Explain the causes and processes of social change, the role of social movements, and the tension between change and continuity in Australian society.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.