Learning Objectives
- Identify five agents of socialization.
- Describe positive and negative aspects of the socialization these agents produce.
Several institutional and other sources of socialization exist and are called agents of socialization. The first of these, the family, is certainly the most important agent of socialization for infants and young children.
The Family
The family is perhaps the most important agent of socialization for children. Parents’ values and behavior patterns profoundly influence those of their daughters and sons.
Randen Pederson – Family – CC BY 2.0.
Should parents get the credit when their children turn out to be good kids and even go on to accomplish great things in life? Should they get the blame if their children turn out to be bad? No parent deserves all the credit or blame for their children’s successes and failures in life, but the evidence indicates that our parents do affect us profoundly. In many ways, we even end up resembling our parents in more than just appearance.
Sociology Making a Difference
Understanding Racial Socialization
In a society that is still racially prejudiced, African American parents continue to find it necessary to teach their children about African American culture and to prepare them for the bias and discrimination they can expect to encounter. Scholars in sociology and other disciplines have studied this process of racial socialization. One of their most interesting findings is that African American parents differ in the degree of racial socialization they practice: some parents emphasize African American identity and racial prejudice to a considerable degree, while other parents mention these topics to their children only minimally. The reasons for these differences have remained unclear.
Sociologist Jason E. Shelton (2008) analyzed data from a national random sample of African Americans to determine these reasons, in what he called “one of the most comprehensive analyses to date of racial socialization strategies among African Americans” (p. 237). Among other questions, respondents were asked whether “in raising your children, have you done or told them things to help them know what it means to be Black.” They were also asked whether “there are any other things you’ve done or told your children to help them know how to get along with White people.”
In his major results, Shelton found that respondents were more likely to practice racial socialization if they were older, female, and living outside the South; if they perceived that racial discrimination was a growing problem and were members of civil rights or other organization aimed at helping African Americans; and if they had higher incomes.
These results led Shelton to conclude that “African Americans are not a culturally monolithic group,” as they differ in “the parental lessons they impart to their children about race relations” (2008, p. 253). Further, the parents who do practice racial socialization “do so in order to demystify and empower their offspring to seize opportunities in the larger society” (p. 253).
Shelton’s study helps us to understand the factors accounting for differences in racial socialization by African American parents, and it also helps us understand that the parents who do attempt to make their children aware of U.S. race relations are merely trying, as most parents do, to help their children get ahead in life. By increasing our understanding of these matters, Shelton’s research has helped make a difference.
The reason we turn out much like our parents, for better or worse, is that our families are such an important part of our socialization process. When we are born, our primary caregivers are almost always one or both of our parents. For several years we have more contact with them than with any other adults. Because this contact occurs in our most formative years, our parents’ interaction with us and the messages they teach us can have a profound impact throughout our lives, as indicated by the stories of Sarah Patton Boyle and Lillian Smith presented earlier.
The ways in which our parents socialize us depend on many factors, two of the most important of which are our parents’ social class and our own biological sex. Melvin Kohn (1965, 1977) found that working-class and middle-class parents tend to socialize their children very differently. Kohn reasoned that working-class parents tend to hold factory and other jobs in which they have little autonomy and instead are told what to do and how to do it. In such jobs, obedience is an important value, lest the workers be punished for not doing their jobs correctly. Working-class parents, Kohn thought, should thus emphasize obedience and respect for authority as they raise their children, and they should favor spanking as a primary way of disciplining their kids when they disobey. In contrast, middle-class parents tend to hold white-collar jobs where autonomy and independent judgment are valued and workers get ahead by being creative. These parents should emphasize independence as they raise their children and should be less likely than working-class parents to spank their kids when they disobey.
If parents’ social class influences how they raise their children, it is also true that the sex of their children affects how they are socialized by their parents. Many studies find that parents raise their daughters and sons quite differently as they interact with them from birth. We will explore this further in Chapter 11 “Gender and Gender Inequality”, but suffice it to say here that parents help their girls learn how to act and think “like girls,” and they help their boys learn how to act and think “like boys.” That is, they help their daughters and sons learn their gender (Wood, 2009). For example, they are gentler with their daughters and rougher with their sons. They give their girls dolls to play with, and their boys guns. Girls may be made of “sugar and spice and everything nice” and boys something quite different, but their parents help them greatly, for better or worse, turn out that way. To the extent this is true, our gender stems much more from socialization than from biological differences between the sexes, or so most sociologists probably assume. To return to a question posed earlier, if Gilligan is right that boys and girls reach moral judgments differently, socialization matters more than biology for how they reach these judgments.
As the “Learning From Other Societies” box illustrates, various cultures socialize their children differently. We can also examine cross-cultural variation in socialization with data from the World Values Survey, which was administered to almost six dozen nations. Figure 4.1 “Percentage Believing That Obedience Is Especially Important for a Child to Learn” shows the percentage of people in several countries who think it is “especially important for children to learn obedience at home.” Here we see some striking differences in the value placed on obedience, with the United States falling somewhat in between the nations in the figure.
Learning From Other Societies
Children and Socialization in Japan
This chapter ends with the observation that American children need to be socialized with certain values in order for our society to be able to address many of the social issues, including hate crimes and violence against women, facing it. As we consider the socialization of American children, the experience of Japan offers a valuable lesson.
Recall from Chapter 2 “Eye on Society: Doing Sociological Research” that Japan’s culture emphasizes harmony, cooperation, and respect for authority. Socialization in Japan is highly oriented toward the teaching of the values just listed, with much of it stressing the importance of belonging to a group and dependence, instead of individual autonomy and independence. This is especially true in Japanese schools, which, as two sociologists write, “stress the similarity of all children, and the importance of the group” (Schneider & Silverman, 2010, p. 24). Let’s see how this happens (Hendry, 1987; Schwalb & Schwalb, 1996).
From the time they begin school, Japanese children learn to value their membership in their homeroom, or kumi, and they spend several years in the same kumi. Each kumi treats its classroom as a “home away from home,” as the children arrange the classroom furniture, bring in plants and other things from their own homes, and clean the classroom every day. At recess one kumi will play against another. In an interesting difference from standard practice in the United States, a kumi in junior high school will stay in its classroom while the teachers for, say, math and social science move from one classroom to another. In the United States, of course, the opposite is true: teachers stay in their classrooms, and students move from one room to another.
Other practices in Japanese schools further the learning of Japanese values. Young schoolchildren wear the same uniforms. Japanese teachers use constant drills to teach them how to bow, and they have the children repeatedly stand up and sit down as a group. These practices help students learn respect for authority and help enhance the sense of group belonging that the kumi represents. Whereas teachers in the United States routinely call on individual students to answer a question, Japanese teachers rarely do this. Rather than competing with each other for a good grade, Japanese schoolchildren are evaluated according to the performance of the kumi as a whole. Because decision making within the kumi is done by consensus, the children learn the need to compromise and to respect each other’s feelings.
Because the members of a kumi spend so much time together for so many years, they develop extremely close friendships and think of themselves more as members of the kumi than as individuals. They become very loyal to the kumi and put its interests above their own individual interests. In these and other ways, socialization in Japanese schools helps the children and adolescents there learn the Japanese values of harmony, group loyalty, and respect for authority. If American children learned these values to a greater degree, it would be easier to address violence and other issues facing the United States.
Figure 4.1 Percentage Believing That Obedience Is Especially Important for a Child to Learn
Source: Data from World Values Survey, 2002.
Schools
Schools socialize children by teaching them their formal curricula but also a hidden curriculum that imparts the cultural values of the society in which the schools are found. One of these values is the need to respect authority, as evidenced by these children standing in line.
Wikimedia Commons – public domain.
Schools socialize children in several ways. First, students learn a formal curriculum, informally called the “three Rs”: reading, writing, and arithmetic. This phase of their socialization is necessary for them to become productive members of their society. Second, because students interact every day at school with their peers, they ideally strengthen their social interaction skills. Third, they interact with authority figures, their teachers, who are not their parents. For children who have not had any preschooling, their teachers are often the first authority figures they have had other than their parents. The learning they gain in relating to these authority figures is yet another important component of their socialization.
Functional theorists cite all these aspects of school socialization, but conflict theorists instead emphasize that schools in the United States also impart a by socializing children to accept the cultural values of the society in which the schools are found. To be more specific, children learn primarily positive things about the country’s past and present; they learn the importance of being neat, patient, and obedient; and they learn to compete for good grades and other rewards. In this manner, they learn to love America and not to recognize its faults, and they learn traits that prepare them for jobs and careers that will bolster the capitalist economy. Children are also socialized to believe that failure, such as earning poor grades, stems from not studying hard enough and, more generally, from not trying hard enough (Booher-Jennings, 2008; Bowles & Gintis, 1976). This process reinforces the blaming-the-victim ideology discussed in Chapter 1 “Sociology and the Sociological Perspective”. Schools are also a significant source of gender socialization, as even in this modern day, teachers and curricula send out various messages that reinforce the qualities traditionally ascribed to females and males, and students engage in recess and other extracurricular activities that do the same thing (Booher-Jennings, 2008; Thorne, 1993).
Peers
When you were a 16-year-old, how many times did you complain to your parent(s), “All of my friends are [doing so and so]. Why can’t I? It isn’t fair!” As this all-too-common example indicates, our friends play a very important role in our lives. This is especially true during adolescence, when peers influence our tastes in music, clothes, and so many other aspects of our lives, as the now-common image of the teenager always on a cell phone reminds us. But friends are important during other parts of the life course as well. We rely on them for fun, for emotional comfort and support, and for companionship. That is the upside of friendships.
Our peers also help socialize us and may even induce us to violate social norms.
Tony – Peer Pressure – CC BY-SA 2.0.
The downside of friendships is called peer pressure, with which you are undoubtedly familiar. Suppose it is Friday night, and you are studying for a big exam on Monday. Your friends come by and ask you to go with them to get a pizza and a drink. You would probably agree to go with them, partly because you really dislike studying on a Friday night, but also because there is at least some subtle pressure on you to do so. As this example indicates, our friends can influence us in many ways. During adolescence, their interests can affect our own interests in film, music, and other aspects of popular culture. More ominously, adolescent peer influences have been implicated in underage drinking, drug use, delinquency, and hate crimes, such as the killing of Charlie Howard, recounted at the beginning of this chapter (Agnew, 2007) (see Chapter 5 “Social Structure and Social Interaction”).
After we reach our 20s and 30s, our peers become less important in our lives, especially if we get married. Yet even then our peers do not lose all their importance, as married couples with young children still manage to get out with friends now and then. Scholars have also begun to emphasize the importance of friendships with coworkers for emotional and practical support and for our continuing socialization (Elsesser & Peplau, 2006; Marks, 1994).
The Mass Media
The mass media are another agent of socialization. Television shows, movies, popular music, magazines, Web sites, and other aspects of the mass media influence our political views; our tastes in popular culture; our views of women, people of color, and gays; and many other beliefs and practices.
In an ongoing controversy, the mass media are often blamed for youth violence and many other of our society’s ills. The average child sees thousands of acts of violence on television and in the movies before reaching young adulthood. Rap lyrics often seemingly extol very ugly violence, including violence against women. Commercials can greatly influence our choice of soda, shoes, and countless other products. The mass media also reinforce racial and gender stereotypes, including the belief that women are sex objects and suitable targets of male violence. In the General Social Survey (GSS), about 28% of respondents said that they watch four or more hours of television every day, while another 46% watch two to three hours daily (see Figure 4.2 “Average Number of Hours of Television Watched Daily”). The mass media certainly are an important source of socialization unimaginable a half-century ago.
Figure 4.2 Average Number of Hours of Television Watched Daily
Source: Data from General Social Survey, 2008.
As the mass media socialize children, adolescents, and even adults, a key question is the extent to which media violence causes violence in our society (Surette, 2011). Studies consistently uncover a strong correlation between watching violent television shows and movies and committing violence. However, this does not necessarily mean that watching the violence actually causes violent behavior: perhaps people watch violence because they are already interested in it and perhaps even committing it. Scholars continue to debate the effect of media violence on youth violence. In a free society, this question is especially important, as the belief in this effect has prompted calls for monitoring the media and the banning of certain acts of violence. Civil libertarians argue that such calls smack of censorship that violates the First Amendment to the Constitution, whole others argue that they fall within the First Amendment and would make for a safer society. Certainly the concern and debate over mass media violence will continue for years to come.
Religion
One final agent of socialization is religion, discussed further in Chapter 12 “Aging and the Elderly”. Although religion is arguably less important in people’s lives now than it was a few generations ago, it still continues to exert considerable influence on our beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Here we should distinguish between religious preference (e.g., Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish) and religiosity (e.g., how often people pray or attend religious services). Both these aspects of religion can affect your values and beliefs on religious and nonreligious issues alike, but their particular effects vary from issue to issue. To illustrate this, consider the emotionally charged issue of abortion. People hold very strong views on abortion, and many of their views stem from their religious beliefs. Yet which aspect of religion matters the most, religious preference or religiosity? General Social Survey data help us answer this question (Figure 4.3 “Religious Preference, Religiosity, and Belief That Abortion Should Be Legal for Any Reason”). It turns out that religious preference, if we limit it for the sake of this discussion to Catholics versus Protestants, does not matter at all: Catholics and Protestants in the GSS exhibit roughly equal beliefs on the abortion issue, as about one-third of each group thinks abortion should be allowed for any reason. (The slight difference shown in the table is not statistically significant.) However, religiosity matters a lot: GSS respondents who pray daily are only about half as likely as those who rarely or never pray to think abortion should be allowed.
Figure 4.3 Religious Preference, Religiosity, and Belief That Abortion Should Be Legal for Any Reason
Source: Data from General Social Survey, 2008.
Key Takeaways
- The ways in which parents socialize children depend in part on the parents’ social class and on their child’s biological sex.
- Schools socialize children by teaching them both the formal curriculum and a hidden curriculum.
- Peers are an important source of emotional support and companionship, but peer pressure can induce individuals to behave in ways they might ordinarily regard as wrong.
- The mass media are another important agent of socialization, and scholars debate the effect the media have on violence in society.
- In considering the effects of religion on socialization, we need to distinguish between religious preference and religiosity.
Self Check
References
Agnew, R. (2007). Pressured into crime: An overview of general strain theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Booher-Jennings, J. (2008). Learning to label: Socialisation, gender, and the hidden curriculum of high-stakes testing. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 29, 149–160.
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reforms and the contradictions of economic life. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Elsesser, K., & Peplau, L. A. (2006). The glass partition: Obstacles to cross-sex friendships at work. Human Relations, 59, 1077–1100.
Hendry, J. (1987). Understanding Japanese society. London, England: Croom Helm.
Kohn, M. (1977). Class and conformity. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
Kohn, M. (1965). Social class and parent-child relationships: An interpretation. American Journal of Sociology, 68, 471–480.
Marks, S. R. (1994). Intimacy in the public realm: The case of co-workers. Social Forces, 72, 843–858.
Schneider, L., & Silverman, A. (2010). Global sociology: Introducing five contemporary societies (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Schwalb, D. W., & Schwalb, B. J. (Eds.). (1996). Japanese childrearing: Two generations of scholarship. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Shelton, J. E. (2008). The investment in blackness hypothesis: Toward greater understanding of who teaches what during racial socialization. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 5(2), 235–257.
Surette, R. (2011). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Thorne, B. (1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Wood, J. T. (2009). Gendered lives: Communication, gender, and culture. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
FAQs
What is your understanding of social change? ›
Sociologists define social change as changes in human interactions and relationships that transform cultural and social institutions. These changes occur over time and often have profound and long-term consequences for society.
In what ways does understanding the social world make us better people? ›We also need to understand social processes if we want to influence them. Sociology can help us to understand ourselves better, since it examines how the social world influences the way we think, feel, and act. It can also help with decision-making, both our own and that of larger organizations.
How do we explain our social world? ›social worlds A term which is frequently applied to 'universes of discourse' through which common symbols, organizations, and activities emerge. They involve cultural areas which need not be physically bounded. Typical examples might be the 'social worlds' of surfing, nursing, politics, or science.
What might be the use of sociology to me for understanding my social world? ›Studying sociology provides a better understanding of the following: Reasons for social differences, including differences in social behavior. Reasons for the differentials in group opportunities and outcomes. The relevance of social hierarchies and social power in everyday life.
Why is it important to understand social change? ›-Social change leads to increased awareness and more understanding due to the presence of more information in the community, which enables people to make informed decisions based on the scenario at hand.
Can you describe an example of social change? ›Examples of social change in American society include the civil rights movement, LGBTQ rights, feminism and environmentalism.
Why is it important to understand social? ›Studying social sciences gives students an understanding of the real world around them. Students learn about places, cultures, and events around the world, what conspired to make them the way they are, and can make inferences about how the rest of the world works.
How social change affects the world? ›Population growth can be spurred by social changes in place to allow people to grow. This growth can lead to an expansion of society, which can lead to technological innovations, which leads to even more social change. One example of this is the industrial revolution.
Why is social world important? ›Structural functionalists would say that socialization is essential to society, both because it trains members to operate successfully within it and because it perpetuates culture by transmitting it to new generations. Without socialization, a society's culture would perish as members died off.
What is social world in simple words? ›A social world has been described in plain terms as: …a group of people who get together around a common interest or activity. Members of social worlds may or may not necessarily know one another but they share social norms and practices, including expectations about how people behave when they meet (VicHealth 2019a.
What are the three aspects of the social world? ›
- The Three Main Sociological Perspectives.
- Functionalist Perspective.
- Conflict Perspective.
- Symbolic Interactionist Perspective.
We can distinguish three main components: (1) the shared set of norms, values, beliefs and attitudes, (2) the created and used artefacts, and (3) the people as constitut- ing members of the society (see figure 3). These three elements relate to each other in a closed loop. ...
What is an example of social world? ›A term which is frequently applied to 'universes of discourse' through which common symbols, organizations, and activities emerge. They involve cultural areas which need not be physically bounded. Typical examples might be the 'social worlds' of surfing, nursing, politics, or science.
How does sociology change your life? ›Through the sociological imagination, sociologists develop a mindset to explain how these personal experiences, along with their challenges, impact the larger society in which we operate. Having a better understanding of the relationship between personal and public issues can help influence outcomes on every level.
How does society affect human behavior? ›As per social psychologists, group and individual behavior are influenced by social perception, social interaction, and social influence. Society affects behaviors by influencing them through cultural values, norms, and social ideals.
What are 3 important processes of social change? ›The three traditional ideas of social change—decline, cyclic change, and progress—have unquestionably influenced modern theories. Yet because these theories are not scientifically determined, they fail to make an explicit distinction between decline and progress.
What are the four important factors of social change? ›Social change occurs due to various factors such as demographic, technological, cultural, political, economic and educational. These factors often act in concert resulting in changes either in a serial manner or something in parallel too.
What is the positive impact of social change? ›Positive social change results in the improvement of human and social conditions and in the betterment of society. Such change can occur at many levels, including individuals, families, communities, organizations, and governments. Positive social change is driven by ideas and actions with real-world implications.
What are the 5 types of social change? ›Social change may be driven through cultural, religious, economic, environmental, scientific or technological forces.
How do you achieve social change? ›- Practice Random Acts of Kindness. Small, random acts of kindness—like smiling at a stranger or holding the door open for someone—can be a great way to make a social change impact. ...
- Create a Mission-First Business. ...
- Volunteer in Your Community. ...
- Vote With Your Wallet.
What are the main types of social change? ›
While social change can come from all parts of life, there are two main forms or types of social change: evolutionary and revolutionary.
How do people show social understanding? ›Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply. Show sensitivity towards others, and understand their perspectives. They are careful not to give offence by saying or doing the wrong thing, and are aware that not everyone has the same point of view.
What are the most important factors of social change? ›Major sources of social change include population growth and composition, culture and technology, the natural environment, and social conflict.
What are the characteristics of social change? ›Characteristics of Social change
change was slower. Change is unpredictable in general Revol is a process of social change. What speed & in what form the change takes place is not easily predictable. Social change generally changes in direction.
Positive social and emotional development is important. This development influences a child's self-confidence, empathy, the ability to develop meaningful and lasting friendships and partnerships, and a sense of importance and value to those around him/her.
What is development of the social world? ›Social development is about improving the well-being of every individual in society so they can reach their full potential. The success of society is linked to the well-being of each and every citizen. Social development means investing in people.
What is social simple answer? ›: of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society.
What does social mean in life? ›A person's social life consists of the various bonds they form with others, such as family, friends, members of their community, and strangers. It can be measured by the duration and quality of the social interactions they have on a regular basis, both in person and online.
What holds the social world together? ›People's norms, beliefs, and values make up a collective consciousness, or a shared way of understanding and behaving in the world. The collective consciousness binds individuals together and creates social integration.
What are the most important aspects of a society? ›Requirements for society
The people have a significant set of shared values and interests. The members of society need to feel some sense of unity and solidarity, starting with mutual protection and aid, as well as the multitude of similarities between individuals and groups.
What are the five factors affecting social interaction? ›
The factors affecting social interactions can be classified into five main categories. They include, biological factors, basic cognitive processes, characteristics and actions of others, cultural context, and ecological variables (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2006).
What are some examples of social interaction in everyday life? ›Among other things, we learn from our socialization how far apart to stand when talking to someone else, we learn to enjoy kissing, we learn how to stand and behave in an elevator, and we learn how to behave when we are drunk.
What are the 5 aspects of society? ›The interrelationship among institutions create structure for the society. The family, education, economic, political and religion.
What are three examples of social? ›An individual may belong to multiple social systems at once; examples of social systems include nuclear family units, communities, cities, nations, college campuses, corporations, and industries.
What is a social good example? ›Social good refers to services or products that promote human well-being on a large scale. These services or products include health care, education, clean water, and causes such as equality and women's rights.
How does society shape individuals? ›Individuals are shaped by society in many ways, including through socialization, culture, and social institutions. Socialization is the process by which people learn the norms, values, and customs of their society and culture. It begins at a very young age and continues throughout a person's life.
How social influence does affect you in your daily lives? ›Thus, social influence can be seen as a technique through which attitudes are formed as well as attitudes are changed. Social influence can take place through conformity, compliance, and obedience. Compliance changes in an individual's behavior which is the result of a direct request made to that individual.
What is impact to the society? ›Social impact can be defined as the effect on people and communities that happens as a result of an action or inaction, an activity, project, programme or policy. (Ps. that's not a complete & definitive definition, but we like it).
What are the 4 types of social change? ›Social change may be driven through cultural, religious, economic, environmental, scientific or technological forces.
What do you understand by social change and cultural change? ›Definition. Social change refers to great alteration over time in social values, norms, and behaviour patterns, while cultural change is the transformation of culture via discovery, invention, and contact with another culture.
What is social change essay? ›
Social change is the change in society and society is a web of social relationships. Hence, social change is a change in social relationships. Social relationships are social processes, social patterns and social interactions. These include the mutual activities and relations of the various parts of the society.
What are four things that affect social change today? ›We've mentioned that four key elements that affect social change are the environment, technology, social institutions, and population.
What is the best way to cause social change? ›- Practice Random Acts of Kindness. Small, random acts of kindness—like smiling at a stranger or holding the door open for someone—can be a great way to make a social change impact. ...
- Create a Mission-First Business. ...
- Volunteer in Your Community. ...
- Vote With Your Wallet.
Change is fluid and can be negative or positive. When things change in your life, it can impact your mental health and well-being. You may even feel out of control in situations that you didn't expect. However, learning to manage the way you deal with these different situations will benefit your mental health.
What are factors affecting social change? ›Social change occurs due to various factors such as demographic, technological, cultural, political, economic and educational. These factors often act in concert resulting in changes either in a serial manner or something in parallel too.
Why change is important in our life? ›Change allows you to see what's important to you.
By embracing change, you are able to see what is important to you. This can be anything from relationships to your career path. Change can help you become more focused in your life and know what you want out of it.
1. Process of transforming patterns of thought, behavior, social relationships, institutions, and social structure to generate beneficial outcomes for individuals, communities, organizations, society, and/or the environment beyond the benefits for the instigators of such transformations.
What is the conclusion of social change? ›The causes of social change are diverse, and the processes of change can be identified as either short-term trends or long-term developments. Change can be either cyclic or one-directional. The mechanisms of social change can be varied and interconnected.
What is social change and development? ›Social Development encompasses a commitment to individual and societal well-being, and the opportunity for citizens to determine their own and their society's needs and to influence decisions that affect these. Social change incorporates public concerns in developing social policy and economic initiatives.