Page 259 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes A ‘traditional society’, according to R.N. Bellah (Values and Social Change in Modern Japan, 1961: 15) is
characterized by the dominance of oral traditions, organization based on kinship, ascriptive status,
and hierarchical social order. Contrary to this, a ‘modern society’ can be said to be characterized by
machine technology, national and secular attitudes, and highly differentiated structures. In simple
terms, it may be said that while the traditional society is custom-bound, hierarchical, ascriptive, and
unproductive, a modern society is egalitarian, achievement-oriented and based on production-oriented
economy.
A traditional society is an immobile society. In a society of high mobility, which is termed as ‘open
society’, a person can change his position freely, utilizing his abilities, potentialities, and opportunities
which come his way. On the other hand, in an immobile or ‘closed society’, an individual remains
from birth to death in the same relative position. By ‘modernization’, we mean creation of an open
society, or the extent of creation of new institutions and accepting change which takes place in
institutions, ideas, and social structures of society. Shils has maintained that the traditional society is
not by any means entirely traditional and modern society is by no means free of tradition.
The Characteristics
Karl Deutsch (Ibid: 494-95) referring to one aspect of modernization (that is, socio-demographic aspect,
or what he calls ‘social mobilization’) has indicated some of its indices as: exposure to modern life
through machinery, response to mass media, urbanization, change from agricultural occupations,
literacy, and growth of per capita income.
According to Eisenstadt (1969: 3), some of the indices,pertaining to the structural aspects of social
organization (or modernization) are: specialized roles are ‘free-floating’ (that is, admission to them is
not determined by ascribed properties of the individual), and wealth and power are not ascriptively
allocated (as in traditional societies). This is associated with institutions like markets (in economic
life) and voting and party activities in politics.
Moore (1961: 57-82) has suggested that a modern society has specific economic, political and cultural
characterstics. In the economic sphere, a modern society is characterized by: (a) the development of a
very high level of technology, fostered by the systematic application of knowledge, the pursuit of
which became the province of the secondary (industrial, commercial) and tertiary (service) occupations,
as against the primary (agricultural) ones; (b) growing specialization of economic roles; and (c) the
growth of the scope and complexity of the major markets, the markets for goods, labour, and money.
In the political sphere, a modern society is in some sense democratic or at least pcpulistic. It is
characterized by: (a) the decline of traditional legitimation of the rulers with reference to powers
outside their own society; (b) the establishment of some sort of ideological accountability of the rulers
to the ruled, who are alleged to be the holders of the potential political power; (c) growing extension
of the territorial scope of power of the central, legal, administrative and political agencies of the
society; (d) continual spread of potential power to wider groups in the society-ultimately to all adult
citizens and to moral orders; and (e) total disappearance on weakening of ascriptive political
commitment to any given ruler or group.
In the cultural sphere, a modern society is characterized by: (a) a growing differentiation of the major
elements of the major cultural and value systems, that is, religion, philosophy and science; (b) the
spread of literacy and secular education; (c) a more complex institutional system for the advancement
of specialized roles based on intellectual disciplines; (d) expansion of the media of communication;
and (e) development of a new cultural outlook, characterized by an emphasis on progress and
improvement, on happiness and expression of abilities, on individuality as a moral value and stress
on dignity of the individual and on efficiency.
Broadly speaking, modernization has following important characteristics:
• a temper of science
• reason and rationalism
• secularism
• high aspirations and achievement orientation

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