As discussed earlier that, society is dynamic; in ever changing state. Society, culture, cultural norms and institutions change over the period of time. Change in culture, philosophy, technology, arts, institutions etc. within a given society is known as socio culture change. Each generation within a society come up with new ideas which is added in our culture. Some of the old ideas become obsolete according to the new environment of society. Static societies are considered as dead societies they cannot progress and compete in the new world. Science has discovered and invented many things over the period of time, adaptation to new environment have become necessary for every society. It has made the life of people easy. People can save time and work efficiently and effectively by the use of new technology.
Those societies which are resistant to socio cultural change cannot progress and will lag behind in material and non-material culture. Let’s take some examples of socio cultural change, before the advent of computers, telephone and internet correspondence among the individuals was carried out through letters, which was very time consuming. After the invention of telephone correspondence among people became easy and much time was saved by this new discovery and invention. Public organizations and private organization used type writers and calculators for the record keeping of daily, monthly and yearly financial and commercial activities. However, with the advent of computers and internet official work and record keeping become much easier and saved a lot of time for the people. Use of internet and computers made correspondence, record keeping, book keeping and report writing very easy for the professionals and organizations. Due to these invention, organization and professionals can work efficiently and effectively. These socio cultural change resulted in the progress of societies.
When cultural change occurs, social groups, individuals, institutions and social system change with it too within a given society. Norms are the standards of the behavior which an individual have to follow within an institution, group and society. We can say it’s the cultural aspect of society. However, individual who follow or mold their attitude according to those norms can be called social aspect of the society. For instance rules and regulations are cultural and learning and following those rules are social. Both concept and terms are correlated. When any change take place in a culture is called cultural change. Adopting and practicing that change is called social change.
When cultural change occurs, it changes the attitude of individuals as well which leads to social change. If people attitudes change (social change) it results in cultural change. Thus, any social change leads to change in the norms of social system and institutions. Let’s continue the example of computer and internet, when public and private organizations adopted this new technology because of it efficiency and effectiveness. Social and cultural change occurred with this new development. Educational institutions introduced computer science programs for students. Organizations change the criteria for hiring staff (knowledge of computer and internet become mandatory). Information technology departments were established in the organizations. Parents motivated their children to acquire computer knowledge or to get degree in computer science. Means of transactions changed in financial sectors. New institutions developed due to the development (software companies). As we know that, all the institutions within a society is dependent on one another. So socio cultural change will bring changes in all the institutions of society and may result in establishment of new institution to satisfy the new needs of individuals.
So now that we understand the concept of socio cultural change. Now let’s discuss the sources of socio cultural change. Diffusion, acculturation and assimilation are some sources of cultural change. “Cultural diffusion” is the spreading of culture from one group to another or from one society to another. Cotton bed sheet was domesticated in India now it has been adopted by the people all over the world. Soap was invented by the ancient Gaul’s but people adopted using soap for good hygiene all over the world. Currently, people are using liquid soaps but the idea came from the ancient Gaul’s. Smoking cigarette is common amongst people in many parts of the world. However, it was the discovery of Mexicans. The term “Acculturation” means transmission of culture, it usually happens when two cultures come into contact. When people adopt the norms values and beliefs of other culture and switch from their native culture to the host culture, is known as acculturation. “Assimilation” refers to the process, in which minority culture absorbs into the dominant culture, within a particular society. The process of change in native culture (minority culture) could be gradual or quick; depends on the circumstances. Usually, immigrants adopt the dominant culture to survive in new society. By adopting the host culture, they don’t feel outsiders and feel like; they are part of majority group.
Some societies resist to cultural change. It can be due to the insufficient economic resources. Some people or societies want to adopt the change but their financial or economic condition become hindrance in cultural change. Adaptation of technology in different sectors or institution can be very expensive for a group or society. If society lack the resources to adopt the technology they resist to the change. Societies and groups which are isolated from the other groups and societies may not get information of new developments. Therefore, they cannot adopt change due to the lack of information and isolation. Some conservative societies do not accept change because they consider it violation of norms. In such society violation of norms by an individual is considered a crime and may result in severe punishment. People in such society resist change due to the fear of punishment. Some changes are difficult for people to understand and learn, like old people resist technological change because it is difficult for them to learn the use of new technology.
