Essay on Social Change and Cultural Change – The difference between social change and cultural change has a great sociological importance. By ‘social change’ is meant only such alterations as occur in social organisation, that is, structure and functions of society. Social change, in this sense, is only a part of what is essentially a broader category called “cultural change”.
The term “cultural change “, according to Kingsley Davis, “embraces all changes occurring in any branch of culture including art, science, technology, philosophy, etc., as well as changes in the forms and rules of social organisation.” As he says, cultural change is broader than social change, and social change is only a part of it.
All social changes are cultural changes, but all cultural changes need not necessarily be the social changes also. Cultural changes can be called social changes only when they affect human relations and the social organisation and cause some variation in them.
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Ex. Changes in the musical styles, painting styles, rules of writing poetry and drama, pronunciation of words, etc., represent cultural changes. They are purely cultural changes. They cannot be called social changes, because, they do not in any way affect the existing pattern of human interactions, social system and social organisation.
On the other hand, the rise of organised labour in the capitalistic society and the introduction of communism in the place of democracy, represent social change. These two changes may cause a series of changes in human relations and social organisation.
They represent a basic alteration in the relation of employer and employees, rulers and the ruled. They may contribute to the changes in the economic organisation, methods of administration, legislations, economic policies and programmes, and so on. These may, in course of time affect the way of life of people. Hence, they can also be called cultural changes.
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Cultural change is thus much broader than the social change. No part of culture is totally unrelated to the social order, but it remains true that changes sometimes occur in these branches without noticeably affecting the social system. Sociologically, therefore, we are interested in cultural change only to the extent that it arises from or has an effect on social organisation.