Essay on Role of Values in Social Change – The most important kind of structural change is change in the comprehensive standards that are called “values”. Values refer to the constituent facts of social structure. The values we have in mind here are, of course, values that directly affect the content of social roles and social interaction. They are not purely cultural values, such as classicism in art.
Values constitute one of the elements of culture. Like culture, values also undergo changes. Values normally undergo changes slowly and gradually. In fact, values are often regarded as the static element of society. In a highly industrialised and urbanised society values undergo change comparatively at a greater speed. In a highly tradition-bound society values undergo change slowly.
Scientific and technological innovations, political and economic changes, widespread education, high rate of urbanisation and industrialisation, etc., have caused changes in values.
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Social values not only undergo changes, but also contribute to social change. Social values and moral norms greatly affect the rate and direction of social change. In comparative terms, preliterate’s resist all changes while members of modern Western society welcome almost all of them. The direction of change is also in large measure controlled by these subjective aspects of society.
Modern Americans hail new gadgets and mechanical devices with an almost religious zeal. But they resist changes in politico-economic ideology. They abhor the term ‘socialism’ and resist all ‘socialist’ trends in administration. The democratic values are so deep-rooted in them that they hate and protest state intervention in many social matters.
Ideological values resist and limit social changes. Ideological values themselves, however, differ in the degree to which they resist change. The American ideological values of race relations, education and religion have been less resistive to change than those connected with the politico- economic field.
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On the contrary, the Indian values pertaining to caste relations, education, religious institution are more resistive to change than those connected with their politico-economic field.