Chapter 18 Social Change and Modernization

For a society to progress it must bring social change to the malfunctioning of the society. Throughout history we have seen social change for the better like in the French Revolution or the Enlightenment. Because of changes like these we have the modern society we have now. But still we keep moving forward inventing new ways of progress.

Social change is defined as alterations in sections of society over time. A cynical theory of social change views change in a historical point of view. When a society arises, it goes through change as part of a natural development. According to Pitirim Sorokin all cultures fluctuate between two extreme forms of culture. Ideational culture which functions on a base of faith and religion and sensate culture where people knowledge seek through science. And idealistic culture is a mixture of the two. He referred to the natural tendency of social change as the principle of immanent change. Evolutionary theorists in the 1800’s believed that societies evolved through distinct stages of social development. Modern evolutionary theorists on the other hand believe that societies get more complex naturally. The equilibrium theory of social change compares society to a living organism and when it is disrupted, change will come. The conflict theory of social change states that when two or more opposing groups clash it will bring social change.

Core, Periphery and Semiperiphery nations

Modernization is when society’s institutions become more complex and it moves towards industrialization. The modernization theory states that more developed nations are modernized because they industrialized first. According to the world system theory, the world is composed of three types of countries. Core nations are developed nations such as the USA, Japan and Canada. Peripheral nations are poor countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Finally semiperipheral nations are between core and peripheral nations.

Our society naturally gets more complex and moves towards an even more modernized future. This is because all societies have change at some point and the old ways are replaced with new, more functional ways. We are all moving to an even more modernized future.