The concept of social change is something that all types of sociological theorists try to grapple with. However, when referring to conflict and functionalist models of social change, one can easily see that not every sociologist can agree with another about the causes and results of social change. Conflict theorists look at social change as occurring only through infighting between social classes. While it is true that many revolutions have resulted in the wake of class and/or group conflict, it is much unlike the view functionalists tend to have. Functionalists typically use the more tactile factors, such as population growth and technological advances as leading the charge for social change. functionalists presume that population growth, which is a more “natural,” or inherent impetus, will generally spur on technical advances and, in turn, will expand the society’s understanding and awareness of their surrounding environment, thus a gradual change will occur.
However, one area where functionalists and conflict theorists may agree concerns the occurrence of class inequalities. Conflict and functional theorists similarly rely upon those who are not as well as off as others to drive social change. Though, the equilibrium that functionalists claim is always evident may lend to the view that people struggling for a better life may do so not out of revolt or response to the perception a segment of society is intentionally being disenfranchised, but rather because of a more inherent yearning to strive for a better life.
A conflict theorist model would lay claim to any social change occurring only because of outright provocation, such as in capitalistic societies with greatly pronounced variances in the conditions of given social classes. When the social underclasses collectively feel as though they are being exploited or otherwise unjustly treated by the society’s elite and powerful, a social uprising will ensue and, in time, create societies that will have been modified because of the actions of those who rose up and tried to tackle the oppressors. It is then assumed that the prevailing social conditions will further be altered by subsequent social altercations, therefore propelling even further changes in that society.
A small scale example of this could come in the form of labor unions, often waging intense, even violent, uprisings against their companies to lobby for an increase in the union workers’ incomes, benefit packages, or to obtain better working hours or conditions. Though the company and union often do finally settle, it will not likely be the last incursion to be had between the two parties; the union likely will strike again to wage the fight for relatively better terms than received in the wake of the previous strike.
A functionalist would likely point to a country such as India, where society as a whole is improving. The resultant positive attitudes toward birth control, thanks to an increasing awareness of the overpopulation problems due to the explosion in the nation’s growth rate over most of the twentieth century, is fueling a slowly but surely decreasing birth rate. The lower birth rate is now helping to improve the economic standing of Indian families, many of whom have only one or two children, as opposed to the five or more children that were commonly found in each Indian family thirty or forty years ago.
The families that remain poor and are likely to have more than two or three children are beginning to realize the notion that having fewer children can indeed relieve financial burdens and can even help to increase the relative wealth of the family. Those that take to the idea of family planning and birth control are beginning to advance themselves out of poverty. The increased awareness and education of Indians, tied together with a lower birth rate, is beginning to stabilize the nation, allowing it to become a major player in the global market.
Resource consulted:
Kornblum, William. Sociology in a Changing World. 6th ed. Belmont: Thompson 2003.
