Social change: theory, causes, and impacts

Social Change

How has technology changed or impacted Geography, Demography, Ecology, Economics and Stratification? What stimulates "Social Change?" Are all societies equal when change occurs? Why or why not?

Technology has lessened the barriers that geography places upon commerce. Companies can outsource labor to India, pay workers the going rate, and due to cheaper labor input costs, provide American consumers with less expensive goods. Because of technology, goods can be shipped all over the world, and we can enjoy oranges from Sicily in the middle of winter. Goods can be sold via e-Bay all over the world. As the world grows smaller, people move farther away from their families, as they are more aware of opportunities far and wide. Demographically, more affluent people have fewer children, and provide more material comforts for those children. The ecology may be heating up because of global warming, but in the short-term, technology has provided humanity with many economic pleasures, although it has also widened the gap between the developing and the developed world in terms of standards of living. Still, China and India may be catching up, deploying their cheaper labor costs and large populations to an economic advantage. The world has grown more stratified, but the poor have grown more aware, through the media, of the extent of the divide between the haves and have-nots.