Topic 1

Scenario of the Changing World, Social Change and the Impact of Technology on Society and the

Environment

Assoc Prof Dr Sharifah Norazizan Syed Abd Rashid APPMDepartment of Social and Development Science

Faculty of Human Ecology, UPM

sharifah@putra.upm.edu.my

Content

• The History of the Changing World• Social Change Processes and the Role of

Technology• The Advancement of Technology and its Impact

on Society and the Environment• A Summary• Discussion• References

History of the Changing World

Early Civilization 10,000 years

20,000 10,000 0 Years Before Present

Planetary Phase100 years ?

Modern Era1,000 years

Stone Age 100,000 yearsC

ompl

exit

y

Planetary Phase of Civilization

…..refers to a current historical transition from a world of capitalist states and consumerist societies to a world of increased global connectivity with new global institutions (like the United Nations and the World Trade Organizations), new information technologies, the age of biotechnology, environmental change in the biosphere, economic globalization, and shifts in culture and consciousness.

105 104 103 102

Years Before Present

Hunting & gathering

Settled agriculture

Industrial capitalism

Economic Base

Globalization

•

The Three Era Of Technology

Technological Revolution

• From hunter-gatherer societies requiring only simple portable technologies for:– Shelter– Hunting– Gathering– Cooking– Transportation– Defense

Agricultural Revolution8000 BC

Allowed settled, communities (civilization)•Advantages:

– More food, so greater population density– Greater population density allowed for coordinated efforts

and specialized skills– No need for portability

•Disadvantages:– More work to maintain higher, more complex standard of

living

•Emergence of morality, law, religion, records, mathematics, astronomy, class structures, patriarchy

Industrial Revolution1700s

• Steam engine, then gasoline-driven combustion engine

• More specialized division of labour and of knowledge — each worker needed fewer skills

• Less expensive goods, so increased standard of living

• Infrastructure for transportation

105 104 103 102

Years Before Present

Language

Writing

Printing

Internet

Communication

Glo

bal C

onne

ctiv

ity

1950 2000 2050

Take-off 1980-

World Transition

• Global environmental change• Information technology• Hegemony of capitalism• WTO, multinationals, • Earth Summit, NGOs,

Dimensions

ValuesKnowledge

Demography

Social

Economy

Governance

Technology

Social Change and the Role of Technology

• Understanding Society

• The Meaning of Social Change

• Why Social Change happens?

• Technology as a Source of Social Change

Understanding Society

• Society is a group of people living in the same locality or place with a definite ways of life (Kamus Dewan, 2000).

• Society is also a group of people involved in similar activities even though they are not living in the same locality as an eg. Society of farmers in Malaysia, Africa, America and many other countries.

cont

• Generally, society is a group of people with a definite life style, norms, values, culture, language, communication system and structure where each member has a role and function to ensure the existence of the group whose characteristics differ from other groups.

• Unique characteristic that differentiate one society with another eg differ in terms of their food, dressing ie the eastern and western ways..

Definition of Social Change

• Generally, social change is defined as the movement of society from one level of livelihood to another level.

• Social change is also defined as the framework of change and new social behavior that benefits the society.

(Triandis dalam Rozali, 1991)

Definition of Social Change - Moore

….“significant alteration of social structures” where social structures means “patterns of social action and interaction” (Moore 1967: 3).

Social Change Concept

• Change is important in social behavior or changes in the social system.

• Social change refers to changes in terms of existing social relationships eg in the family, economy, politic and religion

• Social change also refers to permanent changes to the cultural components, social structure and social bahavior.

cont

• The changes involved changes in cultural values, norms and roles.

• It also involved leading social institutions like the family institutions, religious, education etc.

• Social change is also a qualitative and quantitative processes of change to both planned and unplanned social phenomena

Evolutionary & Revolutionary Social Change

Evolutionary Social Change

An evolutionary view of social change implies a gradual transformation through a series of stages of increasing complexity (as distinct from the revolutionary view of social change, which assumes that a revolution is necessary for social change to occur).

Social Revolution

A social revolution involves a fundamental change in social practices (as distinct from a political revolution, which involves the overthrow of one type of political regime by another).

Toffler’s Three Waves of Social Development

• Agricultural age (began about 10,000 years ago)—Social Significance: people moved away from nomadic wandering/hunting to villages and cultures.

• Industrial age (began in the eighteenth century)—Social Significance: People began to leave the peasant culture of farming to work in city factories with machinery.

• Information age (current era)—Social Significance: Wealth is increasingly contingent on the possession of knowledge/information.

Cultural Lag

The phenomenon whereby cultural elements, such as religious beliefs, change more slowly than structural elements, such as technological innovations.

(The term cultural lag was coined by William Ogburn.)

Social Evolutionary Theories

• Viewed social change as advancing gradually through certain basic stages of development, such as from “military society” to “industrial society,” and from simple agrarian forms to more complex industrial-urban ones

• Developed in the nineteenth century by Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, and Emile Durkheim

Theories of Revolutionary Change

• Emphasized increasing conflict among different parts of society—particularly different economic groups (classes)—as the fundamental source of social change

• Mainly associated with Karl Marx who viewed modern industrial society as a socioeconomic system in which the manufacturing firm was central.

• For Weber, the manufacturing firm typified the modern form of organization, which was highly rational and bureaucratic

Post-industrial Society

• Daniel Bell popularized the concept of post-industrial society in the early 1970s

• The term signifies an intermediate stage between industrial society and a future form of society, the precise nature of which was still to be established

• Bell’s three Social Sphere : Social (or techno-economic) structure; Polity, i.e. the state and political institutions; and Culture

Sources of Social Change

• Environmental

- natural disaster

• Population

- Fertility, mortality, longevity and consumption.

• Modernization is a process of social change initiated by industrialization process.

- industrialization, urbanization, bureaucratization

• Human interactions

- Human actions. Collective behavior, environmental factors, declining norms. Social control breakdown.

sambung

• Global development

- developed countries @rich

- undeveloped countries @poor

• Technological factors

- automation

- cultural lag

- Cultural innovation, inventions, diffusions

Agents of Change

Civil Society

Understanding Technology

• Technology is created by members of society to make life more comfortable and safe

• Technology is influenced by two factors - local culture - Environment

• Evidence can be seen by looking at the forms of shelters/homes and tools used by a society for their daily routines.

cont

• Contrast with nature• Means to an end / purposeful / functional: having a

purpose, end, or value for which it is intended or used

• Most generally: intended and used to increase freedom and power

The Scope of Technology

1. End-product: artifacts2. Tools: machines and processes3. Agents: scientists, engineers and technicians4. Social support: purposeful organization

Technology =df the organization of knowledge, people and things to accomplish specific practical goals

Technological systems consist of …

1. Human activity form: techniques and practices2. Resources, tools & materials3. Artifacts4. Ends/ functions/ valences5. Background knowledge and skills6. Social organization7. NOTE: 4 & 5 provide background to the 4

elements of the scope of technology

Four Kinds of Ethical Concerns Arising From Technology:

• Whether and how new technologies should be used (esp. medical)

• Aggregate responsibility (e.g. pollution, depletion of resources)

• Distributive justice: certain groups alone may be advantaged

• Changing relationship to nature and other animals

Five Characteristics of Technological Dangers

• Result of aggregate action

• Not direct harms, but increased risks that are hard to detect

• Impact far into the future

• Affect not only humans but other forms of life and the environment

• Affect no particular communities, but all of humanity.

Summary

• Rapid increase in the rate of population growth and the wealth of society.

• Tensions created in society, the natural environment and ecology.

• Technology and engineering becoming more important in creating and providing solutions to problems.

• Technology brings about social change on human lives in terms of culture, lifestyle, communication and interactions among them.

• Technology influence peoples’ lives either positively and negatively.

• People needs to plan and in control of the changes to ensure security and that the future generation live sustainably sejahtera

Discussion

1. What do you understand by Social Change?

2. What are the factors that cause Global Social Change?

3. Define Technology and explain how technology able to change the world?

Cont.

4. What is the difference between evolutionary and revolutionary social change? Are they mutually exclusive? How is social revolution different from political revolution?

5. What are Alvin Toffler’s three “waves” of social development? Briefly describe each of these stages by identifying its dominant form of economic production, its basis of wealth, and its social significance. Which stage are we in now?

References

• Giddens, A (2006). Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

• Haralambos, M and Holborn, M (2004). Sociology: themes and perspectives. London: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.

• Harper, CL (1993). Exploring social change. Engelwood Cliffs: New Jersey.

• Macionis, John J.; Ken Plummer (2008). Sociology (4th ed.). Pearson Education. ISBN 0132051583.

Thank You