Module
Title: SOCS
362 Social Change
Programme:
Sociology
B.A.
Credit
Value: 12
General
Objectives:
The central goals for
this module are to help students develop the sociological skill to analyze and
understand social change, both in the short-term and the long-term. In
particular, they will be able to think about current and possible future social
changes in terms of past patterns of social change. This will empower students
to work for changes they value/want and against ones they do not value/want.
Not all students have the same values/wants, which should lend itself to lively
classroom discussions. It is expected that students’ current ideas about social
change will transform over time, particularly as they progress through college
and as they continue to study sociology. By learning to think about, analyze,
and understand processes of social change students will be well prepared to
adjust to changing social conditions and to contribute meaningfully to public deliberations
on the topic. This is especially valuable and useful skill in that Bhutan is
living an era of very rapid social change, which will probably continue
throughout their lifetimes.
The material in this
module introduces several different theories, concepts, and categories used by
sociologists to explain social change. Students will be asked to draw from
these theories and concepts when examining some of the social, economic, and
political transformations occurring at the end of the twentieth century,
particularly as they involve the case of Bhutan. Specific issues to be
critically assessed include such current social transformations as the
population question, the global AIDS issue, the increasing pollution of the
planet, the domination of the nation-state by trans-national corporations and
global trading blocks, new forms of North-South imperialism, the
Americanization or homogenization of global culture, the power of the worldwide
news media, and more.
Learning
Outcomes:
By the end of the
course, students will be able to:
- Critically
compare and contrast four grand visions of social and historical change:
the evolutionary, the cyclical, the dialectical, and the
post-developmentalist.
- Critically
employ concepts such as social process, development, progress, social time,
historical tradition, modernity, post-modernity, and globalization.
- Draw upon these
visions and concepts of social change to determine the role of individual
agency, social structure, ideas and norms, social movements and
revolutions in social change.
- Apply some of
these theories and concepts when analyzing the many crucial social changes
and social transformations occurring at the beginning of the 21st century.
- Critically
assess the relationship between the media and public opinion, and the
media's role in reporting on major social changes and controversies.
Learning
and Teaching Approach Used:
This course will be
taught using a seminar format. In other words, students will play a central
role in the presentation and discussion of course material. Many issues in the
area of social change (as in the discipline at large) lend themselves to
dialogue and debate. Therefore, class discussion will have a principle role in
this module. Furthermore, we will have a weekly student-led discussion
session in which each student will make a comment on that week's readings.
These discussion sessions will be coordinated by a small group (2 or 3
students) of student presenters, one or two of whom will summarize the readings
and highlight the significant material found therein, and one or two others of
whom will raise questions for the class to consider and direct the resulting
discussion. Students will take turns being student presenters and each student
will be a presenter at least once during the semester. The lecturer will be
responsible for organizing these discussion sections and assigning roles to
student presenters.
Assessment:
Continuous Assessment: 60%
Midterm
Test: 25%
Leading
discussion: 15%
Presentation: 20%
End of Session
Assessment: 40%
Final
Exam: 40%
40%
Pre-requisite: Students
must have successfully completed Introduction to Sociology (SOCS 111),
Statistics for Social Research (SOCS 112), Social Theory (SOCS 122) and both
Research Methods courses (SOCS 231 & 241) prior to enrolling in this
module.
Subject
Matter
- What is social
change?
- Causes of social
change: culture and change, conflict and change, ideas and change, the
natural environment and change, demographic change
- Modernity: key
dimensions of modernization and theories of social change
- Post modernity
- Associate social
change with social structures, cultural practices, and political economic
transitions.
- Social change
and media
- Theoretical
analysis of social change.
Reading
List:
Bezburuah,
K.C. (2008). Applying the Congruence Model of Organizational Change in
Explaining the Change in the Indian Economic Policies. . Journal of
Organizational Transmission and Social Change, Vol. 5, No. 2
Chow, E.N.
( 2003). Globalization Matters: Studying Globalization and Social Change in the
21st Century. International Sociology, Vol. 18 (3)
Dasen,
P.R. (2000). Rapid Social Change and the Turmoil of Adolescence: A Cross
Cultural Perspective. International Journal of Group Tensions, Vol. 29.
Pinquart,
M., & Silbereisen, K. ( 2004). Human Development in Times of Social Change:
Theoretical Considerations and Research Needs. International Journal of
Behavioral Development, Vol. 28 (4).
Ruth, D.,
& Merkestein, A. (2008). The Legitimacy and Legality of Managerial
Authority in Times of Transition: A Discourse Analysis of Conflict at a South
African University. Journal of Organizational Transmission and Social
Change, Vol 5, No. 1.
Shen, J.,
& Dehn, X. ( 2008). Gender Wage Inequality in the Transition of Chinese
Economy: A Critical Review of Post Reform Research. . Journal of
Organizational Transmission and Social Change, Vol. 5, No. 2
Vithessonthi,
C., & Schwaninger, M. (2008). Job-Motivation and Self-Confidence for
Learning and Development as Predictors for Support of Change. . Journal of
Organizational Transmission and Social Change, Vol. 5, No. 2
Watson, S.C.,
& Reigeuth, C.M. (2008). Community Members’ Perception on Socio Cultural
Changes and its Implication for Educational Transformation in a Small
School District Community. Journal of Organizational Transmission and
Social Change, Vol. 5, No. 1
Reference:
Boswell, T., & Chase-Dunn,
C. (2000). The Spiral of Capitalism and Socialism: Toward Global
Democracy. Boulder, CO: Lynn Rienner.
Cavanagh, J., &
Mander, J. (eds.). (2004). Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better
World is Possible. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Chew, Sing C. (2001).
World Ecological Degradation: Accumulation, Urbanization, and Deforestation
3000 B.C. - A. D. 2000. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Chomsky, N. (1994). World
Orders Old and New. New York: Columbia University Press.
Eitzen, D. S., &
Zinn, M. B. (eds.). (2006). Globalization: The Transformation of Social
Worlds. Belmont, CA: Thompson-Wadsworth.
Eldridge, John, (eds.).
(1993). Getting the Message: News, Truth and Power. New York: Routledge.
Hall, T. D. (eds.). (2000a).
A World-Systems Reader: New Perspectives on Gender, Urbanism, Cultures,
Indigenous Peoples, and Ecology. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Press.
Kennedy, P. (1993). Preparing
for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Random House.
Moyer, Bill, JoAnn
McAllister, Mary Lou Finley and Steve Soifer, (2001), Doing democracy: The MAP
Model for Organizing Social Movements, New Society Publishers: Gabriola
Island, British Columbia
Ritzer, G. (eds.). (2000).
The Macdonalization of society, New century. Pine Forge Press: Thousand Oaks, California
Sklair, L. (2002). Globalization:
Capitalism and Its Alternatives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sztompka, P. (1994). The
Sociology of Social Change. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Ward, K. B., (eds.).
(1990). Women Workers and Global Restructuring. Ithaca, NY:
ILR Press.
Date: August 2008