Discuss the Evolution Theory of Social Change, and its loopholes.

This theory was developed from a group of 19th century social philosophers. The most prominent of this group of theorists was Herbert Spencer (1 £20- 1903). Their ideas were motivated by Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution of animals. These theorists' argued that if animals evolved from one simple species to different or more complex species, then human societies could also evolve in a similar manner.
They could change from the simple, homogeneous, primitive, hunting and plants-gathering societies to the complex, advanced, heterogeneous, industrialized societies with differentiated structures and specialization. Such views saw the human societies as entities that had progressed from primitive arid simple communities to advanced modern collectivities.
However, the pace of change differed from one society to another. Therefore, based on the degree of differentiation and complexity, one society may be said to be more advanced, highly evolved and more progressive compared to another.

The evolutionary theory of social change views change as a process that moves in one direction towards increasing complexity, As members of society attempt to adapt to social and physical conditions in their environment, they push society forward in development. Each new adaptation is the basis for future adaptations (Thomas, 1995). The evolutionary theorists acknowledged that the speed and pace of progression differed from one society to the other.

Evolution can be viewed from three major stages. In the first stage, people were living in caves/trees. They had no permanent shelters. People lived on fruits.
They were gatherers and hunters.

In the second stage, people practiced agriculture and kept domesticated animals. They developed permanent houses. This stage was characterized by settlement, agriculture, and domestication of animals. The third stage involved industrial revolution. People moved from rural to urban centres. Rural areas were negatively affected as they lost able bodied people. Exploitation of the weak and poor became the order of the day in the name of development. There was advancement in technology. This stage also created a class of people who provided labour. It witnessed the mushrooming of slums and an increased crime rate. This phase is characterized by industries, technology, urban centres and the setting in of modernity.

Evolution in the third phase was seen in terms of the following:
a. Dressing: People began wearing clothes unlike before when they wore animal skins or tree barks;
b. Schooling: children no longer relied solely on elders but joined learning institutions;
c. Cultural change: elders lost their place in society;
d. Technology: there was development of advanced technologies;
e. Towns: towns grew as people migrated from rural to urban centres. Critics of early evolutionary theory point out that in addition to possessing an ideological ias, evolutionary theorists did not attempt to explain why social change fakes place.

The evolution theory has the following loopholes:
a. Human beings are more complicated than organisms. It is therefore difficult to determine change and its direction.
b. It is not easy to determine the evolution of past groups. Past events are difficult to determine. Only inferences can be made of the kind of life people lived in the past.
c. Societies may appear simple but possess elaborate and complex systems of family, religion etc. 'Societies with simple outlooks may have, complicated structures.
Despite these weaknesses, the evolution theory helps in tracking the. historical development of societies. It provides a base on which to view the changes which our social structures have undergone.

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francis1897 answered the question on August 22, 2022 at 11:55