Social evolution is a part of social change and both are related to the upcoming changes in the society. However there exists a difference between the social change and social evolution. Explain. (15 Marks)
Sociologists in the 19th century applied Charles Darwin''s work in biological evolution to theories of social change. According to evolutionary theory, society moves in specific directions. Therefore, early social evolutionists saw society as progressing to higher and higher levels. As a result, they concluded that their own cultural attitudes and behaviors were more advanced than those of earlier societies. Auguste Comte, Hebert Spencer and Durkheim subscribed to social evolution. Emile Durkheim a functionalist, saw societies as moving from simple to complex social structures. Herbert Spencer compared society to a living organism with interrelated parts moving toward a common end. (i.e) They all proposed unilinear evolutionary theories, which maintain that all societies pass through the same sequence of stages of evolution to reach the same destiny.
Social evolution has been thus explained earlier as a social change in the form of its meaning and defi nition. Social change is an indifferent word, that is why, it does not signifi es the quality and quantity of any good or evil things in any direction or change, whereas evolution is such a change in which direction, order, quality etc all are defi nite. According to this, social evolution is a part of social change and both are related to the upcoming changes in the society. We can differentiate between the social change and social evolution in the following way:
- There is no definite direction of social change, it can occur in up and down, back and forth, in any direction, whereas only one direction is specifi ed for social evolution, it always happens from simplicity to complexity and from similarity to dissimilarity.
- Social change can occur in favour of social structure and function, else in favour of either of the two. On the other hand, in social evolution, change occurs in both social structure and function.
- Social change can occur because of both internal and external powers of the society, whereas social evolution occurs because of the internal powers of the society.
- In social evolution, work distribution and characterisation increases, whereas this is not necessary in social change.
- Social change is a global process and evolution is one part or form of it. This means that every evolution is change, but every change is not evolution.
- Some stages and order have been assigned to social evolution, whereas no direction, order and stage are specifi ed for social change.
- The process of social evolution is slow and continuous, whereas the process for social change is slow, continuous and can also occur after some intervals in any form.
- Quantitative changes occur in social evolution, whereas in social change both types of quantitative and qualitative changes are involved.
- The stages of social evolution do not occur again, whereas in social change there is no rule for this. Social change can occur in the same stage from where it could have taken a new direction.
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