Revision summary
Two theories: evolutionary-functional change and historical materialism. Durkheim and Parsons: differentiation, solidarity, adaptive upgrading. Marx: forces and relations of production, class struggle, modes. Strengths and weaknesses reverse: order versus conflict, stages versus rupture. India mixes Sanskritisation, class, and political reservation.
Model answer
Introduction
Theories of social change try to name what moves a society from one pattern to another. Two usable theories are evolutionary-functional change and historical-materialist change. They disagree on motor, direction, and conflict.
Body
Evolutionary and functional theory
- Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer pictured stages toward complexity and differentiation.
- Emile Durkheim described the shift from mechanical to organic solidarity as division of labour thickens, with anomie as a pathological companion.
- Talcott Parsons treated change as adaptive upgrading of AGIL subsystems: economy, polity, law, and culture.
- Strength: it names differentiation, law, and education as change sites.
- Weakness: it underplays domination and can read history as a one-way modernisation. Dependency theory and caste persistence embarrass a smooth upgrade.
Historical materialism
- Karl Marx located change in contradiction between forces and relations of production, fought out as class struggle.
- Modes of production are historical types. Ideology and state are not first movers.
- Strength: it explains industrial capitalism, primitive accumulation, and why technology arrives inside property.
- Weakness: a mechanical sequence of stages, and a thin account of gender, caste, and status, which Max Weber and later feminists added.
Indian use of the two
- Sanskritisation and Westernisation, after M. N. Srinivas, look like status evolution; land reform and informal labour look like class process.
- Mandal and reservations are political change that neither Spencer nor a thin Marx fully scripts.
Comparison
- Motor: adaptation versus contradiction.
- Direction: differentiation versus possible rupture.
- Agents: system needs versus classes.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD EV[Evolutionary functional] --> DIFF[Differentiation AGIL] HM[Historical materialism] --> CL[Class contradiction] DIFF --> IND[Indian mix] CL --> IND ST[Status gender] --> IND
Conclusion
Functional-evolutionary theory explains differentiation and the risk of anomie. Historical materialism explains property, class, and rupture. A full account of Indian change needs both, plus status and gender, which neither classic pair exhausted.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
Critically analyse the role of science and technology in bringing about social change
Next question on this syllabus topic (2017 · Q8(b)). View answer →
-
Why only two theories?
The question asks for any two in detail. Weberian rationalisation or cyclic theories could be a third pair.
-
Do the two cancel each other?
They name different motors. Empirical change often shows both differentiation and class conflict.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2019 · Q5(c) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
What is civil society ? Present a note on civil society engagement with science and technology policy in India -
2017 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Assess the role of mass media as an agent of social change -
2017 · Q8(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
Critically analyse the role of science and technology in bringing about social change -
2016 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
"Social conflict is both a cause and a consequence of social change." Explain. -
2016 · Q6(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
"Social change can be brought about through development." Illustrate. from the contemporary situation of India. -
2016 · Q7(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
Discuss the contemporary trends in family as a response to social change in modern society. -
2016 · Q8(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
"Education is a major source of social mobility in contemporary society." Explain. -
2015 · Q5(e) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Explain the relevance of the idea of 'cultural lag' in understanding social change.
More from this topic
Q5(e) · UPSC Mains 2025 · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
To what extent can education and skill development be an agent of social change? Critically analyze.
Social Change in Modern Society
Durkheim and Parsons treat schooling as moral and role socialisation, a force of change. Human capital and capability approaches link skill to productivity and freedom. Bourdieu and correspondence theorists show reproduction of class through the school. Indian expansion of education has created new aspirations and some mobility. Coaching, English, caste and credential inflation limit the equalising effect. The extent is partial: necessary for change, insufficient as a sole agent.
Q8(c) · UPSC Mains 2024 · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Critically examine the World-Systems theory of Immanuel Wallerstein in terms of development and dependency of various nations
Social Change in Modern Society
Wallerstein takes the capitalist world-economy, not the nation, as the unit of analysis. Core, semi-periphery and periphery are linked positions in one division of labour. Development of the core has been historically tied to peripheral constraint. The theory criticises Rostow-style national stages and is cousin to Frank’s underdevelopment thesis. Criticisms include thin treatment of internal class, culture and new industrial cores. It remains a strong map of dependency, provided ranks are not treated as eternal.
Q8(b) · UPSC Mains 2024 · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
Discuss various theories of social change. Explain the limitations of unilinear theory of social change
Social Change in Modern Society
Social change is theorised as evolution, cycle, conflict, functional adaptation and global hierarchy. Unilinear evolution claims one sequence of stages for all societies. Comte, Morgan and some readings of Marx illustrate the ladder form. Limits include Eurocentrism, teleology and weak handling of collapse and mixture. Multilinear and dependency arguments were developed against that ladder. Differentiation can be kept as a theme without a compulsory staircase.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.