Category: Focus on the Present

As of today, we can say that there are four types of development in terms of dependence on other cultures. They can be called (i) Non-dependent Development; (ii) Dependent Development; (iii) Independent Development; and (iv) Inter-dependent Development. These are broadly historical in the sense that movement is from endogenous to exogenous with the passage of… Continue reading The Four Phases of Development

In the previous sections, we mainly talked of the changes that occur in a society in a variety of ways, not all of them planned, and not all of them desirable. Many concepts and theories relative to the consequences of an innovation or to the acceptance or rejection of an innovation came in handy when… Continue reading IMPROVING THE PRESENT: MANAGING CHANGE

One of the concepts related to the introduction of change that received wide currency is that of Cultural Lag, proposed by William F. Ogburn. This concept refers to the disorganization ‘produced by unequal rates of change in society’. When two correlated parts of a culture change at different rates—one slower and the other faster—the gap between the… Continue reading THE CONCEPT OF CULTURAL LAG

With the spread of the TV6 to all parts of the country and the emergence of several private channels, major changes have occurred—and are occurring—in several aspects of social life. Competing with the cinema are TV serials and reality shows. The operation of channels round the clock on all seven days of the week has meant… Continue reading Influence of Technology on Social Life

An innovation is not limited to just the sector in which it initially occurs. It spreads to other sectors, and in the process gives rise to a succession of other, related innovations. Electricity is a good example. It has reached all corners of society to illuminate dark areas. Even places of worship, which had a… Continue reading Ramifications of an Innovation

Any invention exerts influences other than those originally perceived. Speaking of the introduction of the radio in the United States, Ogburn and Nimkoff identified as many as 150 different influences in the following fields: uniformity and diffusion, transportation, education, dissemination of information, religion, industry and business, occupations, and government and politics, to name a few.… Continue reading Dispersion or the Multiple Effects

The above analysis of change related to cultural goals and means, and to the attendant changes in institutions or in attitudes and values. Western sociology, particularly American sociology, also paid attention to changes in demography and to other changes brought about in society by technological innovations. We shall briefly allude to them here. Demographic Change… Continue reading SOCIAL CHANGE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF GROWTH

Of the several contributions to deviation and anomie, we shall summarize the seminal contribution made by Robert K. Merton, whose paper encouraged a good many studies. Anomie is not used by Merton to imply normlessness, the literal meaning of the word. Merton defined anomie as a condition in which an increasing number of members of… Continue reading Factors Leading to Deviation and Anomie

At the time that sociology emerged as an academic discipline, the societies of the West were in the throes of change. What intrigued scholars was the remarkable continuity of basic social structures in the midst of change. Disintegrative tendencies were viewed as aberrations as they were brought back to normality by institutions of social control. Inspired… Continue reading SOCIAL DEVIATION AND ANOMIE

We must, however, not minimize the importance of earlier studies. Proposing a functional theory of change, Talcott Parsons made it clear that any ‘ordinary system … is capable of description of, on the one hand a structure, a set of units or components with … stable properties, which of course may be relational, and on… Continue reading THE PRESENT AS A PROCESSUAL PRODUCT