Social change and continuity (SACE Stage 2 Society and Culture)
“Explain the causes and processes of social change, the role of social movements, and the tension between change and continuity in Australian society.”
Social change is the transformation over time of a society's values, behaviours, institutions and relationships. It is driven by forces such as technology, social movements, globalisation, demographic change and government action. Change can be gradual and evolutionary or rapid and revolutionary. Alongside change there is always continuity, as some values and institutions persist. Analysing social change means identifying its causes, the agents who drive it, the resistance it meets, and what endures.
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What this dot point is asking
You must explain the causes and processes of social change, evaluate the role of social movements, and discuss how change is balanced against continuity, with Australian examples.
What social change is
Societies are not static. Social change is the alteration over time in how people live, what they value, and how their institutions and relationships are organised. Some change is small and slow; some is large and fast. Australian society today differs from that of fifty years ago in attitudes to gender, multiculturalism, the environment and recognition of First Nations peoples, all examples of social change.
Social change is the significant alteration over time of a society's values, norms, behaviours, institutions and social relationships.
The causes of social change
Change usually has several interacting causes rather than one.
- Technology transforms how people work, communicate and relate, as the internet and smartphones have reshaped daily life.
- Social movements organise people to demand change, as the environmental, women's and First Nations movements have done.
- Globalisation imports new ideas, products and pressures, accelerating change in connected societies.
- Demographic change such as migration and an ageing population reshapes the makeup and needs of society.
- Government and law drive change through reform, such as marriage equality legislation or anti-discrimination law.
Processes of change
Sociologists distinguish the pace and pattern of change.
- Evolutionary change is gradual and cumulative, such as the slow shift in attitudes toward gender equality across decades.
- Revolutionary change is rapid and far-reaching, transforming structures quickly, such as a technological or political upheaval.
Change also tends to spread, as one shift triggers others; for example, digital technology changed work, which changed family life and education.
Social change rarely happens smoothly or with everyone's agreement. It typically meets resistance from groups who benefit from the existing arrangements or who value continuity. Understanding who resists change and why is as important as understanding who drives it, and it is central to strong analysis.
The role of social movements
Social movements are organised, sustained efforts by groups to bring about or resist social change. They are a key agent of change in democracies. Australian examples include the campaign for the 1967 referendum recognising Aboriginal peoples in the census, the women's movement that advanced workplace equality, the environmental movement, and the marriage equality campaign that led to the 2017 postal survey and law reform. Movements work by raising awareness, shifting public opinion, pressuring governments and building coalitions, and their success often depends on framing, leadership and timing.
Take the example
Growing recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since the 1967 referendum.
Identify the cause and agents
A sustained social movement, supported by changing values and eventual government and legal action.
Classify the process
Evolutionary: gradual and cumulative across decades, building on earlier advocacy.
Identify the continuity
Core democratic institutions and the constitutional process endured, and recognition remains contested and incomplete. Showing change, its agents, its pace and what stayed the same is the full analysis this dot point asks for.
Do not present social change as inevitable progress that simply happens on its own. Change is produced by identifiable agents, especially movements, technology and government, and it is resisted by others. Treating change as automatic ignores the human effort, conflict and continuity that the syllabus asks you to analyse.
Change and continuity
Change is only half the picture. Continuity is the persistence of values, institutions and practices over time. Even as Australia changes, much endures: democratic institutions, core values such as a fair go, and enduring cultural traditions. Every society balances the two, and tension between those pushing for change and those defending continuity is a normal feature of social life. A sophisticated answer identifies both what is changing and what is staying the same, and explains the relationship between them.
Structure social change answers around causes, processes (evolutionary versus revolutionary), agents (especially social movements), resistance and continuity. Anchor the answer in a specific Australian example traced over time, such as the path to marriage equality or growing recognition of First Nations peoples, to show change as a real, contested process.
Connection to the rest of the course
Social change brings together the whole subject. It is driven by the globalisation of the previous dot point, contested through the power structures of Module 2, and realised through the collaborative social action that the folio and investigation in Module 4 ask you to plan and evaluate.
Assessment-style questions
Questions on this dot point, each with a worked answer, written by ExamExplained. Society and Culture has no written exam, so use them to check your understanding before your assessment tasks.
Practice8 marksSource: a timeline of the path to marriage equality in Australia spans decades of advocacy, the 2017 postal survey and subsequent law reform. (a) Identify whether this is best described as evolutionary or revolutionary change, and justify your choice. (b) Using sociological concepts, explain the agents and processes that produced this change. (c) Suggest one example of continuity that persisted alongside this change.Show worked answer →
This is a source/data analysis item marked on knowledge, analysis and evaluation.
- (a) Type of change (2 marks)
- Evolutionary: the timeline spans decades of gradual, cumulative shifts in attitudes and advocacy before the legal change, rather than a sudden, far-reaching upheaval.
- (b) Agents and processes (4 marks)
- A social movement organised sustained advocacy, raising awareness and shifting public opinion; government and law then enacted reform after the postal survey. The change spread through changing values and the influence of media. Naming social movements, changing values and government/law as agents earns the marks.
- (c) Continuity (2 marks)
- Continuity persisted in the institution of marriage itself and in core democratic processes (a national vote and parliamentary law-making), showing change occurred within enduring structures.
Practice12 marksExplain the causes and processes of social change and evaluate the claim that social change is mainly driven by social movements. Use Australian examples and refer to continuity.Show worked answer →
This is an extended-response item marked on knowledge, analysis and communication.
- Define and causes
- Social change is the significant alteration over time of values, norms, institutions and relationships, driven by interacting causes: technology, social movements, globalisation, demographic change, and government and law.
- Processes
- Change can be evolutionary (gradual, as with gender-equality attitudes) or revolutionary (rapid and far-reaching), and tends to spread from one domain to others.
- Role of movements
- Social movements are a key agent, raising awareness, shifting opinion and pressuring governments (the 1967 referendum, the women's, environmental and marriage-equality movements), but they work alongside technology, globalisation and law rather than alone.
- Evaluate and address continuity
- A top answer judges movements are a major but not sole driver, notes change is contested and resisted, and identifies what endures (democratic institutions, core values), concluding that change and continuity operate together.