MSW(1ST YEAR)
KRISTU JAYANTI
COLLEGE
INTRODUCTION
SOCIAL CHANGE: The term social change
is used to indicate the changes that take place in human
interactions and Society is a web of social
relationships
interrelations.and hence social change means change in the system
of social relationships. These are understood in terms of social
processes and social interactions and social organization.

 Itis a normal process which occurs throughout human society

and it occurs over time in response to complex environmental,
political and social factors.
 MEANING OF SOCIAL CHANGE
 The word ‘change’ denotes a difference in anything observed over some
period of time. Hence, social change would mean observable differences in
any social phenomena over any period of time.
 Social change refers to the modifications which take place in life pattern
of people. It occurs because all societies are in a constant state of
disequilibrium.
 Theorists of social change agree that in most concrete sense of the
word ‘change’, every social system is changing all the time. The
composition of the population changes through the life cycle and thus the
occupation or roles changes; the members of society undergo physiological
changes; the continuing interactions among member modify attitudes and
expectations; new knowledge is constantly being gained and transmitted.
 Definitions of Social change

WHAT IS SOCIAL CHANGE?

 “Social Change means that large number of persons

engaging in activities that differ from those in which
they or their parents were engaged some years before.”
(F.E. Merrill).
 According to Jones “Social change is a term used to
describe variations in, or modifications of any aspect of
social processes, social patterns, social interaction or
social organization”.
Social Change occurs when societies change their
conditions according to their need..
 Change in climate
 Change in material
 Change in culture
 Change in governance
 Change in environment
All these things causes society to
change into new and better living conditions to
make life easier.
 THEORIES OF SOCIAL CHANGE

 EVOLUTION THEORY

 FUNCIONALIST THEORY

 CYCLICAL THEORY

 CONFLICT THEORY
 EVOLUTION THEORY

o
Evolutionary theories are based on the assumption
that societies gradually change from simple beginnings
into even more complex forms.
o
According to them social change meant progress toward
something better. They saw change as positive and
beneficial. To them the evolutionary process implied that
societies would necessarily reach new and higher levels of
civilization.
o
Evolutionary theories assume that there is a
consistent direction of social change carrying
all societies through a similar sequences of
stages from the original to the final stage of
development.
o Also the evolutionary theories imply that when
the final stage is reached, evolutionary theories
will end.
 Types of Evolutionary theories
 UNILINEAR EVOLUTIONARY THEORY: This theory was
proposed by HERBRT SPENCER.
The theory contents that all societies pass through
the same successive stages of evolution and reach the
same
end.
 MULTI LINEAR THEORY: This theory was propounded
by contemporary social evolutionist Gerhard Lenski.
This theory holds that change can occur
in several ways and does not inevitably lead in the same
direction.
 FUNCTIONALIST THEORY

 Functionalist
theory emphasises what maintains society, not
what changes it.
 TalcottParsons who is one of the main functionalist saw
society in its natural state as being stable and balanced.
 This
theory mainly focuses on what maintains a system, not
what changes it.
EQUILIBRIUM THEORY: Through this theory Talcott
tries to say that changes occur in one part of society, there
must be adjustments in other parts. If this does not happen,
strains will occur and the society’s equilibrium will be
threaten.
 CYCLICAL
THEORY
 This theory focusses on the rise and fall of civilizations
attempting to discover and account for these patterns
of growth and decay.
 Toynbee and Sorokin can be regarded as the champions
of this theory.
 This theory posits that every society
undergoes a phenomenon of cyclical change.
 Each civilization is like a biological organism and has a
similar life-cycle, birth, maturity, old-age and death.
After making a study of eight major civilizations
including the west he said that the modern western
society is in the last stage i.e. old age.
 CONFLICT
THEORY
 Conflict theorists emphasizes the role of coercion
and power in producing social order . This
perspective is derived from the works of KARL MARX.
 This theory holds that change has crucial
significance, since it is needed to correct social
injustices and in equalities.
 Every society experiences at every moment social
conflict, hence social conflict is ubiquitous. Every
element in society contributes to change and so
conflicts in society also leads societies to bring changes
or to be changed.
References:

www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/...theorie

s...social-change 06-11- 2015.

 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-
guides/sociology/social-change-and-
movements/models-of-social-change.
 RAO C.N. “SOCIOLOGY", Twelfth
edition.