Social Change & Cultural Dynamics

• Social change involves significant alterations in behavior patterns, cultural values, social institutions, and structures over time.
• Culture encompasses shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts used by society members to navigate their world.
• Enculturation is the process through which individuals learn and internalize their culture's norms and values.
• Acculturation refers to cultural change resulting from prolonged direct contact between two cultures.
  • Incorporation: Voluntary adoption of cultural elements.
  • Directed Change: One culture forces changes onto another (e.g., residential schools).
• Cultural evolution is the gradual development of cultures from simple to complex forms.

Theories & Models of Change

• Modernization is the transition from traditional to modern society through industrialization and urbanization.
• Convergence Theory suggests societies will become similar due to modernization.
• Divergence Theory suggests societies will retain distinct cultural identities despite modernization.
• Macro change involves large-scale social transformations (e.g., industrial revolution).
• Micro change involves small-scale transformations (e.g., family structure, education systems).

Types of Societies

• Hunting and Gathering societies feature small, kin-based groups with equal status that subsist on wild foods.
• Pastoral societies raise domesticated animals and exhibit some social inequality.
• Horticultural societies use hand tools to grow food and have larger, more permanent settlements.
• Agricultural societies use animals and plows, leading to social classes and written records.
• Industrial societies use machines and factories, leading to urbanization, stratification, and capitalism.
• Postindustrial societies emphasize information and services, coupled with increased technology and globalization.

Psychological Theories of Change

• Behavior modification involves techniques to change behavior through reinforcement.
  • Positive reinforcement adds something to increase behavior.
  • Negative reinforcement removes something to increase behavior (not punishment).
• Experimental psychology studies human behavior through controlled experiments.
• Clinical psychology treats mental illnesses and behavioral problems.

Key Psychologists

• B.F. Skinner: Behavior is learned through rewards and punishments.
• Carl Jung: Personal and collective unconscious, archetypes, introversion/extroversion.
• Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of Needs ending in Self-Actualization.

Sociological Theories of Change

• Structural Functionalism posits that change occurs when parts of society are in tension, and society seeks equilibrium.
  • Tension & Adaptation: Society adjusts to restore balance (e.g., post-pandemic adaptations).
• Accumulation Theory suggests change results from accumulating human knowledge and innovations.
• Diffusion of Innovations explains how new ideas or trends spread and transform society.

Immanuel Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory

• Capitalism is an economic system based on profit and private ownership.
• Core nations are wealthy and developed and exploit others.
• Semi-Periphery nations are developing and occupy a middle position.
• Periphery nations are poor and exploited for raw resources.

Conditions Promoting Social Change

• Charismatic Leader: Inspires change (e.g., Katniss Everdeen).
• Modernizing Elites: Educated, influential people supporting reform.
• Population Readiness: Willingness of people to change.

Impediments to Social Change

• Cultural Lag: Material culture changes faster than non-material culture.
• Tradition: Resistance to change rooted in longstanding customs.
• Fear of Change: Anxiety about the unknown.

Social Dynamics & Issues

• Conformity involves adjusting behavior or beliefs to fit group norms.
• Alienation can be understood through:
  • Marx: Disconnection between worker and labor.
  • Durkheim: Caused by societal instability or normlessness.
• Anomie is the lack of norms, instability due to the breakdown of social standards.
• Civil Disobedience: Nonviolent protest against unjust laws (e.g., Gandhi, MLK).
• Anarchy: Absence of government; total freedom from authority.
• Privilege: Unearned social advantages.

Technology and Social Change

• Thorstein Veblen: Coined conspicuous consumption and critiqued how technology can fuel inequality.
• Bhutan Case Study: Introduction of TV/internet led to cultural shift, especially among youth.
• Agent of Change: Technology drives the transformation of values, communication, and family structure.

The San of Southern Africa (Bushmen of the Kalahari)

• Type of Society: Hunting and gathering, small, egalitarian bands.
• Cultural Traits: Language includes click consonants, shared childrearing.
• Social Change Themes: Cultural isolation vs. modern contact.
• Key Term Connection: Enculturation, Traditional Society, Macro Change, Micro Change.

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980 Film)

• Plot: A Coca-Cola bottle disrupts the harmony of a Bushman community.
• Themes: Introduction of technology into a traditional society.
• Social Change Message: A small element of modernity can unravel an entire cultural worldview.
• Key Term Connection: Diffusion, Directed Change, Cultural Disruption, Technological Determinism.

Bushmen of the Kalahari (Documentary)

• Focus: Anthropological insight into their day-to-day survival, gender equality.
• Key Observations: High level of social cooperation.
• Social Change Impact: Displacement by state policies.
• Key Term Connection: Micro Change, Cultural Loss, Modernization, Acculturation.

Aborigines of Australia / Rabbit-Proof Fence

• Historical Context: Stolen Generations, children forcibly removed from families to assimilate into white society.
• Film Summary: Three girls escape a government-run boarding school and travel home.
• Cultural Themes: Directed Change as an act of cultural genocide.
• Contemporary Effects: Ongoing struggle with poverty, alienation.
• Key Term Connection: Acculturation, Directed Change, Cultural Genocide, Epigenetics, Anomie, Alienation.

Bhutan – Impact of Technology on the Family

• Background: Introduced television and internet in 1999.
• Observations: Rapid changes in values, consumerism, and youth behavior.
• Key Term Connection: Technological Determinism, Cultural Lag, Modernization, Micro Change, Conformity.

The Hunger Games – Dystopian Example

• Setting: Panem, a fictional society with extreme class stratification.
  • Districts: Core (Capitol), Semi-periphery (Districts 1–3), Periphery (Districts 10–12).
• Social Commentary: Reflects Immanuel Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory.
• Symbolism: Mockingjay represents hope, resistance, and identity.
• Key Term Connection: Marxist Class Theory, Anomie, Civil Disobedience, Privilege, Directed Change, Resistance.

Intergenerational Trauma

• Definition: Trauma passed down from generation to generation.
• Trauma Response: Fight, flight, freeze, fawn—helpful short-term, harmful long-term.
• Epigenetics: Environmental trauma can change gene expression and be inherited.
• Symptoms: Anxiety, hypervigilance, emotional dysregulation, health issues.
• Healing: Therapy, trauma-informed care, education, and community rebuilding.

Pop Culture Application – The Hunger Games

• Civil Disobedience: Mockingjay symbol and refusal to kill.
• Alienation: Katniss feels isolated.
• Anomie: Districts experience societal breakdown.
• Class Struggle: Core (Capitol) vs. periphery (outer districts).
• Conformity: Capitol citizens adopt the same values blindly.
• Privilege: The Capitol lives in luxury while others suffer.