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Summary - Social Change and Sustainable Development (441802-M-6)
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Summary SC&SDWeek 1: Social Change
Social change: analysis of the social political, socio-economic, and cultural change that is
related to changes in institutions, norms and values
Can be defined as change in the structure of one or more societal sub-systems manifested
on the:
• Macro level (social structure and culture)
• Meso level (institutions, corporate actors, and communities)
• Micro level (individuals and groups)
Sociology was found at a time of massive social change (capitalism, urbanization,
impoverishments of working classes, etc)
Causes of social change
1. Materialistic perspectives
o Marx changes in production cause social change
o From feudalism to industrial capitalism through expanding the world trade in
wool and textiles and technological innovations, wealth creation outside the
feudal system, displacement of rural populations to cities, large urban
industrial workforce, new classes, new political formations
o Digitalization is another example
2. Idealistic perspectives
o Ideas, values, and ideologies as causes of change
o Weber: not only material and technical causes change, but Capitalism did not
develop everywhere at the same time and pace
o ‘’Spirit of Capitalism’’ (Weber): Values of Protestantism (Calvinism), produced
a cultural ethic that sanctifies work and worldly achievement and discouraged
consumption, in contrast to Catholicism
o Other ideologies: capitalism or anti-capitalism, globalism, nationalism,
socialism, communism, feminism
Patterns of social change
1. Linear
o Cumulative, nonrepetitive, developmental, permanent, no return possible.
o From one stage to another
o Historical sociology: all followed more or less this logic from primitive or less
differentiated stage to and advances, complex on. (Comte, Tocqueville, Marx,
Spencer, Durkheim, Weber)
o Lenski: ‘discontinuous leaps’ from hunting and gathering to pastoralists and
horticulturalists, towards agricultural societies and finally industrial societies
with technological innovation; urbanization (growing to world cities)
o Modernization theory: (Rostow) abandoned but still thrives as a meta-
narrative, particularly in development studies
1
, o Assumption: all nations are converging on an evolutionary path to an
increasingly ideal society, drew heavily from sociological conceptions of
functionalism and stratification
2. Cyclical
o Rise and fall of empires, very pessimistic world view
o Ssociety’s develop and then they fall, and another one comes up, wave
perspective
o Some important aspects of change repeat themselves, but which one’s?
o Sorokin: ‘master cycles’ between periods of idealism vs hedonism and
materialism and return to more idealistic culture
o But: patterns of cyclical change: when some aspects are repetitive: business
cycles, political cycles, levels of economic inequality, etc.
o Arrighi’s account of financial accumulation invokes a cyclical theory of history
in which different phases of capitalist accumulation undergo a process in
which money becomes more central to their operation, before giving way to a
process of devalorization
3. Dialectical
o Contradictions create change, one against the other, contradiction but
together one predicts another and make the change, create something new
o Classic: Hegel who was put on this head by Marx
o Hegel: idealism
o Marx: Materialism, class struggle
o Recent: Polanyi and Wallerstein
o Focus more on short-term contradictions, less so on long-term social change
Sustainability
• A monster
• Broadly covering the social, economic, and ecological interdependencies implicated
in environmental change, but is about meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
• Let us take a problem-oriented and reflective stance, does justice to sustainability’s
contradictions, dilemmas, and paradoxes
• Used in contradictory settings (growth vs de-growth)
• Particular temporality: future-oriented model taking effect in the present
• Elliot argues for a re-focus on losses and not sustainability, the transformation is the
presence is absence
Development
• Contested term, suggests a normative evolution of progress + strongly related to
modernization theory
• Sen/Nussbaum capability approach: ideal society provides individuals with freedom
and opportunity to choose a lifestyle
• Pritchett et al.: transformational vision of entire countries, where transformation is
sought across the four dimensions of:
o Polity, economy, social relations, public administration + social protection
2
,From MDGs to SDGs
• Idealistic view of the world, some did make a lot of progress, covid and climate
change make it harder now
• Brundtland Commission: sustainable development seeks to meet the needs of the
present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future
• Millennium development goals, aimed at Global South
1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2) Achieve universal free education
3) Promote gender equality and empower women
4) Reduce child mortality
5) Improve maternal health
6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7) Ensure environmental sustainability
8) Global partnership for development
• SDGs: one step further, more global approach that also includes countries from
Global North
But:
• Large economic inequalities persist
• Armed conflicts remain the largest thread
• Millions still in poverty
• Climate emergency only addressed marginally, much more effort is needed
• Hence, more action was needed that addresses the issues of sustainability on an
even larger scale with the SDGs
SDGs
1) No Poverty
2) Zero Hunger
3) Good Health and Wellbeing
4) Quality Education
5) Gender Equality
6) Clean Water and Sanitation
7) Affordable and Clean Energy
8) Decent Work and Economic Growth
9) Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10) Reduced Inequalities
11) Sustainable Cities and Communities
12) Responsible Consumption and Production
13) Climate Action
14) Life Below Water
15) Life on Land
16) Peace, Justice, and Institutions
17) Partnerships for the Goals
Week 2: Economic inequality
Economic inequality:
3
, • Usually income inequality, also incomes, assets, wealth, property, etc.
• But earnings/wage inequality, transfer inequality, consumption inequality
• Wealth: usually net wealth inequality (all that a household has; cars, house, etc,
minus the costs; college costs)
• But: housing, financial assets, non-housing real assets etc.
• Can mean many things so be careful
Measuring inequality
• Aim is to compare distributions
o Over time, across countries, any other group
• Gini coefficient most used (0 = everyone has the same income, 1 = one person
owns everything)
o Very slow measure of inequality, unclear where inequality occurs
• Top shares: share of wealth/income going to the top x% of distribution
Poverty
• Defining poverty is critical to political, policy and academic debates
• Inability to participate in society
• Income or living standard?
• Income or capabilities
• Failure of basic capabilities to reach certain minimally acceptable levels
• Poverty is not a relative measure, you don’t talk about the top, only about the
bottom
Extreme poverty: living on less than $1 a day
Absolute poverty: living on less than $1.90 a day
(These are not helpful for richer countries)
Relative poverty measures: income based (e.g. living on less than 50% of the national
median income)
Multidimensional poverty measurement: integrating income with other aspects of
economic well-being (e.g. housing deprivation)
4
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