Page 265 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Social Structure and Social Change

Notes 2. The second problem is that structural change is uneven during periods of modernization. For
instance, industries may be modernized but family system, religious system, etc. remain
conservative. These discontinuties and patterns of change affect the established social and other
structures and produce lags and bottlenecks. Another example of this in India is that decreasing
the age of voting from twenty-one to eighteen years might have been a step of entering into the
modern era but it has created a crisis since a mass electroate rests on the assumption of a mature
and literate electorate with a sense of citizenship and an ability to participate in the policy.
3. The third problem is that modernization of social and economic institutions creates conflicts with
the traditional ways of life. For example, the trained doctors pose a threat to traditional medicine
men. Similarly, the items produced by machinery deprive the domestic workers of their means of
livelihood. At the same time, many people in the society with traditional and conservative values
and attitudes become hostile to people who accept modern way of life. Thus, the conflict between
the traditional and modern ways becomes a source of unrest.
4. The fourth problem is that most often roles adopted by the people are modern but values continue
to be traditional. For example, even after taking training in medicine and surgery, a doctor tells
his patient, “I treat, He cures”. This indicates that he has no confidence in himself to diagnose the
disease properly. But instead of blaming himself, he blames the way he is socialized to develop
values in life.
5. The fifth problem is that there is lack of co-operation among agencies which modernize, and
among institutions and systems which are modernized. This many-a-time leads to cultural lag as
well as institutional conflicts.
6. The last problem is that modernization raises the aspirations of people but social systems fail to
provide opportunities to them to achieve their aspirations. This creates frustrations, deprivations
and social unrest.
Modernization of Man
Modernization aims at achieving a decent standard of living for all people in the society. It also
encompasses the idea of economic, social, political and cultural maturation. More than this, it requires
the very transformation of the nature of man—a transformation which according to Alex Inkeles
(1966: 158) is not a means to an end but the end itself of the development process.
But who is a modern man? How to identify him? A modern man is one who gives up the traditional
ways of thinking and feeling, who has an open mind to accept new ideas, who is rational and secular,
and who believes in equality, freedom and justice.
Referring to the external characteristics of a modern man as distinct from the internal characteristics,
Alex Inkeles holds that a modern man is less likely to work as a farmer and is more likely to seek
employment in a large and complex productive enterprise based on the intensive use of power and
advanced technologies or in a big private or public concern which may give him a higher position
and status in the society. He may prefer to live in a city where he may have access to all possible
resources in a neighbourhood which may provide him transport, shopping, children’s school, medical
and postal etc. facilities within his reach, and in a house offering him some modern material comforts.
He may prefer to become a member of clubs and organizations which provide him opportunities for
expression, recognition and mobility. Being more exposed to mass communication, he may take
interest in politics and in social development. Instead of living in a network of primary kin ties, he
may prefer to be drawn into a much more impersonal milieu where he may come into contact with
persons who may render him professional and other services and aid in times of distress. All these
attributes in themselves do not constitute modernity but they are the attributes of man’s life space
that may impinge on the modern man. Although, man’s exposure to modern setting may certainly
contribute to the transformation of a traditional man, and although that setting may in turn require
new values and behaviour patterns from him, but the internal characteristics of a modern man—his
ways of thinking, feeling and acting— are more important to consider him truly modern. What are
these internal traits of a modern man? Alex Inkeles (Ibid: 161-165) has identified some of these traits:
(1) He should be ready for new experience and should be open to innovation and change. (2) He

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