Chapter – 2

Social Change and Social Order in Rural and Urban Society

In this post we have given the detailed notes of Class 11 Sociology Chapter 2 (Social Change and Social Order in Rural and Urban Society) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in Class 11 board exams.

Chapter 2: Social Change and Social Order in Rural and Urban Society

Introduction

• Change is a constant feature of society, especially in modern times.  
• Sociology emerged to understand the rapid changes in Western European society.  
• Social change is a relatively recent phenomenon, accelerating in the last 100 years.  

The Clock of Human History

• Human existence: 500,000 years  
• Agriculture: 12,000 years old  
• Civilizations: 6,000 years old  
• Modern societies: Developed very recently  
• Rapid change: Concentrated in the last 30 seconds of this metaphorical day  

Social Change

• Definition: Significant changes altering the underlying structure of society over time.  
• Characteristics:
  • Intensive and extensive impact  
  • Classified by causes, nature, and speed  
• Types:
  • Evolutionary: Slow, gradual change over long periods.
    • Example: Darwin’s theory of evolution  
  • Revolutionary: Rapid, sudden, and transformative change.
    • Example: French Revolution, Industrial Revolution  
  • Structural: Changes in institutions and rules governing them.
    • Example: Emergence of paper money  
  • Changes in values and beliefs: Shifts in ideas and attitudes.
    • Example: Changing concepts of childhood and child labor  

Sources of Social Change

• Environmental: Natural disasters, resource discoveries, and ecological factors.  
• Technological and Economic: Technological advancements and economic shifts.  
• Political: Warfare, political movements, and changes in power structures.  
• Cultural: Changes in ideas, values, beliefs, and religion.  

Social Order

• Definition: The tendency within social systems to resist and regulate change.  
• Importance: Maintains stability, ensures predictability, and reproduces social relations.  
• Mechanisms:
  • Spontaneous Consent: Shared values and norms internalized through socialization.  
  • Power and Coercion: Dominant groups and institutions use power to enforce norms.  

Domination, Authority, and Law

• Domination: Stable and settled power relations, often involving unequal distribution of costs and benefits.  
• Authority: Legitimate power, accepted as justified and proper.  
• Law: Explicitly codified norms and rules governing society.  

Contestation, Crime, and Violence

• Contestation: Broad forms of insistent disagreement, including dissent, protest, and competition.  
• Crime: Acts violating existing laws, regardless of moral worth.  
• Violence: Illegal use of force, a challenge to state authority and an indicator of social tensions.  

Social Change and Order in Rural and Urban Areas

• Rural Areas:

  • Small, personalized relationships.  
  • Traditional social structures.  
  • Slower social change due to strong social order and limited dissent.  
  • Change is often linked to agriculture and related social relations.  

• Urban Areas:

  • Large, dense populations.  
  • Challenges of spatial viability and managing diverse populations.  
  • Rapid social change due to dynamic environment and diverse influences.  

• Social order in urban areas:

  • Focuses on managing space and ensuring the city’s functionality.
  • Involves organizing housing, transportation, land use, and public services.
  • Complicated by social divisions and inequalities.

• Challenges to social order in urban areas:

  • Housing: Homelessness, slums, and gated communities.
  • Transportation: Traffic congestion, pollution, and commuting challenges.
  • Maintaining social order: Balancing diverse needs and interests, managing resources, and addressing inequalities.

• Social change in urban areas:

  • Ups and downs of neighbourhoods, including gentrification and urban renewal.
  • Changes in mass transit systems and their impact on city life.
  • Coping with population growth and migration.

Conclusion

• Social change is a complex and multi-faceted process.
• Understanding social change requires considering various factors and their interrelationships.
• The pace of change in modern times necessitates awareness and preparedness.

Glossary

• Customs Duties, Tariffs: Taxes on goods entering or leaving a country.  
• Dominant Castes: Landowning intermediate castes with significant social and political power in rural areas.  
• Gated Communities: Affluent urban neighborhoods separated from their surroundings by walls and gates.  
• Gentrification: Conversion of a lower-class neighborhood into a middle or upper-class one.  
• Ghetto, Ghettoisation: Concentration of people with a common identity in a specific neighborhood.
• Legitimation: The process of making something accepted as proper and justified.  
• Mass Transit: Fast transportation systems for large numbers of people in cities.  

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