MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

NAKURU CAMPUS

SCHOOL BASED

REGISTRATION NUMBER: BEPO/2013/55567

COURSE: BACHELOR OF EDUCATION PRI

OPTION

UNIT CODE: BEP 4108

UNIT TITLE: SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

SUBMITTED TO: BENTA OPIYO

SUBMITTED AS: ASSIGNMENT

TASK:

IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS FACTORS INFLUENCING SOCIAL CHANGE IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY

NAME: ERNEST M. NGANGA

INTRODUCTION

The term social change is used to indicate the changes that take place in human interactions and interrelations. Society is a web of social relationships and hence social change means change in the system of social relationships. These are understood in terms of social processes and social interaction and social organization. Augusta comte the father of sociology has posed two problems- the questions of social statics and the question of social dynamics, what is and how it changes. The sociologists not only outline the structure of the society but also seek to know its causes also. According to Morris Arnsberg social change is a change in the social structure.

Social change may also refer to any significant alteration over time in behavior patterns and cultural values and norms. Today’s social movements play in inspiring discontent members of a society to bring about social change. Efforts to understand the nature of long term social change, including looking for patterns and causes, has led sociologist to propose the evolutionary, functionalist and conflict theories of social change also admit the likelihood of resistance to change especially people with vested interests feel unsettled and threatened by potential changes.

DEFINATIONS OF TERMS

Social dynamics

- Social dynamics is the study of the ability of a society to react to inner and outer changes and deal with its regulation mechanism. Social dynamics is mathematically inspired approach to analyze societies, building up system theory and sociology. Sociologists’ ethnologists, economists, social psychologists. Criminologists, anthropologists and biologists are utilizing it in their studies of systems and behavior.

Social statics

- According to Augusta Comte social static focus on how order is maintained in the society. Social statics are concerned with the ways in which the parts of a social system (Social Structures) interact with one another, as well as the functional relationships between the parts and to the social system as a whole. Comte therefore focused his social statics on the individual, as well as such collective phenomena as the family religion, language and the division of labor.

- Social statics also refers to the study of the conditions and pre-conditions of social order, It studies the issue of social stability and social order, it is concerned with the study of major institutions, which preserve the social order, for example family; it occupies an important position in social structure. It provides the base for the social order and progress of the society

Social structure

-Social structure is the organized pattern of relationships and social institution that together compose society. Social structure are not immediately visible to the untrained observer, however they are present and affect all dimensions of human experience in society.

-Social class is one example of social structure. Social class shapes the access that different groups have to the resources of society and it shapes many interactions that people have with each other. As a social structure, it guides and shapes human behavior at all levels, no matter how overtly visible or invisible it is at any given time

Social movements

-Social movement can be defined as loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of social goal, typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structure or values. Although social movement differs in size they are essentially collective. That is they result from the more or less spontaneous coming together of people whose relationship are not defined by rules and procedures but who merely share a common outlook on society. Collective behaviors’ in crowds, Panics, and elementary forms are of belief duration or episodic and are guided largely by impulse .When short lived impulse give way to long aims, and when sustained association takes the place situational groupings of people the result is a social movement

Diffusion

This is borrowing of new elements from other cultures the English language has borrowed words from other culture and incorporated them as part of the English language

There is nothing wrong with borrowing certain elements of other cultures and introducing them into our own. Every dynamics society does that one problem with same African societies has been the tendency to borrow foreign cultural at the expense of their own. For example glorifying western culture and looking down on our types of foodstuffs.

Demographic transition

Demographic transition refers to the transition from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from pre- industrial to an industrialized economic system. This is typically demonstrated through a demographic transition model (DTM). The theory is based on an interpretation of demographic history developed in 1929 by the American demographer warren Thompson (1887-1973).

Thompson observed changes, or transitions, in birth and death rates in industrialized societies over the previous 200 years

Self –efficacy

-Self-efficacy refers to confidence in executing courses of action managing a wide array of situations work self-efficacy assesses workers confidence in managing workplace experiences (especially for new or prospective workers).The theoretical underpinning is that individuals with higher work self-efficacy are more likely to look forward to and to be successful in workplace performance.

Self-efficacy constitutes a judgment about one’s ability to perform a particular behavior pattern. Its expectation are considered the primary cognitive determinant of whether or not an individual will attempt a given behavior self-efficacy is known to have considerable potential explanatory power over such behaviors as: self-regulation, achievement strivings, academic persistence and success, coping, choice of career opportunities and career competency perhaps its most noteworthy contribution is its empirical relationship to subsequent performance.

Division labour

-Division of labour, the separation of work process into a number of tasks. With each task performed by a separate person or group of persons. It is most applied to systems of mass production and is one of the basic organizing principles of the assemble line. Breaking down work into simple, respective task eliminates unnecessary motion and limits the handling of different tools and parts

Conflict Theory

This theory seeks to account for order in society .This theory has its origin in Marxist thinking .According to marx, society is to be seen in terms of conflicting relationships. For stance the capitalists who own the means of production) are seen to be in conflict with the workers (who provide labour)

In a situation where conflict is suppressed such as in a school or family, serious problems can occur. When the conflict breaks out in a such a society it will be more intense because it is based on accumulated grievances and hostility. Conflicts are therefore a necessary part of living together. In any given society conflicts are shaped and controlled by customer of the society in order to maintain a peaceful communal life.

The evolutionary model

-The evolutionary model in sociology sprang from an analogy in the field of Biology .Biologists traced stages in the development of organisms.

Sociologists saw society as proceeding inevitably through such fixed stages. Furthermore the idea of progress representing a higher stage than the previous one.

Augustin comte tacked of three stages, namely, those of conquest, defense and industry

Functionalist theory

-It is theory that explain that each aspect of society is interdependent and contribute to society’s stability and functioning as a whole for example the government provides

Education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keeps itself running. That is the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families in the process, the children become law-abiding taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state

Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve what is best for society as a whole

FACTORS INFLUENCING SOCIAL CHANGE IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY

There are several factors which influence social change in our society today, some of them are:

Changing patterns of child rearing Political factors Economical factors Industrial factors Scientific technological Social and cultural factors Psychological factors

Changing patterns of child rearing

Children up bring has by far outweigh the benefits accrued or derived hence reliance on children as old –age security is not profitable anymore. Migration, modernization and urbanization have combined to erode the traditional roles of extended family network with its attendant effects on the personality formation and the behaviors of the child. What is therefore in place today is individualistic approach to rearing of children as oppose to traditional collective approach. Furthermore, difficulties in the rearing of children in today’s society have further been compounded by time constraint on the part of parents. Parents no longer spend quality time with their children. The role of parents in socialization of the younger members of the family has been taken over by various agencies and institutions. Today house maid has taken over the role of mothers, while the school has taken over the roles of the family institution. Family institution in the world over is seen as the first agent of socialization in all human societies, and as such, the family institution is directly responsible for socializing children in the society. During socialization process every child acquires the cultural values of his or her society, These cultural values include; child rearing practices, which vary from one society to the other. A child may not be conscious of the kind of treatment provided by the family as until he/she grows older. The family as a primary agent of socialization is failing in the provision of this function, hence what the new member are suppose to know from the family are now been learned in the school resulting in faulty socialization of the younger ones.

There is a general agreement among experts around the world from developing as well as developed nations that early childhood rearing and training are not only desirable but essential for personality development among children there are a range of behaviors and associated emotions exchanged between parents and their adolescent offspring: some of these exchanges involve positive and healthy behaviors and others involve opposite.

There is no doubt the modes of child rearing have changed over time. For instance social changes which have swept all over and across the continent of Africa has affected virtually all facets of our lives. Child rearing patterns has not been left out of this what this simply mean is that social change in an inevitable phenomenon in all human society child socialization and child’s rearing practices however have not been left out of the shackles of many communities in our country.

A tremendous amount of research reveals that children are at risk of developing out social behaviors such as poor supervision, rejection, or harsh and inconsistent discipline, specifically research indicates that antisocial behavior of parent, unsupportive parents physical and emotional abuse and parental rejection have all been found to influence delinquent.

Demographic factors

Due to natural calamities, war, diseases, and environmental changes we can find imbalance ratio of males and females in population which directly affect social changes because if the ratio of males and females is changed then many males and females will remain unmarried so this changes social structure therefore we can find the expansion in crime and change in people’s life for example large number of young male soldiers died in Europe during world war II so the number of girls and women increased over the existing number s and this lead to moral deterioration and sexual permissiveness through out the Europe

Because of climatic changes we can also find imbalance in the ratio of males and females which definitely affect social changes occur in their present society

Political Factors

Society is based on rules and regulations custom which are built or prepared by the government. So politics affects the society. Government is made of different kinds of people who are educated or uneducated but the ultimate aim of them as upliftment of society. So these political leaders are products of society. As any political party or person change something in state or contributes in changing in something in society which definitely brings a social change .For example the impact of world war-2 rule of Nazi dictator Hitler in Germany, partition of India in 1947 have brought about several social change in respective societies so, We can also say that man himself brings social change because he is a social being or part of society. And in a way education plays an important role behind an individual and politics and it also brings social changes

Economic Factors

As the condition of an individual affects the society the same as everybody’s economy affect challenges. The stratification of people in different class moulds the of society and as per their education qualification they live together behave and they make them socially aware and earn money which help society the same as their economy influences social changes including changes in their way of living, Way of interaction, culture, routine life languages etc for example the emergence of English in middle class society. People invention, discoveries and their migration lead to changes in economy likewise they bring social changes in society. Like poverty the gren revolution and large amount of money earned by Africans from abroad certainly bring a lot of social change in their behavior, relations, spending patterns intuitions and outlook of the world

Industrial Factors

Establishment of industrial township, urbanization and trade unionism are responsible for several kinds of social changes the lives of people concerned we can find the impact of liberalization, privatization and globalization after the establishment of industrialization in most of the countries in the world and such factors influences the economy of the country which lead change in per capital income and all these affect social changes

Scientific Technological Invention and Discoveries

As we know the impact of scientific technological inventions and discoveries in the societies. Today in the world of technology none of us live without using mobiles phones, computers, electricity, radio, television and others. And these inventions and discoveries have completely changed our style of living, Modes of thinking, social relations and even morals. Behind these invention and discoveries, human being intellect, creativity and their aspiration play very significant role so we can say men’s desire of striving for excellence creativity education bring social changes. such scientific development leads to social changes

Psychological Factors

The cause of social change is a psychology of man himself man is by nature a lover of change. He is always trying to discover new things in every sphere of his life and is always anxious for novel experiences. As a result of this tendency traditions and customs of every human society are perpetually undergoing change. A human being is able to apply new customs and methods to replace the old tradition customs. Changes is the law of life, When change do not occur at the right time, revolutions take large, wars are fought, epidemic (situation in which a larger number of people have caught the same infectious diseases) spread and changes are violently introduction

Social and culture factors

Cultural factors influence social changes. These are intimate relationship between society and culture. Hence cultural changes involve social change. Cultural factors such as values, attitudes, ideologies, ideas of great men play a vital role in influencing social change. According to F.Ogburn’s concept of cultural lag explains the role of culture in social change.

Values play a major role in acceptance or rejection of any social change. In our country some communities do not approve of the use of contraceptive as they believe that it goes against their religious values as well as the economic values of having large families.

The attitude of a society towards scientific enquiry may encourage or discourage change. In the medieval Europe, Galileo was tortured because of the speculative attitude of the church leaders. In contrast modern countries at present encourage science. The successful scientist in our country are rewarded with honour, prestige and sometimes with money. High value place on science has encouraged many young men to take up science as a career.

New ideas and ideologies also bring about significant changes in the world’s social and economic liberty, equality and fraternity in giving rise to the French revolution. Similarly new ideologies such as socialism, Gandhi’s and democracy have exerted profound influence on social organization. Recent change in ideologies has caused disintegration in some countries of Africa and Europe

The concept of cultural lag is a necessary concept in the explanation of social change.

According to Ogburn can be classified into two categories i.e. material culture and non material culture. By material culture, he means things like books, utensils, machine houses and other such form of technology. Non material aspect of culture includes beliefs, attitudes, values, norms, religion, and education. According to Ogburn changes comes first into material aspect of culture. But non material aspect of culture take time to adjust to the changes taking place in material aspects. As a result, non material culture falls behind material culture, which is known as cultural lag;

Ogburn has cited number of examples of cultural lag. According to him the number of policemen in towns remains constant whereas the population of town is increasing. Secondly family planning technologies have advanced but people take time to accept them. Even some communities do not accept family planning measures due to traditional religious values and social pressure. As a result cultural lag occurs

From the above discussion the cause of cultural lag is that the various parts of culture change at different rates. Material culture changes more rapidly than non material culture. But cultural lag is due to man’s ideologies dogmatism and conservatism. The failure of social institutions to adapt to the changes in technology leads to cultural lag.

Conclusion. Today’s sociologist readily acknowledge the vital role that social movements play inspiring discontented members of a society to bring about social change .Efforts to understand the nature of long-term social change, including looking for patterns and causes ,has led sociologists to propose the evolutionary, functionalist and conflict theories of change.. All theories of social change, especially the likelihood of resistance to change, especially when people with vested interest feel unsettled and threatened by changes. Most new traits come through diffusion, those societies in closest contact with other societies are likely to change most rapidly .Areas of greatest intercultural contact are the centres of change war and trade have always brought intercultural contact and today tourism is adding contacts between cultures conservation. And resistance to change The structure of a society affects its rate of change in subtle and not immediately apparent ways .A tightly structured society where every person’s role, duties, privileges and obligations are precisely and rigidly defined is less given to handle than more loosely structured society wherein roles, lines of authority, privileges and obligations are more open to individual rearrangement. Societies differ greatly in their general altitude towards change .People who revere the past and preoccupied with the traditions and rituals will change slowly and unwillingly .When culture has been relatively for a long time the people are likely to assume that it should remain so indefinitely. They assumed that their customs and techniques are correct and everlasting. A possible change is unlikely even to be seriously considered .A rapidly changing society has different attitude toward change and this attitude is both cause and effect of the changes already taking place rapidly changing societies are aware of social change. They are somewhat skeptical and critical of some parts of their traditional culture and will consider and experiment with innovations.

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Collins Harper.CL (1993).Exploring social change . NewJersy Engelwood cliffs. Elsenstade, SN(1973).Tradition, change and modernity Anderson m.l and Taylor H.F (2009).sociology the essentials. Cliffs notes.com.Three major perspective in sociology. http:/www.cliffsnotes.com/study guide/topic articled.

Terms1) Social and cultural factors2) psychological sociological3) Demographic transition4) Industrialization5) Modernization6) Division of labour7) Self-efficacy8) Home sexuality9) Diffusion-rate at which population adopt new goods services10) Social statics11) Social dynamics12) Social structure13) Social movements 14) Evolutionary theory15) Functionalist theory 16) Conflict theory