Social change and development: concepts and relationships

Social change refers to the significant alteration of social structure and cultural patterns through time. Social structure is the routine interaction among persons or groups and cultural patterns refer to the shared way of thinking, knowledge, beliefs, etc. When a social change occurs, it affects both social structure and culture.

The first kind is the change in personnel and it denotes the process of new people, with personal histories and experiences, continuously entering and leaving the society. The second kind refers to the changes that occur as parts of the structure related to each other. Then there are also changes in the way people function in the society and the way they relate to each other. You also find changes in the relationship between structures and new social structures emerge.

Social change occurs both at the macro and micro level in any society. We find both short-term changes as well as the long-term ones in our lives. There are numerous causes for social change. Such causes can be either exogenous or endogenous.

Any aspect of human behavior that focuses its characteristics is considered as a process. Social change, for example, is a process. The term progress refers to the notion of finding if a particular change is progressive or not.

In earlier days, social scientists considered evolution to be the orderly progression from a simple to a complex entity. Of late, they have considered evolution to be the emergence of social novelty that includes reproduction, selection and transmission. Development is also a change that can be at the individual as well as the organizational level. It includes the way of describing the social, economic and political change in various nations.

Modernization refers to the concept of the development of each society from barbarism to civilization. Their citizens will be freer and will have a higher standard of living. Social scientists also believe in dependency theory, which proposes an integral relationship among people, media and social system. The view is that a person depends on media for certain information but not everything. People will become independent on media either for specific need or for social stability.

The concept of world system is one that includes boundaries, structures, groups, rules of legitimation and coherence (Vela, 2001). Life within a world system is mostly self-contained and its developmental dynamics are internal.

Social Institution -- American Schooling

School is a social institution that is designed to transform children. School draws children from their families to new social context, different forms of social relationship, and situations in which they require to exhibit various kinds of expertise (Packer & Tapan, 2001).

During the agrarian society, land was the major source of wealth and it was individually owned. There were distinct social classes among those who owned the land and those who worked on those lands. This created a major difference between the social strata. Such economic and social conditions influenced the American schools where social strata and social class were predominant.

Industrial society is associated with the emergence of industrialization in the United States. The high level of productivity in industrial societies further stimulated population growth where people started living in cities and urban areas. The division of labor got complex and the social status was achieved rather than ascribed. Industrialism is associated with the widening gap between two social classes of 'haves' and 'have nots'.

Advanced technology and the growing prominence of combining agrarian and industrial societies have brought in hybrid societies. Hybrid societies emerged as a result of the colonization by industrialized societies and the allure of industrialized nation's wealth. The primary idea behind such post-industrial societies is that the control of information and the ability to develop more technologies should be important than money and power.

Historical Analysis of American Schooling

Agrarian society

Cultural interaction and cultural displacement that brought in European domination in American soil came into existence in the early years of 17th century. There were several societies in the British governed North American, which, though shared some similarities, were widely different in their culture and educational system (Rury, 2005).

Schools were small and they reinforced traditional values. There was numerous informal education that included apprenticeship and literacy circles, which helped to develop essential skills more than schools.

During the 1800s, there were tremendous changes in the American system. State supervised schools evolved that brought in primary schools followed by high schools and universities. A great number of people began entering the school system and stayed for longer period of time.

Industrial society

During the 19th century America faced tremendous social and economic changes where industrial development and urbanization gained prominence. Industrial revolution, that was strong in England, flourished in America and it highly influenced American schools. Due to the increase in economic growth, people began to give more importance to schools (Rury, 2005).

Immigrants began moving to America and the schools incorporated new schemes to include immigrants. The 19th century gave rise to national model system of schooling. However, slavery and inferior attitudes could be seen in schools where the treatment of different races began to take prominence.

For some of the minority groups, schools became a place to express their issues and a potent vehicle for social mobility and reformation. For others schools were a reminder of failure and frustration. Schools also became an instrument of improvement and opportunity and they began to hope for a better life.

The years between 1890 and 1920 witnessed progress especially in educational reform. Progressive education became the norm and it included a major current of reform propositions and practices. Such a broad reform was also a source of controversy and debate (Rury, 2005).

By the start of the 20th century industrialization and the rate of urbanization gained more predominance. Business enterprises began to flourish and engulf the society. Millions of new immigrants came into the country to seek jobs in the booming industry. Education system and schools began to incorporate ways to adapt to the growing industrial population. More schools were needed to meet the growing needs of increasing population. Since more money was required to fund supplies and other costs associated with schools, tax funds came into prominence.