Evolution has facilitated the numerous scientific discoveries and technological advancements witnessed during the transition processes. The society has, in general experienced, dynamic changes with regards to social behavior and perceptions. Scholars have, therefore, developed many ideas to explain social change and hence, the purpose of this essay ( Sanford, 2017) . This text aims at exploring the idealistic and materialistic perceptions of social change to determine the most effective in its role. Additionally, according to Sanford (2017), social change is defined as the process through which a civilization experiences alterations in social institutions, behaviors, and perceptions.
The materialistic perspective of social change involves the assessment of the impact of advancements in technology and the numerous economic shifts with regards to how society interacts with itself. As proposed by Ogburn, evolution with regards to technology has not only created new opportunities but also altered how the community perceives its newfound alternatives ( Sorokin, 2017) . While there exist other factors that may influence social change such as culture, religion, and values, these aspects of nature require an adaptive time while technology impacts instant change. This text, therefore, finds that the materialistic approach to social change is the most convincing argument.
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The idealistic perspective, on the other hand, focuses primarily on the non-material aspects of nature that promote change. These aspects include cultural norms and ideologies, as suggested by Weber, who found that value systems significantly impact social change ( Sorokin, 2017) . While this is a proven fact to some extent, value systems require a longer time to effect social change as compared to advancement in technology. In conclusion, this text has evaluated both perspectives of social change and found the materialistic approach to be the most convincing. This is based on the fact that it follows a realistic approach and reveals significantly less time required to impact social change as compared to factors such as value systems.
References
Sanford, N. (2017). Self and society: Social change and individual development . Routledge.
Sorokin, P. (2017). Social and cultural dynamics: A study of change in major systems of art, truth, ethics, law and social relationships . Routledge.
