THE 5 MOST RELEVANT TYPES OF SOCIAL CHANGE - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The types of social change are struggle, evolution, revolution, conjunctural change and derivative. In sociology, social change is defined as the alteration of order within a social structure characterized by various transformations.

Such transformations occur in cultural symbols, behavior patterns, norms, economics, politics, and value systems.

The Industrial Revolution brought about an important change in society

Most societies seek to maintain their balance and order. Despite this, changes in their structures are inevitable. These changes, from a general perspective, are positive.

There are social changes that are progressive and are shaped as a result of historical evolution. On the other hand, others are abrupt and obey to particular situations.

The most significant in the long term in human history have been the Industrial Revolution, the abolition of slavery, and the feminist movement.

The evolution of societies, from large-scale changes to small alterations, has been carried out through various types of social change.

The 5 main types of social change

1- Fight

It is a change that arises as a result of the imposition by one sector of society on another, generating a conflict that can be seen in the economic, political and social.

An example of a struggle is the discussion on a bill proposed by a political fraction of a Parliament, which is rejected by the opposition fraction.

2- Evolution

This type of change is common in flexible, tolerant, and open societies. It is observed in those societies in which social power is applied taking into account the wishes and feelings of all its sectors.

It consists of the progressive updating, which occurs over time and the result of which does not produce disturbance in the social group in which it occurs.

Evolutionary changes occur over long periods, slowly and gradually. Its most representative manifestations are educational systems and technological advances.

3- Revolution

It is an abrupt, high-grade and highly notable change, which involves the rupture of the existing institutional order, which is replaced by a different order.

Its occurrence can significantly alter the entire social regime, personal behavior and lifestyle of the group it affects.

Revolutionary changes occur in two ways. On the one hand, they destroy the status quo; and on the other, they impose a new one.

They are common in the political field; for example, the change from oligarchic to democratic regime.

From another point of view, revolutionary changes can be strategic procedures tending to produce transformations in the economic system.

Such is the case of the transformations in the distributive and productive systems, which seek to modernize the current systems and generate others of greater equity and social welfare.

4- Conjunctural change

It is a transformation that encourages the resizing of the productive system, with the intention of obtaining economic advances that have not been achieved under the old scheme.

The conjunctural changes lead to the emergence of new companies, the creation of jobs and the improvement of salary remuneration.

5- Derivative

This type of change is so slow that it is imperceptible to the societies that experience it.

It occurs after the accumulation of small transformations that together represent an important and innovative process.

An example of this type of change is the result obtained in the social sphere in relation to the insistent global campaign to promote the adoption of pets instead of their purchase.

References

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