Activity no. 4
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| http://www.sisgigroup.org/Institute_for_Social_Change.html |
When we say social change, it refers to a variation in the
social order of a society. Changes happen in the ways of living of human beings
and our social relations get influenced by this. Changes are everywhere because
all societies are in a constant state of instability. Each society, despite of
being old-fashioned and traditional, is constantly undergoing change because
“CHANGE” is an unavoidable and consistent law of nature. That is the reason why
social change becomes a necessity; it is the revolution of culture and social
organizations over time and it is an “ongoing process”. These changes cannot be
stopped, Society is subject to continuous change, and it cannot be preserved in
a museum to save it from the ravages of time.
The term social change is used to describe differences in
social interactions, processes and social organizations. In explaining the
concept of social change, they came up with some expressions like evolution,
growth, progress, development, revolution, adaptation etc. discarding one in
preference to the other.
In analyzing this, we find that social change needs “communication”. The role of
communication in social change is to consider the importance of growth in the
society. It plays a basic role in the existence and development of the society.
As the time progressed, more developments were made in the field of
communication which helped humans to better understand the fellow human beings.
Communications is used for sustainable social change and
development. With the use of communication, we are able to improve inefficient
systems, processes, or modes of production. We are also helping people to
acquire knowledge and skills that they can use to improve their personal,
social and economic status. Questions need to be raised so that, we can combine
our ideas to achieve community goal.
Last semester with Mrs. Tagle, we learned about the
Millennium development goals, it is for the improvement of living conditions in
developing countries so that people will not move to other places that offer a
better lifestyle. With this MDG’s people will be facing social change through
communication. I believe that communication is the most essential tool in
reaching Millennium development goals. With the use of media’s we can supply
the public with information and communication that eventually will contribute
to capability growth of poor men and women, to become principal actors in their
own development, to get wider choices in their priority areas of concern, to
increase their power as well as their material resources to make a better
living. Every individual expresses its thoughts and carries out its affairs
through the medium of communication. It could improve unproductive ways of
living because sharing ideas and receiving information can create social changes.
Communication is also a transaction because anything that
occurs between 2 or more people is a transaction, whether these are ideas,
opinions, etc. The process of transaction is facilitated by feedback. It is
helpful information or criticism that is given to someone to say what can be
done to improve something. Communities should be the agents of their own
change. Communication for social change can be defined as a process of public
and private dialogue through which people themselves define who they are, what
they need and how to get what they need in order to improve their own lives.
There are a lot of examples of social change; one of the
good examples, People has fewer children as society industrialized because role
of family changes and technological advancements allow control of reproduction.
With the use of communication people are now aware that they
have to control the population because of what they have seen, heard and read. Before
couples don’t mind having a lot of children but now they are aware that it is
difficult to sustain the needs of many children. We have known a lot of
disadvantages of having over-population and I think that is one of the good
examples of Communication for social change. The process of changing the way
couples think gave an Idea on how to live a better life, and the most important
instrument here is Communication.
Social change has many causes. It happens everywhere, but
the rate of change varies from place to place; that social change is sometimes
intentional but often unplanned; that social change may generate controversy;
that some changes matter more than others do. I got major factors that highlight
the causes of social change. Number one is culture, within a society; processes
leading to change include invention and culture loss. Culture loss is an
inevitable result of old cultural patterns being replaced by new ones. New
ideas and modification of old ideas in a new perspective bring wide-scale changes
in society. Demographic change is caused by an increase in birth and decline in
death and migration of populations also leads to social change. It’s also
caused by tension and conflict. Structural strain, deprivation, cultural revitalization
has been the major causes of conflict. They also generate new identities and a
new perspective. These characters that involve in social change use COMMUNICATION
as the most important tool in improving way of lives.
References:
Figueroa, M., Kincaid, D., Rani, M., & Lewis, G. (2002, January 1). Communication for Social Change Working Paper Series. Retrieved from http://www.communicationforsocialchange.org/pdf/socialchange.pdf
What is Social Change? (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://animatingdemocracy.org/place-start/what-social-change
Social Development: 5 Main Causes of Social Change. (2013, October 15). Retrieved March 17, 2015, from http://www.sociologydiscussion.com/society/social-development-5-main-causes-of-social-change/963
