Our continuing discussion on social inequality developed
into yet another section this week. Technology and social change cover many
areas in the social inequality unit, but I thought the most about social change
and social movements. (Apart from maintaining the status quo because I couldn't
stop thinking about the song “Stick to the Status Quo” from High School Musical.)
I find social change really interesting because if you look
at how different our culture is now compared to just 10 years ago, you realize
how often social change can really occur. While the change in clothes, actions
of the public, songs, and more are usually minor changes, they still can have
an effect on the society. Even last year, the clothing trends were way different
than they are right now. A trend may not have a major impact on the society,
but it is a brief change for a period of time. Trends also may not be
considered social change because they don’t really have social movements prior
to the change. Social movement is a collective effort to promote social change;
so I guess if you want to get technical, you could consider clothing stores to
be part of social movement.
One good example of social change that I can think of is
sexual orientation equality. People have been trying to make this come a
reality for many years now, but only recently has been extra effective. There
are many social movements that have helped with increasing equality: events,
alliances, and especially the votes for marriage equality. While we are still
fighting for the complete social change, the movements are doing a good job of
getting us closer to it.
