Social Theory, Social Change and Social Work has two inter-related themes. First to account for and analyse current changes in social work and secondly, to assess how far recent developments in social theory can contribute to their interpretation. Representing the work of a range of academics all involved in research and teaching in relation to social work, it considers issues of central significance to everyone interested in the theory, policy, and practice of social work.

This is Volume XIX of twenty-two in the Social Theory and Methodology series. First published in 1969, this study looks at four views of the theory of social change and is intended for students in social studies, education and social psychology at university level.

Anthony Smith's important work on the concept of social change, first published in 1973, puts forward the paradigm of historical change as an alternative to the functionalist theory of evolutionary change. He shows that, in attempting to provide a theory of social change, functionalism reveals itself as a species of 'frozen' evolutionism. Functionalism, he argues, is unable to cope with the mechanisms of historical transitions or account for novelty and emergence; it confuses classification of variations with explanation of processes; and its endogenous view of change prevents it from coming to grips with the real events and transformations of the historical record. In his assessment of functionalism, Dr Smith traces its explanatory failures in its accounts of the developments of civilisation, modernisation and revolution. He concludes that the study of 'evolution' is largely irrelevant to the investigation of social change. He proposes instead an exogenous paradigm of social change, which places the study of contingent historical events at its centre.

Reviews theories of social change according to what are felt to be the dominant paradigms in the field.

This book assesses how theorists explained processes of change set in motion by the rise of capitalism. It situates them in the milieu in which they wrote. They were never neutral observers standing outside the conditions they were trying to explain. Their arguments were responses to those circumstances and to the views of others commentators, living and dead. Some repeated earlier views; others built on those perspectives; a few changed the way we think. While surveying earlier writers, the author’s primary concerns are theorists who sought to explain industrialization, imperialism, and the consolidation of nation-states after 1840. Marx, Durkheim, and Weber still shape our understandings of the past, present, and future. Patterson focuses on explanations of the unsettled conditions that crystallized in the 1910s and still persist: the rise of socialist states, anti-colonial movements, prolonged economic crises, and almost continuous war. After 1945, theorists in capitalist countries, influenced by Cold War politics, saw social change in terms of economic growth, progress, and modernization; their contemporaries elsewhere wrote about underdevelopment, dependency, or uneven development. In the 1980s, theorists of postmodernity, neoliberalism, globalization, innovations in communications technologies, and post-socialism argued that they rendered earlier accounts insufficient. Others saw them as manifestations of a new imperialism, capitalist accumulation on a global scale, environmental crises, and nationalist populism.

The primary stimulant to social change is exposure to the situation. As individuals grow and understand the situation that requires change, they grow more willing to accept that the situation requires change. For instance, in the mid 20th century, access to television and an increased media focus on the civil rights movement, as well as an increased access to the writings and speeches of civil rights leaders, shifted the public perspective towards a positive impression of the civil rights movement. This shift in perception helped stimulate change. Technology increases public exposure to the needs of others. Television and the Internet provide an around-the-clock perspective on social needs and provide material to individuals interested in learning about the social needs of others. As an example, increased media attention of women’s issues in the Middle East has increased the general public awareness of those issues. Anyone can read and study these issues and add to the social pressures working to make positive changes in Middle Eastern women’s rights by adding her voice to the movement. Technology removed the foreign veil that hid these atrocities for generations. Education provides an awareness of the historic nature of social change, a map of historical successes for social change and establishes a context for understanding those issues. The book is expected to be useful for the students of sociology and others who are interested in the studies of social change. Contents: • Introduction • Modern Theories • Structural Functionalism and Unilineal Descent • Feminist Theory • Identity Politics • World-systems Theory • Organizational Socialization • Durkheim’s Problem and Differentiation Theory Today • Neofunctionalism • Social Class and Class Structure • Social Alienation • Marx and Class Conflict • Research and Methods

Queer Theory and Social Change argues that there is a crisis within Queer theory over whether or not its theories can actually deliver change. Max Kirsch presents a challenging alternative to the current fascination with post-modern analyses of identity, culture, and difference. It emphasizes the need for a discussion of the importance of communities and the role of globalization on queer movements.