Factors of social change refer to those causes

that can produce social change.

Social change results from the interplay of

several factors, classified under three major
headings:

• geographic
• biologic and
• cultural
The rate and direction of social change

May be affected by-

Physical environment
Integration of institutions in society
Social values and norms
The cultural base
The social context
Needs and crises
Population change
Acceptance of and resistance to social change

• The need for the change

• Provision of greater satisfaction
• Demonstrated utility
• Compatibility with existing culture
• Costs of change
• The agent of change
Value

Values can be defined as broad preferences

concerning appropriate courses of action or
outcomes.
As such, values reflect a person’s sense of right
and wrong or what “ought” to be.
“Equal rights for all”, "Excellence deserves
admiration", and “People should be treated
with respect and dignity” are representative of
values.
Values tend to influence attitudes and behavior.
Personal Values provide an internal reference
for what is good, beneficial, important,
useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive, etc.

Values generate behaviour and help solve

common human problems for survival by
comparative rankings of value; the results of
which provide answers to questions of why
people do what they do and in what order
they choose to do them.
• Over time the public expression of personal
values, that groups of people find important
in their day-to-day lives, lay the foundations
of law, custom and tradition.

• Personal Values in this way exist in relation to

cultural values, either in agreement with or
divergent from prevailing norms.
Social values
Attitudes held by the society that define what society
considers correct and of relative importance

Abstract and often unconscious assumptions of what

is right and important

General enduring preferences that govern behavior

and decisions in life

Ideas as to whether objects or behavior are good,

bad, desirable or the like
Defined social values do constitute society's
preferences or estimates of worth in respect
of material or non-material objects in
society.

Taken together as a set, these attitudes go to

form a system which is called the value
system of society.
Values and Norms

Values are attitudes, held by individuals,

groups or society as a whole, as to whether
material or non-material objects are good,
bad, desirable or undesirable.

Norms are closely associated with values but

area clearly differentiated from them.

Norms are the rules that govern action directed

towards achieving values
Characteristics of Values

Values are constructs of society created

through an interrelationships of its members

Values are socially shared

Values are learned

Values are abstract attitudes and assumptions

on which there is social consensus about the
relative worth of objects in society

Values are gratifying to people and have an

important part in meeting social needs
 -continued-
Values tend to be linked together harmoniously
top form patterns; these patterns form the
values system in the society

Value system vary from culture to culture in

accordance with the relative worth attributed
by each culture to its patterns of activity and
its goals

Values frequently represent alternatives and

value systems consists of ranked alternatives

Values may differ in their effects upon the

individual and society as a whole
and… …. … m-o-r-e
Types of values
Ultimate/dominant values: forms the general framework within
which the behavior of individuals and groups is controlled. It
constitutes the core of society's value system which
expresses the general views of society towards matters.

Intermediate values: derived from ultimate values and are

actually ultimate values that have been rephrased into a more
reasonably attainable categories. They exist and operate
within the framework of ultimate values and are implemented
through norms that serve to support and uphold them.

Specific values: The subdivisions of intermediate values and

are almost unlimited in numbers. Specific values must be in
conformity with the total value system of which they form the
smallest unit. They constitute the personal and group
preferences expressed in daily life.
Functions of Values

Values provide a readymade means for judging the social

worth of persons and pluralities.
Values focus the attention of people upon material
cultural items that are considered desirable, useful and
essential.
The ideal ways of thinking and behaving in a society are
indicated by values.
Values are guideposts for people in their choice and
fulfillment of social role.
Values act as a means of social control and social
pressure.
Values function as a means of solidarity