CULTURAL EVOLUTION -Theory of social change. Information capable of affecting individual’s behavior that they acquire from other members of the society through teaching, imitation, and other forms of social transmission.

“Cultural evolution” is the idea that human cultural change––that is, changes in socially transmitted beliefs, knowledge, customs, skills, attitudes, languages, and so on––can be described as a Darwinian evolutionary process that is similar in key respects (but not identical) to biological/genetic evolution.

The typological system used by Morgan and Tylor broke cultures down into three basic evolutionary stages: savagery, barbarism and civilization.

The study of cultural evolution is important beyond its academic value. For example, studies of cultural factors, including language and customs, help biologists interpret patterns of genetic evolution that might be misinterpreted if the cultural context were not taken into account.

Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as “information capable of affecting individuals’ behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation and other forms of social transmission”.

Norms provide order in society. Human beings need norms to guide and direct their behavior, to provide order and predictability in social relationships and to make sense of and understanding of each other’s actions. These are some of the reasons why most people, most of the time, conform to social norms.

This passage is from Morgan’s masterwork Ancient Society (1877), in which he also described seven stages of cultural evolution: lower, middle, and upper savagery; lower, middle, and upper barbarism; and civilization.

Evolutionary – Charles Darwin Long term, directional, evolutionary social change with regular patterns of development that may be seen in unrelated, widely separated cultures. The culture of a society impacts its growth, allowing for certain societies to skip through certain stages that others have passed through.

The persistence or consistent existence of cultural elements in a society across time. Continuity can also be referred to as the maintenance of the traditions and social structures that bring stability to a society.

There are three main theories of social change: evolutionary, functionalist, and conflict.

The four key elements that affect social change that are described in this chapter are the environment, technology, social institutions, and population.

Sources of Social Change There are many factors that stimulate change. This section addresses six factors: values and beliefs, technology, population, diffusion, the physical environment, and wars and conquests.

In sociology, an alternative movement or alterative movement refers to a social movement that seeks limited societal change. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is an example of an alternative social movement because it targets one behavior—drunk driving.

Which of the following are common causes of social change? invention of new ideas and things, diffusion from one cultural system to another, discovery of existing things.

Experts agree overeating, especially the over-consumption of high fat and high sugar foods, is an important factor contributing to the rising rates of obesity (Frazao, 1999).

The High Cost of Excess Weight No less real are the social and emotional effects of obesity, including discrimination, lower wages, lower quality of life and a likely susceptibility to depression.

Before investigating the consequences, it should be pointed out that viewing obesity as a “social disease” here means that obesity is defined as a disease in terms of social phenomena, e.g., aesthetic, moral, or behavioral phenomena.