Processes of Societal Transformation

Abstract

In the not-distant past, natural resources, the environment, strategic locations, ambitious leaders, gifted individuals, creative ideas, cultures, and states played important, at times decisive roles as agents of change and forces of transformation. Lately, however, the roles of all such agents have been vastly and irreversibly diminished, and the roles of the societal processes of change have been enhanced at their expense. These processes are defined as the sociocultural, the political, the economic, and the infomedia processes. These are social mechanisms evolved over time to facilitate the introduction of change and the management of its consequences. And unlike social systems, the societal processes do not abide by certain rules or laws, and are not subject to effective control by any authority. Nevertheless, the degree of sophistication and activism of the dominant process always reflects the philosophical orientation of society and the developmental stage of its economy. Together, these processes form the larger societal framework within which all social systems and institutions function, and through which all change is introduced and managed in society.