Chapter Notes

Social Change and Social Order in Rural and Urban Society

Change is a constant and permanent feature of modern society. The entire field of sociology emerged from the effort to understand the rapid changes in Western Europe between the 17th and 19th centuries.

However, from the perspective of human history, this kind of constant, rapid change is a very new phenomenon.

• Humans have existed for about 500,000 years.
• Civilised existence has only been around for about 6,000 years.
• Constant and rapid change has only been happening for the last 400 years.
• The pace of this change has accelerated dramatically in just the last 100 years.

• Agriculture would appear at 11:56 pm.
• Civilisations would begin at 11:57 pm.
• Modern societies would only start to develop at 11:59 and 30 seconds! This shows that an incredible amount of change has happened in a very short span of our total history.

Social Change

Social change is not just any kind of change. Sociologists define it as significant changes that alter the underlying structure of a society over time. For a change to be considered "social change," it must be both:

• Intensive: It has a big impact and transforms things fundamentally.
• Extensive: It affects a large section of society.

Sociologists classify social change based on its pace, nature, and causes.

Types of Change by Pace (Speed)

• Evolution: This is a type of change that happens slowly over a long period. The term was made famous by the naturalist Charles Darwin, who proposed that living things evolve by adapting to their environment through a process of 'survival of the fittest'. This idea was later applied to society and called 'social Darwinism', which emphasized slow, adaptive change.
• Revolutionary Change: This is a change that occurs quickly and suddenly. It is often used in a political context, like the French Revolution (1789-93) or the Russian Revolution of 1917, where the entire power structure of society was overthrown. The term can also apply to other rapid transformations, such as the 'industrial revolution' or the 'telecommunications revolution'.

Types of Change by Nature (Impact)

• Structural Change: This refers to transformations in the structure of society itself—its institutions and the rules that govern them. [!example] The invention of paper money was a major structural change. Before this, currency was made of precious metals like gold and silver, and its value was tied to the metal itself. Paper money introduced the idea that a medium of exchange only needs to inspire trust; it doesn't need to have intrinsic value. This idea transformed banking, finance, and the entire economic system.

• Changes in Ideas, Values, and Beliefs: A shift in how people think can also lead to profound social change. [!example] The concept of childhood as a special stage of life is a relatively new idea. In the 19th century, it was normal for children as young as five or six to work in factories. As ideas about childhood changed during the 19th and 20th centuries, it became unacceptable for children to work. This led to new laws banning child labour and establishing compulsory education.

Causes of Social Change

The most common way to classify social change is by its source. There are five broad types of causes:

Environment

Nature and the physical environment have always shaped society, especially in the past when technology was limited.

• Shaping Society: People living in a desert had different livelihoods, food, and social patterns than people living in fertile river valleys.
• Causing Change (Destructive): Natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, or the 2004 tsunami can drastically and irreversibly change societies, destroying livelihoods and altering social structures.
• Causing Change (Constructive): The discovery of natural resources can also cause massive change. The discovery of oil completely transformed the societies of Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Technology and Economy

The combination of technological and economic forces has been a powerful driver of social change, especially in the modern era.

• Direct Impact: The invention of the steam engine revolutionised industry and transport. Steamships and railways transformed the global economy, trade, and migration patterns. In India, railways played a major role in shaping the economy after their introduction in 1853.
• Delayed Impact: Sometimes the impact of technology is only seen later. Gunpowder and paper were invented in China but had a limited impact for centuries. When they were introduced into modernising Western Europe, they transformed warfare and communication forever.
• Economic Organisation: Changes in economic systems, even without new technology, can cause social change. The rise of plantation agriculture (growing single cash crops like sugar or cotton) created a huge demand for labour, which helped establish the institution of slavery between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Politics

Political forces are a major cause of social change, often by redistributing power among different social groups.

• Warfare: Conquest can lead to immediate social change. A modern example is the relationship between the United States and Japan after World War II. The US occupied Japan and introduced many changes. Decades later, Japanese industrial technology and management principles transformed industries in the US and Europe.
• Political Movements: The Indian independence movement did not just end British rule; it fundamentally changed Indian society.
• Universal Adult Franchise: The principle of 'one person, one vote' is perhaps the single biggest political change in history. Before this, power was held by kings or a small elite. Granting everyone the right to vote forces governments to be accountable to the people and has brought about massive social changes worldwide.

Culture

Culture—the field of ideas, values, and beliefs—can also be a powerful source of social change.

• Religion: Religious beliefs have historically organised and transformed societies. Max Weber's famous study, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, showed how the beliefs of certain Protestant sects helped establish the capitalist system. In India, Buddhism and the Bhakti Movement brought about significant social changes.
• The Role of Women: As women have struggled for equality, they have changed society. During World War II, women in Western countries took on factory jobs previously done only by men, which helped their claim to equality. Today, women's role as primary household consumers has made advertisers and media more sensitive to their views, which in turn influences popular culture.
• Sports: The game of cricket, which started as a British aristocratic pastime, became a symbol of national and racial pride in former colonies. The dominance of the West Indies team in the 1970s and 1980s was an expression of pride for a colonised people. The game's immense popularity in South Asia has also changed its commercial profile, making it driven by the interests of Indian fans.

Social Order

To understand social change, we must also understand its opposite: social order. Social order is the tendency within social systems to resist and regulate change. It represents continuity and stability.

Every society needs to maintain stability to function. This requires that people follow the same rules and that institutions behave in a predictable way.

Why Societies Resist Change

1. Need for Stability: Constant, unpredictable change would make life chaotic. We rely on the rules of our favourite games, our family structures, and our daily routines to remain consistent.
2. Vested Interests: In any unequal society, dominant groups (the wealthy and powerful) benefit from the existing social order. They have a vested interest in maintaining stability and will often resist changes that threaten their status. Subordinated groups, on the other hand, have a vested interest in change.

How Social Order is Maintained

Social order is actively maintained in two main ways:

1. Spontaneous Consent: People willingly follow rules and norms because they have internalised them through socialisation. However, socialisation is never perfect and cannot produce complete consent from everyone at all times.
2. Power and Coercion: Societies also rely on power to ensure people conform to norms. Power is the ability to make others do what you want, regardless of their own wishes. When power becomes stable and settled, it is called domination.

Domination, Authority and Law

How does domination work without constant conflict? The key concept is legitimation.

• Legitimation is the process by which power comes to be seen as proper, just, and acceptable.
• Authority, as defined by Max Weber, is legitimate power. It is power that is considered justified.

• A law is an explicitly codified norm or rule. Laws are written down, apply to all citizens, and are created by a legislature (like a parliament) in a modern democracy.

Contestation, Crime and Violence

The existence of social order does not mean everyone agrees or conforms.

• Contestation refers to broad forms of disagreement or protest. This can range from youth 'counter-cultures' (protesting norms through fashion or lifestyle) to political competition in elections.
• Crime is strictly defined as an act that violates an existing law. An act's criminality is not a judgment of its morality. [!example] When Mahatma Gandhi broke the British salt law, he was committing a crime. However, he did so for what he believed were high moral reasons, as part of the 'Civil Disobedience' campaign for India's freedom.
• Violence is an extreme form of contestation that is the enemy of social order. In a modern state, only the state (through police or military) has the right to use legitimate violence. Any other act of violence is illegal and seen as a challenge to the state's authority.

Social Order and Change in Village, Town and City

Societies are often divided into rural and urban sectors, each with its own form of social organisation, social order, and patterns of change.

Differentiating Village, Town, and City

The distinction is based on two main factors:

1. Population Density: Cities and towns have a much higher number of people per square kilometre than villages.
2. Proportion of Agricultural Activities: A significant part of a village's population is engaged in agriculture, and most of its income comes from it.

The difference between a town and a city is mostly a matter of size and administrative definition. An 'urban agglomeration' is a city plus its surrounding suburbs, while a 'metropolitan area' can include more than one city.

Urbanisation is the process where an increasingly larger proportion of a country's population lives in urban areas. In India, the urban population grew from about 11% in 1901 to 37.7% in 2011.

Social Order and Social Change in Rural Areas

• Features of Rural Social Order: Villages are small, allowing for more personalised relationships. Traditional institutions like caste and religion are often stronger. As a result, social order is more resilient, and change is slower.
• Reasons for Slower Change:
  • The lack of anonymity makes it easy for dominant groups to identify and suppress dissent.
  • Dominant groups control most resources and employment, making the poor dependent on them.
• Drivers of Rural Change:
  • Improved communication (telephone, TV) and transport (roads, rail) have reduced the isolation of villages and accelerated change.
  • Changes in agriculture have a huge impact. Post-independence land reforms led to the rise of 'dominant castes'—landowning intermediate castes that became powerful economically and politically, a term coined by M.N. Srinivas.
  • New farm technology, fluctuations in crop prices, or development programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) can significantly alter rural society.

Social Order and Social Change in Urban Areas

City life and modernity are closely linked. The city offers anonymity and opportunity, nurturing the individual in a way the village often cannot. However, this freedom is often limited by class, caste, religion, and other social constraints.

Challenges to Urban Social Order

Most problems of urban social order are related to space. High population density creates complex logistical challenges, including:

• Housing: Shortages of affordable housing lead to homelessness and the growth of slums—congested neighbourhoods with no proper civic facilities. Slums can become breeding grounds for crime and extra-legal authorities.
• Gated Communities: In response to urban problems, affluent neighbourhoods are sometimes sealed off behind walls and gates with controlled entry. These 'gated communities' often have their own private security and utilities, creating further division in the city.
• Transport: If residential areas are far from workplaces, cities require elaborate mass transit systems. Over-reliance on private cars leads to traffic congestion and pollution, impacting the quality of life.

Social Change in Urban Areas

Urban social change is also often related to space.

• Changing Neighbourhoods: The fortunes of different parts of a city can change over time. A key phenomenon is 'gentrification', which is the conversion of a previously lower-class neighbourhood into a middle or upper-class one. This happens as real estate developers invest in the area, raising property values and pushing out the original residents.
• Impact of Transport: Changes in mass transport can significantly alter social life. An affordable and efficient public transport system can shape a city's social character and economic success. The introduction of the Metro Rail in Delhi, for example, is a potential driver of major social change in the city.