Chapter 20 : A Changing World

Influences on Social Change

  Social change may be defined as the transformation, over time, of the institutions and culture of a society. The modern period, although occupying only a small fraction of human history, has shown rapid and major changes, and the pace of change is accelerating.

  The development of social organization and institutions, from hunting and gathering to agrarian to modern industrial societies, is far too diverse to be accounted for by any single-factor theory of social change. At least three broad categories of influences can be identified: The physical environment includes such factors as climate or the availability of communication routes (rivers, mountain passes); these are important to consider, especially as they affect early economic development, but should not be overemphasized. Political organization (especially military power) affects all societies, traditional and modern, with the possible exception of hunting and gathering societies. Cultural factors include religion (which can act as a brake on change), communication systems (such as the nvention of writing), and individual leadership.

Change in the Modern Period

  The most important economic influence on modern social change is industrial capitalism, which depends on and promotes constant innovation and revision of productive technology. Science and technology also affect (and are affected by) political factors, the most important of which is the emergence of the modern state with its relatively efficient forms of government. Cultural influences include another effect of science and technology, the critical and innovative character of modern thinking, which constantly challenges tradition and cultural habits.

Current Changes and Future Prospects

  Social theorists have speculated on where social change will lead us. One influential line of thinking about where modern society is headed holds that the industrial era is being superseded by a postindustrial society based on the importance of information and service, rather than on manufacturing and industrialization. Some authors go further and speak not only of the end of industrialism, but of the end of modernity itself. Our beliefs in progress, in the benefits of science, and in our ability to control the modern world are diminishing, say the postmodernists; and there is such a diversity and plurality of individual concerns and points of view that it is no longer possible to have any overarching conception of history or of where we are headed.

Globalization

  Globalization is often portrayed as an economic phenomenon, but this view is too simplified. Globalization is produced by the coming together of political, economic, cultural, and social factors. It is driven forward above all by advances in information and communication technologies that have intensified the speed and scope of interaction among people around the world.

  Several factors are contributing to increasing globalization. First, the end of the cold war, the collapse of Soviet-style communism, and the growth of international and regional forms of governance have drawn the countries of the world closer together. Second, the spread of information technology has facilitated the flow of information around the globe and has encouraged people to adopt a global outlook. Third, transnational corporations have grown in size and influence, building networks of production and consumption that span the globe and link economic markets.

  Globalization has become a hotly debated topic. Skeptics believe that the idea of globalization is overrated and that current levels of interconnectedness are not unprecedented. Some skeptics focus instead on processes of regionalization that are intensifying activity within major financial and trade groups. Hyperglobalizers take an opposing position, arguing that globalization is a real and powerful phenomenon that threatens to erode the role of national governments altogether. A third group, the transformationalists, believes that globalization is transforming many aspects of the current global order-including economics, politics, and social relations- but that old patterns still remain. According to this view, lobalization is a contradictory process, involving a multidirectional flow of influences that sometimes work in opposition.

  Globalization is not restricted to large, global systems. Its impact is felt in our personal lives, in the way we think of ourselves and our connections with others. Globalizing forces enter our local contexts and our intimate lives both through impersonal sources such as the media and the Internet and through personal contacts with people from other countries and cultures.

Globalization and Risk

  Globalization is an open-ended, contradictory process-it produces outcomes that are difficult to control and predict. Globalization is presenting us with new forms of risk that differ from those that existed previously. External risk refers to dangers that spring from the natural world, such as earthquakes. Manufactured risks are risks that are created by the impact of human knowledge and technology on the natural world. Some believe that we are living in a global risk society in which human societies everywhere are faced with risks (e.g., global warming) that have been produced by our own interventions into nature.

  Globalization is proceeding rapidly but unevenly. It has been marked by a growing divergence between the richest and poorest countries of the world. Wealth, income, resources, and consumption are concentrated among the developed societies, whereas much of the developing world struggles with poverty, malnutrition, disease, and foreign debt. Many of the countries most in need of the economic benefits of globalization are in danger of being marginalized.

World Trade Organization

  Barriers to international trade have been steadily reduced in recent decades, and many believe that free trade and open markets will allow developing countries to integrate more fully into the global economy. Opponents to this approach argue that international trade bodies, such as the World Trade Organization, are dominated by the interests of the richest countries and ignore the needs of the developing world. They claim that trade rules must, first and foremost, protect human rights, labor rights, the environment, and national economies, rather than simply ensuring larger profits for corporations.

Global Governance in the Future

  Globalization is producing risks, challenges, and inequalities that cross national borders and elude the reach of existing political structures. Because individual governments are unequipped to handle these transnational issues, there is a need for new forms of global governance that can address global problems in a global way. Reasserting our will on the rapidly changing social world may be the greatest challenge of the twenty-first century.

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