Explaining Social Change

Mind-Society ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
Paul Thagard

Social change results from mental mechanisms in individuals and from social mechanisms for the interactions of thinking individuals. The mental mechanisms operate with images, concepts, rules, analogies, and emotions, all of which derive from neural mechanisms based on an important kind of neural process called semantic pointers. The interactions of individuals contribute to changes in their mental representations through cognitive and emotional communication that transfers, prompts, and instigates semantic pointers. Changes in the mental states and behaviors of individuals and groups result from changes in representations and interactions. Explanation of social changes requires identification of emergent properties of groups that are not simply the sum of change of changes in individuals. Social change resulting from cognitive and social mechanisms often results from critical transitions, not just gradual accumulations. Emotional gestalt shifts are important critical transitions that occur when individuals and groups reconfigure their arrays of attitudes and values.

Author(s):  
Paul Thagard

Social change comes from the combination of communication among people and their individual cognitive and emotional processes. This book systematically connects neural and psychological explanations of mind with social phenomena, covering major social sciences (social psychology, sociology, politics, economics, anthropology, and history) and professions (medicine, law, education, engineering, and business). The aim is not to reduce the social to the psychological but rather to display their harmony and interdependence. This display is accomplished by describing the interconnections among mental and social mechanisms, which interact to generate social changes ranging from marriage patterns to wars. The major tool for this description is the method of social cognitive-emotional workups, which connects the mental mechanisms operating in individuals with social mechanisms operating in groups. Social change is the result of emergence from interacting social and mental mechanisms, which include the neural and molecular processes that make minds capable of thinking. Validation of hypotheses about multilevel emergence requires detailed studies of important social changes, from norms about romantic relationships to economic practices, political institutions, religious customs, and international relations. This book belongs to a trio that includes Brain–Mind: From Neurons to Consciousness and Creativity and Natural Philosophy: From Social Brains to Knowledge, Reality, Morality, and Beauty. They can be read independently, but together they make up a Treatise on Mind and Society that provides a unified and comprehensive treatment of the cognitive sciences, social sciences, professions, and humanities.


Author(s):  
Tim Watson

This chapter analyzes the novels of the British writer Barbara Pym, which are often read as cozy tales of English middle-class postwar life but which, I argue, are profoundly influenced by the work Pym carried out as an editor of the journal Africa at the International African Institute in London, where she worked for decades. She used ethnographic techniques to represent social change in a postwar, decolonizing, non-normative Britain of female-headed households, gay and lesbian relationships, and networks of female friendship and civic engagement. Pym’s novels of the 1950s implicitly criticize the synchronic, functionalist anthropology of kinship tables that dominated the discipline in Britain, substituting an interest in a new anthropology that could investigate social change. Specific anthropological work on West African social changes underpins Pym’s English fiction, including several journal articles that Pym was editing while she worked on her novels.


2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remco Knooihuizen

Although Faroese exhibits extensive linguistic variation and rapid social change, the language is near-uncharted territory in variationist sociolinguistics. This article discusses some recent social changes in Faroese society in connection with language change, focusing in particular on the development of a de facto spoken standard, Central Faroese. Demographic mobility, media and education may be contributing to this development in different ways. Two linguistic variables are analysed as a first step towards uncovering the respective roles of standardisation, dialect levelling and dialect spread as contributing processes in the formation of Central Faroese: morphological variation in -st endings and phonological variation in -ir and -ur endings. The analysis confirms previously described patterns of geographically constrained variation, but no generational or stylistic differences indicative of language change are found, nor are there clear signs that informants use Central Faroese. The results may in part be due to the structure of the corpus used.


Imaji ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meipur Yanti

Agama Islam dan budaya masyarakat Aceh merupakan satu kesatuan. Agama Islam menjadi sumber utama dalam kebudayaan masyarakat Aceh, sehingga semua kesenian di Aceh, dalam hal ini seni tari, selalu dikaitkan dengan nilai keagamaan. Tari Seudati yang merupakan warisan budaya nenek moyang orang Aceh adalah salah satu tarian tradisional yang terus dilestarikan dan berkembang di kalangan masyarakat Aceh secara nasional maupun internasional. Proses perubahan meliputi: proses reproduksi dan proses transformasi, dari masa ke masa, dan mengikuti perkembangan zaman. Tari Seudati mengalami beberapa kali perubahan sosial, dikarenakan adanya penambahan norma-norma, nilai-nilai, adat, dan agama di masyarakat Aceh. Hasil dari perubahan sosial pada Tari Seudati kini terbagi menjadi dua yaitu: seudati agam (seudati laki-laki) sebagai tari tradisional dan seudati inong (seudati perempuan) sebagai tari kreasi. Seudati inong merupakan pengembangan dari seudati agam. Walaupun ada beberapa kali perubahan sosial dalam Tari Seudati, masyarakat Aceh tetap mengikuti norma-norma, nilai-nilai, adat, dan agama yang telah ditanamkan pada diri masyarakat Aceh sejak dahulu.Kata kunci: perubahan sosial, tari seudati, masyarakat aceh SOCIAL CHANGES IN SEUDATI DANCE IN ACEH SOCIETYAbstractThe religion of Islam and the culture of the people of Aceh is a unity. Islam is a major source of Acehnese culture, so that Art in Aceh, in this case dance, is always associated with religious values. Seudati Dance which is the cultural heritage of Acehnese ancestors is one of the traditional dances that continues to be preserved and developed among the people of Aceh nationally and internationally. The process of changes includes: the process of reproduction and the process of transformation, from time to time, keeping up with the changing times. Seudati dance experienced several times of social change, due to the addition of norms, values, customs, and religion in the people of Aceh. The result of social changes in Seudati Dance are now divided into two: seudati agam (seudati male) as traditional dance and seudati inong (seudati female) as dance creations. Seudati inong is the development of seudati agam. Although there are several times of social change in Seudati Dance, the people of Aceh still follow the norms, values, customs, and religions that have been implanted on Acehnese society long ago.Keywords: social changes, Seudati dance, Aceh society


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Salamah Eka Susanti

The Qur'an contains only a small number of detailed laws, while the sunna is limited to the cases that occurred in its time, so to solve new problems, ijtihad is required. In such a connection for a Muslim, new problems arising from the progress of science and technology, should not be confronted with confrontational passages, but must be solved by ijtihadi.Karena reality often occurs, that the development of society and public opinion faster the pace of the road from on the development of the law itself. The dynamics of people's lives are characteristic of change. Through the power of intention, power, and creativity, humans create cultural objects as a result of their creations. Changes that occur in society when observed can occur in various There are slow changes (evolution) and there are rapid changes (revolution). The social changes that occur in a society, directly or indirectly, affect institutions in various fields, such as government, economics, education, religion and so on. The continuation of an impact on the social system changes. When the law is faced with social change, it occupies one of its functions, which can function as a means of social control, and the law can serve as a means of social change. the characteristics of the law above is due to the inconsistency of social dynamics and the dynamics of law in the life of society. Unequaled dynamics of society and law, usually will bring social lag. From here, then comes a question whether Islamic law as a norm of God's determination can experience changes in accordance with the needs of the community? Ijtihad is an important factor for the development and development of Islamic law.Ijtihad done to answer the problems that arise in society that is not yet known legal status.ijtihad has a wide scope, the issues are not regulated explicitly dala m al-Qur'an and sunna can be done ijtihad. In order for humans to have breadth in determining its activities according to its ability, needs and environment. Therefore ijtihad in the field of Islamic law in anticipating the dynamics of society and social changes concerning the values, behavior patterns, and social system of a society is a concern in establishing Islamic law. Thus ijtihad is the third source in the development of Islamic law. Keywords: Social Change, Ijtihad, Law, Islamic.


Catharsis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-76
Author(s):  
Osmawinda Putri ◽  
Hartono Hartono ◽  
Udi Utomo

Basisombow is a literature that develops in the North Kampar of Kampar District. In antiquity Basisombow was used for traditional event, wedding, and circumcision event. The research aims to describe and analyze the social change of Basisombow in the community of Kampar Riau Regency. This study used qualitative research, with a sociological approach. Observation technology, interviews and documentation are used as instruments of the research in collecting the data. The data analysis procedures used data reduction, data presentation and data verification. The validity of the data in this study used Triangulation source that was performed for the inspection process by examining data from multiple sources. The results of the study that Basisombow experienced social change as follows: 1). Changes on Kampar community structure; 2). new findings and other cultural contacts; 3). Differences of opinion amongst generations. In particular, the findings in social change are influenced by 2 (two) factors such as; external and internal factors which are related to the social environment of the Kampar community.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Iis Muhayaroh

Article focused on the changes of father’s role within modern society due to social changes that was called ikumen. Ikumen is a social change that happens in the father’s role and identity in Japan in which now is appears a type of father who enjoys caring for children while working. Ikumen itself was made by media, and then it was supported by the government. The purpose of this research was to analyse the changes of father’s role and identity in Japan using Social Change theory by Anthony Giddens. This research applied qualitative method and by interviewing six ikumen who were members of NPO (Non Profit Organization) Fathering Japan. The research finds out that right now there have been many fathers who have desire to put family first. It is proven by the amount of fathers who have taken paternal leave in Japan.


Author(s):  
Sverre Bagge

This chapter examines four themes that raise the question of the connection between cultural development and social change in the Scandinavian kingdoms: religious versus secular literature, the social importance of Christianity, the writing of history, and the formation of a courtly culture from the mid-thirteenth century onwards. In particular, it considers the extent to which cultural and literary expressions of these social changes were actively used to promote the interests of the monarchy, the Church, and the aristocracy. The chapter first discusses the role of the Church as the main institution of learning in Scandinavia and in the rest of Europe before assessing the extent to which Christianity penetrated Scandinavian society at levels below the clerical elite. It then turns to a charismatic figure, St. Birgitta of Vadstena in Sweden, and historical writing as a literary genre in medieval Scandinavia. Finally, it provides an overview of courtly culture in Scandinavia.


2021 ◽  
pp. 323-349
Author(s):  
Philip Kitcher

Part III of the book is concerned with the social changes required if the educational proposals are to be implemented, and with the economic feasibility of making the recommended reforms. Chapter 10 takes up the first question. Features of contemporary societies pose all sorts of readily recognizable obstacles to educational progress. Teachers are often seriously underpaid. Schools are often dilapidated and dangerous. Children often live in poverty—and many have no stable homes to leave in the morning and to return to in the afternoon. Parental resources vary widely. Social and economic conditions force students to compete for scarce opportunities. That competition intensifies as they grow older. Stereotypes and biases are everywhere. The solutions proposed culminate in a blueprint for a very different society—the Deweyan society—characterized by seven major features. Arriving at a precise description of this society permits focused consideration of whether it could be economically sustained.


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