Social Thought & Social Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Thought & Social Change - Essay Example There has been a â€Å"social change† in United States (Cornish, 1993, pp. 162). Various sociologists belonging to different school of thoughts have interpreted social change differently. In particular, notion of Social Change will under evaluation according to the works of Karl Marx and Max Webber. Marx simply defined social change as something, which emerges from class conflict, and this social change might be in the form of revolutions and not necessarily peaceful (Tischler, 2007, pp. 14). Weber’s ideas on social change were not economically based like that of Marx, but he emphasized that social change is brought about by ideas and ideals (Denhardt, 2004, pp.26). Society has undergone various transformations; the theories of Marx and Weber highlight how social change brought about these transformations. The paper explains the theories of Marx and Weber to explain the concept of â€Å"post industrialist† society. Bell does not really define post industrialist s ociety as a transition into service industry. Bell places great emphasis on scientific knowledge in this era and this scientific knowledge is a catalyst for social change (Mackay, Maples, Reynolds, 2001, pp. 24). Postindustrial era emerged after the Second World War that saw immense technological developments some of which included the transformation of matter into energy, atom bomb and the first digital computer (Bell, 1973, pp. 339). The character of ‘knowledge’ itself stands out in postindustrial societies. The main features of a postindustrial society include that of an increase in the size of the service industry, extensive use of machinery, an increase in the amount of information technology and knowledge and creativity standing out (Society, n.d, n.p). Karl Marx was particularly focused on the inequality perpetuated by capitalism. He argued that a particular technology did not define capitalism, and was the relation of social forces within the capitalist society that was significant. In the sense, that the people who owned the means of production and the workers who worked on these means of production had an important relationship. Although technology was vital to the process but it resulted only â€Å"as consequence of the relationship between those who produce surplus value and who appropriate it† (Jordan, Pile, 2002, pp.102). The works of Marx itself were based on the industrialist society. However, various contemporary Marxist theorists have identified that the conflicts within the framework of work, which occurred in industrial society have still not been removed with the introduction of the post industrialist era, also widely known as Information Communications Technology (ICT). In addition, even Bell has identified that the landowner and soldier were central figures in pre-industrial society and the businesspersons in industrial society, largely scientists and researchers dominate the postindustrial society (Cornish, 1993, pp. 162). Marxists therefore would emphasize that the scientists and researchers have the ‘elite’ knowledge, which is in the hands of the powerful few. Hence, there is inequality in the society. Furthermore, there has been an integration of ICT into the manufacturing world. This is an addition of modernity to the trend, which Marx had established. Therefore, according to Marxists, ICT is a ‘

A Sense of Environmental Consideration Research Paper

A Sense of Environmental Consideration - Research Paper Example Ecological deterioration results from several sources. However, these sources can fall under two categories namely natural and anthropogenic causes. Anthropogenic causes of environmental degradation include industrial activities, mining, agriculture and developmental infrastructure. The success of all these activities revolves around the modification of the environment in several ways. The constructions of industries require space. As such, vegetations are cleared to create space for such constructions. This renders the soil void of vegetation, thus, exposes it to threats of soil erosion (Nemeth, 2012). This leads to environmental degradation through loss of soil fertility, thus reducing the agricultural potentials. This culminates to food crises. The loss of vegetation through environmental degradation is critical n causing the issues of global warming. This follows that there will be little or no vegetation to absorb the temperature as well as the light from the sun. In addition, t he loss of vegetation means little incidences of surface albedo (Nemeth, 2012). Therefore, the surface reflectivity of the sun’s rays will be hampered. This means that more heat will be absorbed by the surface of the soil and will be released gradually to the atmosphere. This causes global warming. The increased temperatures in the atmosphere may affect the ozone layer, causing its depletion. This may be responsible for changing the weather patterns thereby affecting several activities on the global perspective. Environmental degradation may also follow the activities of several industries.