Exploring Social Change : America and the World

by Harper, Charles L.; Leicht, Kevin T.

• ISBN13: 9780131884984
• ISBN10: 0131884980
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

This introduction to social change focuses on theories that explain social change, innovation, social movements, and revolutions. The last part of the book shifts explicitly to the global level to analyze population and environmental issues and globalization. Within this framework, the book discusses topics about change and its problems familiar in sociology and social science.

Table of Contents

Preface	viii
Chapter 1 By Way of Introduction	1	(12)
What Is Social Change?	5	(4)
Sociology and Social Change	9	(1)
What You Can Expect from This Book and How It Is Organized	10	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	11	(2)
PART ONE EXPLAINING CHANGE
Chapter 2 The Causes and Patterns of Change	13	(30)
Theory in Sociology	14	(1)
The Causes of Change	15	(1)
Materialistic Perspectives	16	(3)
Idealistic Perspectives	19	(5)
Patterns of Change	24	(16)
In Conclusion	40	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	41	(2)
Chapter 3 Social Theory and Social Change	43	(22)
Functionalist Theory	44	(6)
Conflict Theory	50	(6)
Interpretive Theory	56	(5)
Multiple Perspectives and Change: Reconciling Agency and Structure	61	(2)
In Conclusion: Large-Scale Change and Human Agency	63	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	63	(2)
PART TWO SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE UNITED STATES
Chapter 4 American Social Trends	65	(17)
Structural Trends	67	(4)
Changing Cultural Themes	71	(6)
Countertrends and Reactions to Modernity: Antimodernism and Postmodernism	77	(2)
In Conclusion	79	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	80	(2)
Chapter 5 Change in the Settings of Everyday Life: Populations, Families, and Work	82	(22)
Demographic Change	83	(5)
Changing Families	88	(7)
Transforming Work	95	(6)
In Conclusion	101	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	102	(2)
Chapter 6 Economics, Politics, and the American Prospect	104	(28)
The Changing Economy	105	(7)
Change in the Political System	112	(9)
Change, Problems, and the American Prospect	121	(5)
In Conclusion	126	(3)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	129	(3)
PART THREE PROCESSES OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Chapter 7 Social Movements	132	(26)
What Are Social Movements?	133	(2)
Types of Social Movements	135	(2)
Explaining the Origins of Social Movements	137	(19)
In Conclusion	156	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	156	(2)
Chapter 8 American Reform Movements and Social Change	158	(28)
The Social Context of Twentieth-Century American Reform Movements	159	(1)
Social Class and Reform Movements at the Turn of the Twentieth Century	160	(9)
Social Status and Reform Movements at Mid-Twentieth Century	169	(13)
In Conclusion: What Kinds of Changes Do Reform Movements Produce?	182	(3)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	185	(1)
Chapter 9 Revolutions	186	(41)
What Is a Social Revolution?	186	(1)
Theories of Revolution	187	(12)
The Outcomes of Revolution	199	(1)
Successful and Failed Revolutions in the Contemporary Context	200	(6)
A World Revolution: The Collapse of the Communist System	206	(16)
But Was It a Revolution?	222	(2)
In Conclusion: The Inevitability of Revolutionary Surprise	224	(1)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	225	(2)
Chapter 10 Technology, Innovation, and Networks	227	(32)
Innovation as a Change Process	228	(1)
The Act of Innovation	229	(3)
Sources of Innovation: Social and Cultural	232	(6)
Diffusion: How Innovations Spread	238	(4)
Adoption of Innovation: Social Systems and Individuals	242	(2)
Institutional Change and the Spread of Innovations	244	(2)
Social Networks	246	(9)
In Conclusion: Back at the Information Technology Revolution	255	(2)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	257	(2)
Chapter 11 Creating Change	259	(31)
Creating Change in Omaha: Muddling Through and Planning	262	(5)
Basic Change Strategies	267	(6)
The Role of Violence in Creating Change	273	(4)
Mixed and Complex Strategies	277	(5)
Being a Change Agent	282	(1)
The Ethics of Inducing Change	283	(2)
In Conclusion: Some Final Thoughts about the Feasibility of Creating Change	285	(3)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	288	(2)
PART FOUR GLOBAL CHANGE
Chapter 12 The Emerging Global System: Development and Globalization	290	(34)
Two Worlds	291	(2)
What Is Development?	293	(1)
Uneven Development	294	(4)
Developmentalist Thinking: Perspectives and Dimensions	298	(5)
Explaining Failed Development	303	(2)
Dependency and World Systems Theory	305	(1)
Structure and Dynamics of the World System	306	(7)
Globalization	313	(7)
In Conclusion: Development, Globalization, and Human Progress	320	(2)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	322	(2)
Chapter 13 Society, Environment, and Change	324	(31)
Ecological Perspectives on Change and Problems	325	(2)
Aspects of Ecological Change and Problems	327	(11)
Human Impacts and Global Environmental Change	338	(12)
In Conclusion: Societies, Environment, and Global Stability	350	(3)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	353	(2)
Chapter 14 World Futures	355	(27)
New World Order or New World Chaos?	357	(1)
Looking at the Next Fifty Years	358	(11)
Prophetic Visions: Some Longer Views	369	(9)
In Conclusion: The Third Revolution	378	(2)
Thinking Personally about Social Change	380	(2)
Epilogue: Living in a Rapidly Changing World	382	(4)
References	386	(29)
Author Index	415	(3)
Subject Index	418