Section outline

  • General

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  • 解释社会变革

    Objectives
    ::目标目标目标和目标目标目标目标目标

    Summarize the theories that social scientists have offered to explain the process of social change.
    ::总结社会科学家为解释社会变革过程而提出的理论。

    Explain how the theories on social change have evolved.
    ::解释社会变革理论是如何演变的。


    Universal Generalizations
    ::普遍化

    The modern world changes rapidly.
    ::现代世界迅速变化。

    Ideologies are often transmitted through social movements.
    ::意识形态往往通过社会运动传播。

    Social change occurs when people find new ways to manipulate their environment.
    ::当人们找到新的方法来操纵环境时,社会就会发生变化。

    Societies adopt material culture and technology more freely than ideas and values.
    ::社会社会比思想和价值观更自由地采用物质文化和技术。

    Cultural diffusion is a two way process.
    ::文化传播是一个双向过程。

    Social change rarely occurs without resistance.
    ::社会变革很少在没有抵抗的情况下发生。


    Guiding Questions
    ::问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问 问

    What are the main sources of social change?
    ::社会变革的主要根源是什么?

    What impact does the physical environment have on social change?
    ::自然环境对社会变化有何影响?

    What impact did the automobile have in creating social change?
    ::汽车在促成社会变革方面产生了何种影响?

    How do the equilibrium theory and conflict theory differ?
    ::平衡理论和冲突理论如何不同?

    Social Change
    ::社会变革 社会变革

    Collective behavior and social movements are just two of the forces driving  social change , which is the change in society created through social movements as well as external factors like environmental shifts or technological innovations. Essentially, any disruptive shift in the status quo, be it intentional or random, human-caused or natural, can lead to social change. 
    ::集体行为和社会运动只是推动社会变革的两个因素,即社会运动带来的社会变革以及环境变化或技术创新等外部因素。 从根本上说,现状的任何破坏性转变,无论是有意的还是随机的、人为的还是自然的,都可能导致社会变革。


    Development

    Image Courtesy  efnet.si/en/files/2013/01/trajnostni-razvoj.jpg  
    ::efnet.si/en/files/2013/01/trajnostni-razvoj.jpg

    Causes of Social Change
    ::社会变革的原因

    Changes to technology, social institutions, population, and the environment, alone or in some combination, create change. Below, we will discuss how these act as agents of social change and we’ll examine real-world examples. We will focus on four agents of change recognized by social scientists: technology, social institutions, population, and the environment.
    ::技术、社会机构、人口和环境的变化,无论是单独还是某种组合,都会带来变化。 下面,我们将讨论这些变化如何成为社会变革的推动者,我们将研究现实世界的例子。 我们将关注社会科学家承认的四个变革推动者:技术、社会机构、人口和环境。

    Technology
    ::技术 技术

    Some would say that improving technology has made our lives easier. Imagine what your day would be like without the internet, the automobile, or electricity. In  The World Is Flat , Thomas Friedman (2005) argues that technology is a driving force behind globalization, while the other forces of social change (social institutions, population, environment) play comparatively minor roles. He suggests that we can view globalization as occurring in three distinct periods. First, globalization was driven by military expansion, powered by horsepower and windpower. The countries best able to take advantage of these power sources expanded the most, exerting control over the politics of the globe from the late 15th century to around the year 1800. The second shorter period, from approximately 1800 C.E. to 2000 C.E., consisted of a globalizing economy. Steam and rail power were the guiding forces of social change and globalization in this period. Finally, Friedman brings us to the post-millennial era. In this period of globalization, change is driven by technology, particularly the internet (Friedman 2005).
    ::有人会说,改进技术使我们的生活更加容易。想象一下没有互联网、汽车或电力,你的今天会是什么样子。在《世界是平的》中,托马斯·弗里德曼(2005年)认为技术是全球化的驱动力,而其他社会变革力量(社会体制、人口、环境)的作用则相对较小。他说,我们可以把全球化看成是在三个不同的时期发生的。首先,全球化是由军事扩张驱动的,由马力和风力驱动的。最能够利用这些动力源的国家最充分地扩张,从15世纪末到1800年左右对全球政治实行控制。第二个较短的时期,从大约1800摄氏度到2000年的C.E.,由全球化经济组成。轮子和铁路力量是这一时期社会变革和全球化的导力。最后,弗里德曼将我们带到后千年时代。在这个全球化时期,变革是由技术,特别是互联网驱动的(弗里德曼,2005年)。

    But also consider that technology can create change in the other three forces social scientists link to social change. Advances in medical technology allow otherwise infertile women to bear children, indirectly leading to an increase in population. Advances in agricultural technology have allowed us to genetically alter and patent food products, changing our environment in innumerable ways. From the way we educate children in the classroom to the way we grow the food we eat, technology has impacted all aspects of modern life.
    ::但同时也考虑到技术可以改变其他三个社会科学家与社会变革的联系。 医学技术的进步允许否则不育的妇女生育子女,间接导致人口增加。 农业技术的进步让我们得以基因改变和专利食品产品,以无数方式改变我们的环境。 从我们教育儿童的方式到我们种植食物的方式,技术已经影响了现代生活的各个方面。

    Of course there are drawbacks. The increasing gap between the technological haves and have-nots––sometimes called the digital divide––occurs both locally and globally. Further, there are added security risks: the loss of privacy, the risk of total system failure (like the Y2K panic at the turn of the millennium), and the added vulnerability created by technological dependence. Think about the technology that goes into keeping nuclear power plants running safely and securely. What happens if an earthquake or other disaster, like in the case of Japan’s Fukushima plant, causes the technology to malfunction, not to mention the possibility of a systematic attack to our nation’s relatively vulnerable technological infrastructure?
    ::当然也有缺点。 技术拥有者与无拥有者之间日益扩大的差距有时被称为数字鸿沟 — — 本地和全球。 此外,还有额外的安全风险:隐私的丧失、系统全面故障的风险(如千年之交的Y2K恐慌 ) , 以及技术依赖性带来的脆弱性。 想想能让核电厂安全运行的技术。 如果地震或其他灾难 — — 如日本福岛核电厂 — — 导致技术故障,更不用说对我国相对脆弱的技术基础设施进行系统袭击的可能性,会发生什么呢?

       


    A majority of Americans envision a future made better by advancements in technology
    ::大部分美国人展望未来, 科技进步能让未来变得更好

    When asked for their general views on technology’s long-term impact on life in the future, technological optimists outnumber pessimists by two-to-one. Six in ten Americans (59%) feel that technological advancements will lead to a future in which people’s lives are mostly better, while 30% believe that life will be mostly worse.
    ::当被问及他们对技术对未来生活的长期影响的一般看法时,技术乐观主义者比悲观主义者多出二比一。 十分之六的美国人(59 % ) 认为技术进步将带来一个人民生活最美好、30%的人相信生活最糟糕的未来。

    Demographically, these technological optimists are more likely to be men than women, and more likely to be college graduates than to have not completed college. Indeed, men with a college degree have an especially sunny outlook: 79% of this group expects that technology will have a mostly positive impact on life in the future, while just 14% expects that impact to be mostly negative. Despite having much different rates of technology use and ownership, younger and older Americans are equally positive about the long-term impact of technological change on life in the future.
    ::从人口学上看,这些技术乐观主义者更有可能是男性而不是女性,而大学毕业生也更有可能是大学毕业生而不是没有完成大学学业。 事实上,拥有大学学位的男性有着特别阳光灿烂的前景:79%的男性期望技术对未来生活产生主要积极的影响,而只有14%的男性预计这种影响大多是负面的。 尽管技术使用和拥有率大不相同,但年轻和年长的美国人对技术变革对未来生活的长期影响同样积极。

    Technological Change and the Future

      

    Social Institutions
    ::社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构 社会机构

    Each change in a single social institution leads to changes in all social institutions. For example, the industrialization of society meant that there was no longer a need for large families to produce enough manual labor to run a farm. Further, new job opportunities were in close proximity to urban centers where living space was at a premium. The result is that the average family size shrunk significantly.
    ::单一社会体制的每一个变化都会导致所有社会机构的变化。 比如,社会工业化意味着大家庭不再需要生产足够的体力劳动来经营农场。 此外,新的就业机会离城市中心很近,那里的居住空间非常昂贵。 结果是平均家庭规模大幅缩小。

    This same shift towards industrial corporate entities also changed the way we view government involvement in the private sector, created the global economy, provided new political platforms, and even spurred new religions and new forms of religious worship like Scientology. It has also informed the way we educate our children: originally schools were set up to accommodate an agricultural calendar so children could be home to work the fields in the summer, and even today, teaching models are largely based on preparing students for industrial jobs, despite that being an outdated need. As this example illustrates, a shift in one area, such as industrialization, means an interconnected impact across social institutions.
    ::这种向工业公司实体的转变也改变了我们看待政府参与私营部门的方式,创造了全球经济,提供了新的政治平台,甚至刺激了新的宗教和新的宗教崇拜形式,如科学论派。 它还为我们教育儿童的方式提供了信息:最初的学校是为适应农业日历而建立的,这样儿童可以在夏季在家从事田间工作,甚至今天,教学模式在很大程度上以培养学生从事工业工作为基础,尽管这种需求已经过时。 正如这个例子所说明的那样,一个领域的转变,如工业化,意味着社会机构之间的相互联系。

    Population
    ::人口人口 人口

    Population composition is changing at every level of society. Births increase in one nation and decrease in another. Some families delay childbirth while others start bringing children into their fold early. Population changes can be due to random external forces, like an epidemic, or shifts in other social institutions, as described above. But regardless of why and how it happens, population trends have a tremendous interrelated impact on all other aspects of society.
    ::人口构成在社会的各个层次都在变化,一个国家的出生率在增加,另一个国家的出生率在下降,一些家庭推迟分娩,而另一些家庭则开始让孩子提前折叠,人口变化可能是由于随机的外部力量,如流行病,或其他社会机构的变化,如上所述。 但是,无论原因和方式如何,人口趋势对社会的所有其他方面都有着巨大的相互关联影响。

    In the United States, we are experiencing an increase in our senior population as baby boomers begin to retire, which will in turn change the way many of our social institutions are organized. For example, there is an increased demand for housing in warmer climates, a massive shift in the need for elder care and assisted living facilities, and growing awareness of elder abuse. There is concern about labor shortages as boomers retire, not to mention the knowledge gap as the most senior and accomplished leaders in different sectors start to leave. Further, as this large generation leaves the workforce, the loss of tax income and pressure on pension and retirement plans means that the financial stability of the country is threatened.
    ::在美国,随着婴儿潮人开始退休,我们的老年人口正在增加,这反过来将改变我们许多社会机构的组织方式。 比如,对温暖气候中住房的需求增加,对老年人护理和辅助生活设施的需求发生大规模转变,对虐待老年人行为的认识日益提高。 人们担心随着潮人退休,劳动力短缺,更不用提知识差距,因为不同部门最资深和最有成就的领导人开始离开。 此外,由于这一代人离开劳动力队伍,税收收入损失以及养老金和退休计划的压力意味着国家的财政稳定受到威胁。

    Globally, often the countries with the highest fertility rates are least able to absorb and attend to the needs of a growing population. Family planning is a large step in ensuring that families are not burdened with more children than they can care for. On a macro level, the increased population, particularly in the poorest parts of the globe, also leads to increased stress on the planet’s resources.
    ::从全球来看,生育率最高的国家往往最没有能力吸收和满足不断增长的人口的需求。 计划生育是确保家庭不承担超过他们所能照顾的更多子女负担的重要步骤。 从宏观来看,人口增长,特别是全球最贫穷地区的人口增长也导致地球资源压力增加。


    The Environment
    ::环境环境

    Turning to human ecology, we know that individuals and the environment affect each other. As human populations move into more vulnerable areas, we see an increase in the number of people affected by natural disasters, and we see that human interaction with the environment increases the impact of those disasters. Part of this is simply the numbers: the more people there are on the planet, the more likely it is that people will be impacted by a natural disaster.
    ::谈到人类生态,我们知道个人和环境相互影响,随着人类人口进入更脆弱的地区,我们看到受自然灾害影响的人数有所增加,我们看到人类与环境的相互作用增加了这些灾害的影响。 这部分仅仅是数字:地球上的人越多,人们就越有可能受到自然灾害的影响。

    But it goes beyond that. We face a combination of too many people and the increased demands these numbers make on the earth. As a population, we have brought water tables to dangerously low levels, built up fragile shorelines to increase development, and irrigated massive crop fields with water brought in from several states away. How can we be surprised when homes along coastlines are battered and droughts threaten whole towns? The year 2011 holds the unwelcome distinction of being a record year for billion-dollar weather disasters, with about a dozen falling into that category. From twisters and floods to snowstorms and droughts, the planet is making our problems abundantly clear (CBS News 2011). These events have birthed social movements and are bringing about social change as the public becomes educated about these issues.
    ::但它超越了这一点。 我们面对着众多人口和这些数量对地球的需求的增加。作为一个人口,我们把水位降到了危险的低水平,建设了脆弱的海岸线以促进发展,用从几个州引进的水灌溉了大片农田。当海岸线上的家园被殴打,干旱威胁到整个城镇时,我们怎能感到惊讶? 2011年是创纪录的10亿美元的气候灾害年,大约有十几场降为此类灾害。从曲流和洪水到暴雪和干旱,地球正在使我们的问题变得非常清楚(CBS新闻,2011年)。这些事件在公众开始了解这些问题时,产生了社会运动,并带来了社会变革。

    OUR DYSTOPIAN FUTURE: FROM  A BRAVE NEW WORLD  TO  THE HUNGER GAMES

    Two of the books in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy are shown here.

    Is the glass half-empty or half-full when it comes to social change? Fiction writers explore both sides of the issue through fantasy futuristic novels like the  Hunger Games  trilogy by Suzanne Collins. (Photo courtesy of Carissa Rogers/flickr)
    ::在社会变革方面,玻璃是半空还是半满? 幻想作家通过幻想未来的小说来探讨问题的两面,比如苏珊·柯林斯的《饥饿运动会三部曲》。 (Carissa Rogers/Flickr的Photo礼节)

    Humans have long been interested in science fiction and space travel, and many of us are eager to see the invention of jet packs and flying cars. But part of this futuristic fiction trend is much darker and less optimistic. In 1932, when Aldous Huxley’s  Brave New World  was published, there was a cultural trend towards seeing the future as golden and full of opportunity. In his novel set in 2540, there is a more frightening future. Since then, there has been an ongoing stream of dystopian novels, or books set in the future after some kind of apocalypse has occurred and when a totalitarian and restrictive government has taken over. These books have been gaining in popularity recently, especially among young adult readers. And while the adult versions of these books often have a grim or dismal ending, the youth-geared versions usually end with some promise of hope.
    ::长期以来,人类一直对科幻小说和太空旅行感兴趣,而且我们许多人都渴望看到喷气式小说和飞行汽车的发明。 但是,这种未来的虚构趋势的一部分却更加黑暗,更不那么乐观。 1932年,当Aldous Huxley的《勇敢新世界 》 ( Brave New World)出版时,出现了将未来看成是黄金和充满机会的文化趋势。 2540年,在他的小说集中,未来出现了更可怕的未来。 从那时以来,在某种启示发生之后,在极权主义和限制性政府接管了以后,不断有一系列自闭的小说或书被设置。 这些书最近越来越受欢迎,特别是在年轻的成人读者中。 虽然这些书的成人版本往往有阴暗或阴暗的结局,但年轻人的版本通常充满希望地结束。

    So what is it about our modern times that makes looking forward so fearsome? Take the example of author Suzanne Collins’s hugely popular  Hunger Games  trilogy for young adults. The futuristic setting isn’t given a date, and the locale is Panem, a transformed version of North America with 12 districts ruled by a cruel and dictatorial capitol. The capitol punishes the districts for their long-ago attempt at rebellion by forcing an annual Hunger Game, where two children from each district are thrown into a created world where they must fight to the death. Connotations of gladiator games and video games come together in this world, where the government can kill people for their amusement, and the technological wonders never cease. From meals that appear at the touch of a button to mutated government-built creatures that track and kill, the future world of  Hunger Games  is a mix of modernization fantasy and nightmare.
    ::那么,我们现代时代让我们的目光变得如此可怕呢?以作者苏珊娜·柯林斯在年轻成年人中广为流行的饥饿运动会三部曲为例。 未来环境没有给定日期,而当地则是Panem,这是北美12个地区的转变版,由残酷和独裁的角斗士统治。 角斗士通过强迫每年一度的饥饿游戏来惩罚各区的长期叛乱企图,在这个游戏中,每个区的两名儿童被扔到一个创造的世界中,他们必须奋战到底。 角斗士游戏和视频游戏在这个世界聚集一堂,政府可以在那里为取乐而杀人,而技术奇迹永不停止。 从在按钮上出现的食物到追踪和杀戮的政府制造的变异生物,饥饿运动的未来世界是现代化幻想和噩梦的混合。

    When thinking about modernization theory and how it is viewed today by both functionalists and conflict theorists, it is interesting to look at this world of fiction that is so popular. When you think of the future, do you view it as a wonderful place, full of opportunity? Or as a horrifying dictatorship sublimating the individual to the good of the state? Do you view modernization as something to look forward to or something to avoid? And which media has influenced your view?
    ::当思考现代化理论时,以及当人们如何看待现代理论时,从功能论者和冲突理论论者的角度来看待现代理论时,人们会感兴趣地看到这个如此流行的虚构世界。当你想到未来时,你是否认为它是一个美妙的地方,充满机会?还是认为它是一个恐怖的独裁政权,使个人屈从于国家的利益?你是否认为现代化是期待的东西还是需要避免的东西?哪些媒体影响了你的观点?

    Resistance to Social Change
    ::抵抗社会变革组织

    Regardless of its source, social change hardly ever occurs without some kind of opposition.  Social change often emerges out of a series of compromises between opposing view points. Among the reasons that people oppose change are ethnocentrism, cultural lag, and vested interest.
    ::无论来自何方,社会变革几乎不可能在没有某种反对的情况下发生。 社会变革往往产生于对立观点之间的一系列妥协。 人们反对变革的原因包括种族中心主义、文化落后和既得利益。


    Ethnocentrism
    ::种族中心主义

    The term ethnocentrism then refers to the tendency for each society to place its own culture patterns at the centre of things. Ethnocentrism is the practice of comparing other cultural practices with those of one's own and automatically finding those other cultural practices to be inferior. It is the habit of each group taking for granted the superiority of its culture. It makes our culture into a yardstick with which to measure all other cultures as good or bad, high or low, right or queer in proportion as they resemble ours.
    Ethnocentrism is a universal human reaction found in all known societies, in all groups and in practically all individuals.  Much of the learning of ethnocentrism is indirect and unintended, but some of it is deliberate. History for example, is often taught to glorify the achievements of one's own nation, and religious, civic and other groups disparage their competitors openly. Among adults, ethnocentrism is simply a fact of life.
    The functions of ethnocentrism in maintaining order are more apparent than those which promote social change. First, ethnocentrism encourages the solidarity of the group. Believing that one's own ways are the best, encourages a "we" feeling with associates and strengthens the idea that loyalty to comrades and preservation of the basis for superiority are important values. Positively, ethnocentrism promotes continuance of the status quo negatively, it discourages change.
    Second, ethnocentrism hinders the under standing of the cooperation with other groups. If the ways of one's own group are best, there is little incentive to interact with inferior groups. In fact, attitudes of suspicion, disdain and hostility are likely to be engendered. Extreme ethnocentrism is likely to promote conflict, as the records of past wars, and religious and racial conflicts reveal.
      

    Cultural Lag
    ::文化拉拉

    The role played by material inventions, that is, by technology, in social change probably received most emphasis in the work of William F. Ogburn.   It was Ogburn, also, who was chiefly responsible for the idea that the rate of invention within society is a function of the size of the existing culture base. He saw the rate of material invention as increasing with the passage of time.Ogburn believed that material and non-material cultures change in different ways. 
    ::材料发明在社会变革中所起的作用,即技术作用,在William F. Ogburn的工作中可能得到最高度的重视,也是Ogburn,他主要负责认为社会内发明率取决于现有文化基础的大小的观念,他认为材料发明率随着时间的流逝而不断上升。 Ogburn认为物质和非物质文化以不同方式变化。

    Certainly one of the imperative aspects of modern American life is the tremendous development of technology. Within this century, life has been transformed by invention of the radio, TV, automobiles, airplanes, rockets, transistors, and computers and so on. While this has been happening in material culture, change in government, economic system, family life, education, and religion seems to have been much slower. This difference in rates of cultural change led Ogburn to formulate the concept of culture lag. Material inventions, he believed bring changes that require adjustments in various areas of non-material culture.Invention of the automobile, for instance, freed young people from direct parental observation, made it possible for them to work at distances from their homes, and, among other things, facilitated crime by making escape easier. Half a century earlier, families still were structured as they were in the era of the family farm when young people were under continuous observation and worked right on the homestead.
    ::当然,现代美国生活的一个必要方面是技术的巨大发展。在本世纪,通过广播、电视、汽车、飞机、火箭、晶体管和计算机等发明,生活发生了改变。虽然这发生在物质文化、政府、经济体系、家庭生活、教育和宗教方面,但变化似乎要慢得多。这种文化变化率的差异导致奥格本制定了文化落后的概念。材料发明,他认为带来了变化,需要在非物质文化的各个领域进行调整。例如,汽车发明使年轻人摆脱了直接的家长观察,使他们得以在远离家庭的地方工作,以及除其他事情外,通过使逃离更加容易而便利犯罪。半个世纪前,家庭结构仍然像在家庭农场时代一样,当时年轻人不断受到观察,在家中工作。

    Culture lag is defined as the time between the appearance of a new material invention and the making of appropriate adjustments in corresponding area of non-material culture. This time is often long. It was over fifty years, for example, after the typewriter was invented before it was used systematically in offices. Even today, we may have a family system better adapted to a farm economy than to an urban industrial one, and nuclear weapons exist in a diplomatic atmosphere attuned to the nineteenth century. As the discussion implies, the concept of culture lag is associated with the definition of social problems. Scholars envision some balance or adjustment existing between material and non-material cultures. That balance is upset by the appearance of raw material objects. The resulting imbalance is defined as a social problem until non-material culture changes in adjustment to the new technology.
    ::文化落后被定义为从出现新的材料发明到对相应的非物质文化领域进行适当调整之间的时间。这个时间往往很长。例如,在打字机被系统地用于办公室之前就发明了50多年。甚至今天,我们可能有一个家庭系统更适合农业经济,而不是城市工业经济,核武器存在于与19世纪相适应的外交气氛中。正如讨论所暗示的那样,文化落后的概念与社会问题的定义有关。学者们设想物质和非物质文化之间的某种平衡或调整。这种平衡因原材料物体的外观而中断。由此产生的不平衡被定义为社会问题,直到非物质文化在适应新技术方面发生变化为止。

    Vested Interest  
    ::利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息 利息

    If a person is happy with the way things are now, they will be less likely to resist change.  People most often do not embrace change because they are fearful of losing their security or way of life. People have a vested interest to protect.  For example, many factory workers are apprehensive about new machinery because they fear it is only a matter of time before they get replaced.  
    ::如果一个人对现在的情况感到满意,那么他们就不太可能抵制变革。 人们通常不会接受变革,因为他们害怕失去安全或生活方式。 人们有既得利益需要保护。 比如,许多工厂工人担心新机器,因为他们担心更换只是时间问题。


      

    Sociological Perspectives on Social Change
    ::社会变革的社会学观点

    Sociological perspectives on social change fall into the functionalist and conflict approaches. Both views together offer a more complete understanding of social change than either view by itself (Vago, 2004).    summarizes their major assumptions.
    ::关于社会变化的社会学观点都属于功能主义和冲突方法,这两种观点共同提供对社会变化的更全面理解,而不是两者本身的理解(Vago,2004年)。

    Table   Theory Snapshot
    ::列表理论抓图

    Theoretical perspective Major assumptions
    Functionalism Society is in a natural state of equilibrium. Gradual change is necessary and desirable and typically stems from such things as population growth, technological advances, and interaction with other societies that brings new ways of thinking and acting. However, sudden social change is undesirable because it disrupts this equilibrium. To prevent this from happening, other parts of society must make appropriate adjustments if one part of society sees too sudden a change.
    Conflict theory Because the status quo is characterized by social inequality and other problems, sudden social change in the form of protest or revolution is both desirable and necessary to reduce or eliminate social inequality and to address other social ills.