Social change  

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This page Social change is part of the politics series.
Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.

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Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. The base of social change is change in the thought process in humans. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic structure, for instance a shift away from feudalism and towards capitalism. Accordingly it may also refer to social revolution, such as the Socialist revolution presented in Marxism, or to other social movements, such as Women's suffrage or the Civil rights movement. Social change may be driven by cultural, religious, economic, scientific or technological forces.

More generally, social change may include changes in nature, social institutions, social behaviours, or social relations.

See also

• Accelerating change
• Alternative movement
• Comparative historical research
• Constitutional economics
• Degeneration
• Globalization
• Global social change research project
• Historical sociology
• Idea of Progress
• Industrialisation
• Lifestyle (sociology)
• Modernisation
• Revolution
• Reformism
• Secularisation
• Social conservatism
• Social decline
• Social development theory
• Social disintegration
• Social movements
• Social progress
• Social relations
• Social revolution
• Societal collapse
• Sociocultural evolution
• Transformation of culture