Social Change and Futures Practice

Abstract

The study of society contains two branches: statics and dynamics. Social stability is the ability of a group to persist over time, even as its members come and go. Stability rests on biology, culture, and agreements (laws, contracts, etc.). Social change is the ability of a group to behave differently, even to creating brand-new elements, within the same social identity. The mechanisms of social change are more complex, involving natural selection, self-organization, and the emergent properties of organic systems. As a result, transformational change is rare, but so is natural, incremental change. The result is “sticky” change that waits too long, then lurches to catch up. Human intention, although the single most powerful force for change, is not as powerful as the many unconscious forces at work in society and the environment. These assumptions are different from those of many futurists.

Toward a Psychology of Social Change: A Typology of Social Change

“…Mainly, it comes from the definitions of social change that most often involve a change in behaviors and habits that are disrupted with the event of a dramatic and rapid social change. For example, Bishop (1998, p. 406) clearly states that social change in its transformational form refers to “the ability of a group to behave differently, even to creating brand-new elements, within the same social identity.” This definition concurs with definitions of many more authors, such as Delanty's (2012) concept of “normative culture” or May's (2011), where the mundane “ordinary” activities take a central place in social change.…”

International Business Research: A Retrospective~!2008-08-29~!2008-11-08~!2008-12-03~!

“…Greater efforts to probe understudied IB research questions can enhance the generalizability of IB theories and help practitioners to make better decisions. Applications of theories and methods from other disciplines (e.g., futurism and social anthropology) to IB may be a first step in this regard [51,52].…”

Measuring Social Change Preferences in African American Adolescents

“…Social change has multiple definitions that include the ability of an individual or group to behave differently, the ability to create new elements within the same social identity, and significantly altering the social structure, including how the structure is embodied in norms, values, cultural products, and symbols (Bishop, 1998;Young, 2003). Although there are different philosophies and methods of social change, they share in common one aim-to improve the quality of life for individuals and communities (Brookins, 1996;Veno & Thomas, 1992).…”