Dramatic Social Change : A Social Psychological Perspective

This response addresses question four and define the provided theories, which include structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. In doing so, various components of the theories are identified in relation to the topic of social change. In doing so, it is important to point out that in sociology, theories are used to explain the patterns, the way groups of people decide to perform specific actions, and the way societies do certain things or rather experience a change in a different manner. On the other hand, social change implies the growth and development of a social order, which bears some significant consequences.

In the beginning of the year I entered this class with a very sheltered and ignorant view of current and past events. Through time and sociological evolution I have begun to see things in a different light. The development of my ability, to look at something or some kind of situation, lets me use the sociological terms in such a manner to relate them to micro and macro problems in society. This started with the assigned readings of the class; the aim was to decipher the messages the authors were presenting. The goal was then to dig deeper and use my experiences to help myself understand the concepts throughout the course. "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited." Plutarch (46-120 CE--common era) I was no longer

Campbell, Angus, and Phillip E. Converse. 1972. The Human Meaning of Social Change. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. UTSA Databaseshttps://ucat.lib.utsa.edu /vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId= 181794/ (accessed February 20, 2013).

After World War I, Adolf Hitler was one of the dictators that arose; which then gained power in Germany in its Great Depression. Hitler rose to power using techniques such as propaganda, censorship, charisma and terror, but that was not all he did. Hitler started his own fascist party in Germany and called it the Nazi Party. Later, Hitler developed anti-semitism, or prejudice against Jews and dehumanized them. He viewed Jews as a separate race not a religion. This caused many changes particularly to the Jews. During World War I the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews caused political, economic, and social changes.

While change can be viewed as a positive thing, it can also be negative, but above all else it can be a scary occurrence. Sometimes we find ourselves desiring to break free from collectivism, desiring to be individual. But often times, we cannot speak up, we cannot do anything to break free. We feel small and confused and afraid. But what is it we are afraid of? Fear of Change. We become used to living in a collective and oppressive society where we are held back and restricted since we are afraid of what could happen if we gain freedom to be unique. Freedom to be creative. Could total anarchy erupt? Could murder occur, due to rage and confusion built up inside of us? Regardless, it is the fear of what could happen, fear of the unknown and of the changes which could come with a new

According to the financial definition, a recession is a significant decline in activity spread across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income, and wholesale-retail trade. The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's GDP. (Dictionary.com) A less official and more realistic definition of an economic recession is the social perception of the state of the economy at a given time. The collective beliefs of the public, mainly businesses and consumers, drive the social perception of whether things are seen as positive or negative. Unfortunately

There has been a drastic change in the way we perceive the world and this can alter the way we see each other. We tend to jump onto a bandwagon because it seems easiest or because of one personal scenario. This is one of the main causes for prejudice and injustice. How a person reacts to being oppressed may bring out another side of them, but this side is their true self. This reaction speaks of his or her morals, ethics, and values. To these people, all the perpetrators appear the same, but it is known that while some may easily go along with it, some may choose to stand above it all. The concepts referenced to earlier will be soon elaborated on in further analysis as this essay goes on.

A revolutionary threshold is the notion of when an individual is willing to participate (if at all) within a protest based on the amount of people already involved. An individual’s revolutionary threshold may decrease or increase based on a variety of reasons. Clark, Golder, and Golder explained, “As you might expect, people’s thresholds are likely to depend on many different factors, such as whether they have benefitted or suffered under the regime, whether they have much to lose from participating in protests, and whether they believe that the regime is fragile or stable” (Clark, Golder, & Golder, 2012, p. 284). Naturally, some individuals are more willing to participate within protests than others, particularly if they have suffered under

The reality of change is a scary but a necessary situation during life. It brings people together through hard times, like hurricane Katrina. It could tear a society apart as it did to the Roman Empire when it fell into the wrong hands of a blood thirsty dictator. Changes could be harmless, in the sense that human life didn’t die because of it, like East Africa transitioning from a jungle to a grassland. Changes sometimes go unnoticed, like the sky changing from sunny to partly cloudy. Throughout all these different kinds of changes, people react in different ways and may make hard, indecisive decisions on how to solve or deal with the problem or issues. Change effects humans differently throughout time or in a matter of an over night experience,

This project is all about maximizing your personal brain power by changing something in your life all while following the steps of changeology.The steps include psych, prep, perspire, perspective,and persist which all include useful information and guide you to achieving whatever your goal is. Using these methods I will change for the better and improve my daily routines all while keeping track of my progress throughout the course of two weeks.As for this week I will present to you the first two steps of changeology which include psych and prep.

Sociological changes I would expect to find if life expectancies were to increase by another 20 years:

As children enter adolescence, cultural, biological and cognitive changes cause variation in their daily lives. Adolescents spend far less time with their parents and begin participating in both structured and unstructured peer activities.Without the direct presence of their parents or other adults, their peer network begins to become the primary context for most socialization and activity. These social "cliques" fundamentally influence adolescent life and development.Perhaps because they are perceived as an external threat to parental authority, undesired changes in adolescent behavior are often attributed to cliques.In these situations, cliques are described as "social grouping[s] of persons that exhibit a great deal of peer pressure on its members and is exclusive, based on superficial differences".Researchers, however, question these assumptions: based on empiric data from both experiments and ethnographies they suggest that clique structure characterizes many friendship networks within any given school, not all of which negatively affect adolescents.A more neutral and scientific definition of clique is "a grouping of persons who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting."

In all cultures it is easy to see the effects of change. Change can be a revolution, a new form of thought, or a new idea surfacing. No matter what these changes are, they often emerge from the minority. In several cases this results an uprising, turning the social system on end. Simple examples of this type of change can be seen in the French or American revolutions, and even in the hippie movement of the 1960's. These changes depict how an idea shared only by a select few can snowball into the mindset of thousands. Within A Doll's House and An Enemy of the People, Henrick Ibsen shows his standpoint on the benefits of social change, and

Burke (2014) stated that organizations change from day to day. The changes that take place in organizations can be intentional or unintentional. Generally, the changes that occur is accidental. It is important to have a broader and deeper knowledge of understanding organization change. Understanding what is currently happening as well as trends in which the organization is functioning can provide such awareness.

Albert Einstein said it best, “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them” - Albert Einstein(58 Quotes). Social change is an opportunity for positive growth in today’s world, however it may sometimes take a tragedy to get there. Many big events in history such as The French Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement have caused social change, but our world is stronger because of those events. It takes leadership and a desire for growth to make a positive change in today’s society. Many philosophers have theorized social change through functionalism, conflict theory, and punctuated equilibrium.