Essay On Social Change

Education And Its Impact On Social Change

Education and its Impact on Social Change in Punjab

Dr.Maninder S. Sarkaria

Deputy State Project Director, RMSA, Punjab e–mail: mssarkaria@hotmail.com

Shiwani

Assistant Professor, S.G.A.D. College, Khadur Sahib, Tarn–Taran (Punjab) e–mail: shiwani.319@gmail.com

Abstract

Significance of education in the development process has been well recognized by the educational planners, economists and development planners the world over. Based on empirical evidences of connection between education and socio–economic development, this paper posits that education is instrumental in the socio–economic development. Specifically, this paper examines the impact of educational progress on fertility rate, population growth rate, child/infant mortality rate, life expectancy, gender disparity, povertyof the state. The analysis is based on information of the entire state on various variables such as literacy rate, enrolment, per capita income, fertility rate, population growth rate, incidence of poverty, etc. gathered from the secondary sources from 1966 onward. To sort out the strength and direction of relationships between education and various components of social developments, data have been analyzed by employing simple regression models. The findings show that female education at all levels has been found to be highly significant in lowering infant mortality. Male and female life expectancy at birth and at specific ages have been found to be positively related with enrolment at different

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Religion on social change

This essay is to assess the contribution of religion as a cause of social change and what it has cause throughout the years, some say that religion acts as a conservative force, other say it is a major contributor of social change and some like to take the middle ground on this topic. Religion to sociologist can be seen in two types of ways which is either a conservative force (keeping thing the way they are) or a force for change. Those who see it as a conservative are the ones who believe it's a force of stability and order whereas the force for change sociologist would say religion encourages societies to change. Religion being a conservative force function is to preserve status quo by maintaining...show more content...

The last but no least belief is the idea of a vocation or calling which are defined by two functions, 1 is it helped the Calvinist to cope with their salvation panic as they took this as a sign of God's favour ad their salvation– for why else would they have prospered and 2 is their accumulated wealth by the most efficient and rational means possible and not spending it on luxuries but instead reinvesting it (which in Weber's view is the spirit of modern capitalism).

It is very important to note that Weber's was not arguing that the Calvinist beliefs were the cause of modern capitalism but simply that they were one of its causes. Other societies had a higher rate of economic growth than northern Europe in the 16th and 17th century but failed to adopt modern capitalism. China and India were more materially advanced but didn't adopt capitalism due to their lack of religious belief like the Calvinist. They promote rewards in the other life, good deeds and other goals that lacked the material drive that Calvinism created. Weber has theory has many criticisms some of these are that for example Kautsky argues that Weber overestimates the role of ideas and underestimates economic factors in bring capitalism in to being, he argues that in fact capitalism preceded rather than followed Calvinism . Similarly R.H Tawney argues that

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Social change is broadly defined as the transformation of cultural, economic, political and social institutions and relationships over time. Sociologists are interested in identifying how change is initiated, for what or whose purposes and with what consequences. While some aspects of social change create positive results for example democracy and human rights expanded in the aftermath of the American and French revolutions many have unintended consequences the expanded availability of communications technology blurs conventional boundaries between home and work. In fact, not all social groups view and respond to social change as positive. While social change might seem inevitable from a contemporary perspective, its causes and pace vary...show more content...

Industrialization brought with it new living arrangements the growth of cities and population growth; intellectual and cultural change through the spread of ideas about democracy and equality via new media, such as penny news sheets and increasing secularism as scientific thought challenged religious beliefs. Sociologists drew on and adapted scientific method and created models of social change to explain this broad transformation from 'simple' homogenous societies to 'complex' highly differentiated societies, broadly understood as modernization. In contrast to feudal societies, which remained static for a long period, or which were seen to change in cyclical ways, to be modern is to live with social change and in an environment in which "all that is solid melts into air". However, classical sociologists and social commentators have differed in their explanations for change and in their view of its consequences. First, late eighteenth century Enlightenment thinkers, such as David Hume and Adam Ferguson, argued that scientific reason would stimulate social change for the moral advancement of society. Concomitantly, social change became synonymous with the idea of social progress. Second,

Some of the social changes discussed in this paper are from the book The Human Project; others are social changes I have seen in my everyday life. I will also discuss the views of modernist, conservatives, and post–modernist. I will give a brief idea of what I think Multiculturalism is and how it has effected me in the good ways and bad ways.

I am a minority myself being from an East Indian household, I was born in Canada. I have been through much discrimination growing up in a middle class; English speaking, white neighbourhood, but more then me, my parents have had it much harder. My First memory or discrimination is when I was six years old and my dad had taken me and my siblings swimming at a public swimming pool where two white ...show more content...

In India I would be gong to school with mostly boys, all of the same religion and same social ranking. Our clubs and teams would mainly be people of the same religions. Here in Canada I go to school with people of many different backgrounds and this is what I love about Canada. My neighbour is Italian, the people that live in our basement are black and my friends come from many different backgrounds. This gives me a opportunity to learn and teach about different religions.

In the text " The Human Project" they discuss the the two different conceptions of equality. The first of the two is Formal Equality. Formal equality believes that everyone should be treated the same regardless of race culture, education, class and social standing. The second concept is Substantive Equality. Substantive Equality recognizes that to treat people equally there must be accommodations to there differneces. For example if two candidates applied for the same job but on candidate was from a minority group then, the minority should get the job. A good example of formal equality and substantive equality is the example of the Muslim taxi driver who refused to let a blind women bring her dog into the cab. Some Muslims believe that dogs are unclean and they do not want dogs in their cabs. The taxi driver is practicing to a conception of formal equality. Yet, in the Koran it specifies that Get

Social change refers to any significant modification after some time in conduct patterns and social esteems and norms. The expression social change has been characterized and examined the scholastic Social issue is a non–exclusive term connected to the scope of conditions and aberrant behaviors, which are held to be signs of social disruption. It is a condition which many individuals in the society consider undesirable and need to be amended by changing some methods of social planning. Numerous social issues are due to the processes of social change. All things considered, a changing society unavoidably creates issues. In an extraordinarily integrated society, it is stated, there would be no social issue in light of the fact that in such societies all institutions and their conduct would be conveniently harmonized and characterized as adequate by the estimations of society (Kezar, 2014). Changing societies are in a consistent process of disorganization and re–organization. Social issues are a portion of the cost of social change. Times of rapid change may result to the disequilibrium and disorganization of the formal operation of society. Once the choice is made to implement social change it is then considered an acceptable addition to the society, it often leads to an increase in the social issues. The rights and privileges are given to many women in developing nations, which may have been largely accepted as an attractive change, for these women who can appreciate the

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Causes Of Social Change

Social change is an ongoing process. Two popular recent social changes are called the "Me 2 Movement'', and the "Black Lives Matter'' movement. Some other ongoing social changes in our society are sparked from gender equality and sexual harassment. I participate in social changes everyday. When I share different memes of social media, people analyze them and form opinions based off of what I posted. It sparks political discussion and makes people wonder. I don't choose one specific group of people to try to influence. There is also a lot of social change about free speech and the laws. I vote regularly and that is a part of social change. Some people that don't vote usually don't like any of the candidates running for election. I vote for the people I share the same values with and do my research before voting day. In the 2000's there was a protest in Africa called Arab Springs. An individual did not think the government was fair so he lit himself on fire. It started it a mass social media movement over politics in African countries. Social media ultimately led to new leadership in those countries. In 2008 the United States was going through a severe economic depression. Everyone was mad at the wealthiest one percent and there were tons of homeless people struggling. Some people on Wall Street were arrested for corruption and a lot of people walked away Scot free. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary to socialize is, "to make social; especially: to fit or train for a

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Social Change Over Time Essay

Any alteration over time regarding behavioural patterns and cultural values is a Social Change. Social change refers to any significant alteration over time in behaviour patterns and cultural values and norms Social changes include the breaking down of social, racial and gender based barriers. This has led to a more accepting audience where makeup, normally worn by women, is now worn by male artists such as KISS and Little Richard. Elvis Presley was also a massive influence on social change. In the 1950's, he was broadcast all over the country, but only from the waist up. This created speculation and interest in what the media was hiding down below. His dancing was seen as outrageous, with pelvis shaking. Get

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Social Movements And Its Effects Of Social Change

Social change is the significant alteration over time of behavior patterns and culture. Basically its and change to a social process. Many sociologist are concerned with the effects of change but, you need to look at both sides of the argument all the time. Situations like these happen all the time globally. No society goes unchanged. Some societies may change at a slow rate but it happens and nobody notices until we go back and look at history. The change that occurs is natural so there is no reason for anybody to worry.

Social change has a lot to do with social movements. Social movements are groups of people trying to change something in an established group or society. A hugesocial movement that happened in the past and is still happening is women's rights. The opportunities that men get are being offered to women, as they should be. Another movement is getting the medicine and foods needed in 3rd world countries. Before there were no programs or people getting involved that gave us the opportunity to help the less fortunate.

The internet has a key role on how it effects the globe. The are many negative and positive things about it. Some negatives are that people might rely on it too much. You might always use it for GPS then when it comes time when your GPS doesn't work or something else happens to it then how are you going to get from point A to point B. Another problem is it's hurting the economy. Everybody is buying things online so small town shops are going out Get more content

The Change in Healthcare

Healthcare in the United States has been a popular topic of debate since the 1990's. The principal issue has been that some people feel they are underserved in their health care needs, while others feel that the country is overspending on health care. Although people will continue to debate, the issue has recently been brought to justice. President Obama signed new legislation into law on March 23 and March 30, 2010. The aim is to overhaul the nation's health care system and guarantee access to medical insurance for tens of millions of Americans (Health Care Reform, 2010). This legislation was given to President Obama to sign after a very close vote in the House of Representatives of 219 to 212 (Health Care...show more content...

According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, the healthcare industry is one of the largest segments of the U.S. economy with total spending expected to nearly double to four trillion dollars by 2015. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2008 the overall U.S. economy lost more than two million jobs, but the healthcare sector added five–hundred thousand, for it was the only sector to experience significant growth. Historically healthcare spending has been resistant to phases of market downturn, and will only grow faster with the addition of thirty–two million newly insured Americans, and the doubling of our elderly population by 2050. The fact remains, venture‐backed companies are the largest source of these new jobs, and they contributed eight times the job growth in 2006‐2008 as compared to private sector job growth as a whole, according to the National Venture Capital Association (Psilos Group 2010).

Supporting Data and the Engines Behind the Change

Following intensive surveys, it was determined that approximately 46.3 million Americans suffer from the ailment of inadequate or nonexistent Health Insurance Coverage (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2008). Those unfortunate enough to fall within this vast umbrella face a harsh reality in which even a simple wound could turn into a financial nightmare. They are soon faced with a decision, seeking imperative care from a physician or paying their rent. Due to this national Get

For every change within a society, personal changes with "self" must happen. These social changes are important to people while, people who don't benefit from it think changes within the self isn't important for social changes. Personal change is a journey a person takes of discovering something within themselves and acting upon a social change. That social change is society evolving to better ways. Jane Goodall talks about her experience in a moment of truth with self being absent in a moment of need in her writing titled In the Forest of Gombe, where she spends a few weeks in the forest following chimpanzees has helped her cope with her grief of her husband. She comes to the realization that her "self" was nonexistent and everyone in...show more content...

This crisis had changed her "self" from within when getting away from the upsetting environment that she was in and to be with animals that felt no pity for her. She found peace within herself and her surroundings. Most African Americans like Goodall found strength within that "self" and became a part of a social change. Similarly, African Americans participated in the protests and at the NAACP movement seeking for equality between the blacks and the whites. They had to go through social change or a tough experience in life that made them realize that enough was enough and to cope with their grief was through social change. Gladwell speaks on the behalf of the protesters who found strength to fight back saying, "It spread to those cities which had preexisting "movement centers"–a core of dedicated and trained activists ready to turn the "fever" into action" (Gladwell 139). Those people who lived in small towns that no one heard of still were going through what the rest of the African Americans were going through. Each and everyone of them had to go through the pain which lead to a personal change for them, becoming an activist who is ready to fight for a social change. One of the stages of grief, is denial where you question everything that comes to mind. Grieving changes a person's inner self or the "self" Goodall refers to that makes them want to be a part of a social change or activism. A personal change can include losing someone or being let Get more content

Social Media: Changing Our Society Electricity was first introduced to society hundreds of years ago; the way people communicate began to change in many different ways since then. New inventions helped people build more sophisticate tools to build better places to live and work. This new inventions changed the way we live now days; they make our lives much easier. In the decade of the 1920's when radio was first introduced to public, people begin buying it and using it more and more, as years passed by it become incredibly popular that most American families had a radio at their houses. They could spend hours with their families listening to music or their favorite shows. This was just the beginning of the revolution of social media....show more content...

Social networking has become a major part of society. Many people wake up each day and check social media websites specifically throughout Twitter and Facebook first thing in the morning instead of reaching for a newspaper. Since people are spending such a large amount of time surfing social networks, it is important to point out some of the positive and negative effects that social networking can have on a society. The positive effects of social networking sites are allow people to create new relationships and reconnect with friends and family. Increased communication, even online, strengthens relationships. And the other is social networking sites make people share everything that they want and bring people with common interests together, offer exposure to new ideas from around the world, and lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety. Social media has changed the way people think and how they communicate. It's incredible to see how social media has become such a big part of our daily lives. Just to think social media as we know it was birthed less than ten years ago in August 2003 with MySpace and has become such an integral part of our daily lives. Synonymous with checking our email we go to our Facebook for not only our daily gossip, but for up to date news and events.

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Social Media And Social Change

Title 1 An Analysis of Social Media and Social Change In the past decade, a tool has emerged that is used to connect millions of people throughout the globe, spreading ideas, opinions, and information instantaneously. This tool, which has revolutionized communication between human beings, is social media. Social media has become a forum for discussion about a broad spectrum of topics, including a very prominent one: social justice. This subject and all of its facets are discussed heavily on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but whether these social networks have the power to effectively achieve social change is extremely controversial. Journalists and academics Malcolm

Gladwell,

Melissa Wall, Sahar El Zahad, and Clay Shirky, all

...show more content...

The first chapter of his two–thousand eight book provides the anecdote of a phone being returned to its rightful owner through the internet and sums up Shirky's acclamatory outlook on the power of social media. Though he acknowledges that this instance is rather trivial, he asserts that its outcome is an indicator of something much bigger, stating that "all the manifestations we see in the story of Ivanna's phone, the phones and computers, the e–mail and instant messages, and the webpages, are manifestations of a more fundamental shift" (Shirky 11). His example ends with the New York Police Department becoming involved in the case after it gained widespread attention and eventually ended up on mainstream news networks, something that was only achievable through the use of social media. Shirky claims that change in human society is only possible through collaboration, and that the internet makes collaboration infinitely easier. The internet essentially eliminates the cost of spreading information, which, Shirky explains, transfers particular abilities "from various professional classes to the general public (Shirky 9)." Shirky believes that cooperative efforts are now possible without the hierarchical Get more content

The legal system we abide by has generally served its purpose by providing order and justice in most situations that need legal obedience. However, on the premises of producing social change, the system has not proven to bring changes in society. Perhaps justification for this is explained by Clarence Darrow who argues that the law applies to and favors specific types of social classes. Robert Cover addresses how punishments from judges may counteract their purpose. Karla Fischer and her peers, along with Jackie Campbell's "Walking the Beat Alone," show how law has objectives to serve society, but do not supply social change and in fact hinder its progress. The film Eyes on the Prize portrayed the African American efforts in disobeying the...show more content...

However, as it is, the legal system is in place and there are further examples and reasons to prove that it does not provide social change. In author Robert Cover's, The Violenceof Legal Acts, legal decisions are under the spotlight in terms of their effects. Cover explains that the process with which a defendant goes through is in itself fairly violent (Cover 222). Sure, punishments bring justice to crimes. However, in terms of social change, the law is just offsetting its purpose. One could argue that by punishing criminals for violent crimes, is changing society. It is not changing society, it is just putting criminals in jail and ignoring the reasons they did what they did. Instead of attempting to prevent their crimes, our legal system just puts the criminals in jails. Michael McCann writes, "Legal relations, institutions, and norms tend to be double edged, at once, upholding the larger infrastructure of the status quo while providing many opportunities for episodic challenges and transformations in that ruling order. (McCann 502–22)" Robert Cover's argument can be applied to this because since legal punishments can often be counteractive, it provides, "many opportunities for episodic challenges...(McCann 502–22)"" Instead of fixing the deeper

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The Social Changes And Political Revolutions

To begin with, " The social changes and political revolutions are to be sought, not in men 's brains, not in man 's better insight into eternal truth and justice, but in changes in the modes of production and exchange" by Engels. Basically what Engels's means by that is the materialist formation of history starts from the scheme of the production and how exchanges of things are produced, and that is the basis of all social structure. Fundamentally, as in every society it has emerged in history and it still is happening that the manner in which wealth is distributed and how the society is divided into classes or estates is dependent upon what is produced, and how it is produce, and how the products are exchanged. And this is what that needs to be sorted out. Therefore, the mode of production is playing a big role in today's society and also as it did back in the days. Everything is dependent; one person is dependent on other in this society. Moreover, society is divided into two groups; one group is whom who are ruling over the other group by taking his/her rights; capitalism is playing its role. Moreover, changes in the productive forces are more powerful cause of revolution. In conclusion, Engels takes an historical materialist approach. He indicates that the capitalist mode of production is fundamentally contradictory and from this he traces a series of social and economic conflicts that follow inevitably from this basic contradiction by establishing Historical

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The Impact of the Social Changes of the Civil War

As the United States began to establish itself as a country, more and more problems began to surface within the nation. A perfect example of this would be the American Civil War, which significantly affected society. This brought about many changes within America such as women's rights movements and decisions regarding African American freedom. Also many of the problems are country had previously left unresolved were soon to be resolved too. The social changes of the American Civil Warand Reconstruction Era greatly affected the years that followed it as well. The American Civil War was different from many of the wars theUnited States had fought in at this time. Mostly this...show more content... They elected their own president, and eventually the Civil War as the United States knows it started. (Davis 143–145)

After about four years of fighting, the Civil War finally ended in about 1865. Although the Northern states won, there were many predicaments still unsettled. Even though Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves in the North, the Confederate States were still getting by with slavery. Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation of Proclamation had a dramatic impact on the lives of African American slaves throughout the United States.

As Frederick Douglass says in The Civil War: Opposing Viewpoints, "But read the proclamation for it is the most important of any to which the president of the United States has signed his name," (Dudley 181). Just by demanding that all slavery be abolished in certain areas, this considerably changed the ways of the African American people. With this new feeling of freedom, many African Americans began to fight for other rights to accompany this. (Dudley 180–183)

No longer having to provide slave work for whites, the African Americans began to become more knowledgeable about the privileges that they would be able to have. They began to fight for the right to vote and the right to land. Among fighting for specific civil liberties such as those, African Americans also fought for equality between both races. Without the drive of these forerunners in the fight for equality, many slaves would not have the

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Activism is taking actions or using policies to create social change and to raise awareness on issues affecting individuals and society. (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 157). Gender socialization; reproductive justice, abortion and birth; and family life are three issues that affect people through privilege and oppression. These issues have negative impacts on transgender people's access to public space, women of color reproductive self–determination and mothers. People have tried to address these issues by lobbying for changes in laws and protesting against repulsive polices.

Gender socialization teaches people throughout everyday life that there are only two genders associated with the binary system (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 28). Societal institutions shape an individual into his or her gender identity based on one's appearance and behaviors. Hence, a person who has masculine traits would be called a male, while a female would consider having feminine traits (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 31). Base on this theory, a person who does not consider themselves to be in "F" box and "M" box is not accepted in society. This issue affects every group in society when they have to conform to these narrow ideas about what gender is. Thus, it strict their freedom of being their own self. These narrow ideas affect especially transgender people who are against these binary options (Launius and Hassel, Threshold Concepts, 30). According to Jaimee

theory of social change

Marx 's focus on the process of social change is so central to this thinking that it informs all his writings. The motor force of history for Marx is not to be found in any extra–human agency, be it "providence" or the "objective spirit." Marx insisted that men make their own history. Human history is the process through which men change themselves even as they pit themselves against nature to dominate it. In the course of their history men increasingly transform nature to make it better serve their own purposes. And, in the process of transforming nature, they transform themselves.

In contrast to all animals who can only passively adjust to nature 's requirements by finding a niche in the ecological order...show more content... His writings on the regime of Napoleon III illustrate in masterful fashion a historical situation in which the forces of the old class order and of the new are so nearly balanced that neither is able to prevail, thus giving rise to a "Bonapartist" stalemate. Moreover, though throughout his life Marx held fast to the belief that the future belongs to the working class, which will lead the way to the emergence of a classless society, he was nevertheless willing to consider the possibility that the working class may not be equal to its "historical task" so that mankind would degenerate into a new kind of barbarism.

Marx conceived of four major successive modes of production in the history of mankind after the initial stage of primitive communism: the Asiatic, the ancient, the feudal, and the modern bourgeois form. Each of these came into existence through contradictions and antagonisms that had developed in the previous order. "No social order ever disappears before all the productive forces for which there is room in it have been developed; and new higher relations of production never appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society."

Class antagonisms specific to each particular mode of production

Social movements shed light to social issues present in communities and harvest social change in political, religious, educational, health, government, and other institutional matters. Social movements give individuals a clear outlet to concerns about the rights and well–being of themselves and others, mostly through public protest and conversation, in order to promote social justice and democracy. Throughout history, humans naturally ended up starting movements to simply improve their way of life and movements have continually aided in a remarkable change in communities. In the essay "From Civil Rights to Megachurches," Charles Duhigg explains the three critical steps that initiative successful social movements. Social movements must...show more content...

For example, one in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001 and today African Americans comprise of nearly "1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population" and are imprisoned at "six times the rate of whites" ("About the BLM Network"). If current trends continue and the population of the African Americans increase, "one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime" ("About the BLM Network"). This happens to be the very example of what led to the start of the BLM movement and the uproar of the black population. After 17–year–old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by murder George Zimmerman and was "posthumously placed on trial for his own murder," only for Zimmerman to be acquitted, #Blacklivesmatter was created in 2012 (King). Social media allowed participants to generate "new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership," especially when users could easily share the hashtag along with his or her own views and ideas in a tweet or an Instagram caption (Duhigg 87). This hashtag subsequently was formed into a protest and then ultimately a full–fledged movement: a movement uniting all black people to resist their dehumanization in America and creating a voice for its members through social media. BLM has

In my lifetime time, I have seen many social changes. The invention of the internet, the change in views on race, religion and the institution of marriage and many other changes too numerous to mention. There are three important processes that facilitate these changes, cultural processes (invention, discovery, and diffusion), social conflict, ideas, and demographic patterns. Along with social change, modernity has allowed our society to change. Modern societies are different from traditional societies and by looking at the theories of Tönnies, Durkheim, Weber, and Marx. we see some defining traits of modernity. Without social change our society would stagnate. Social change allows our society to grow. There are three important sources...show more content...

In industrial–capitalist societies, he maintained, the struggle between capitalists and workers pushes society toward a socialist system of production. Marx vision about social conп¬ ‚ict arising from inequality has proven to be correct and that it does create changes in every society. Without ideas, and men with dreams, there would be no innovation and little social change. Max Weber believed that most social change came from ideas. For example, it takes just one man with a charismatic message to inspire and change the world. Weber (1958, orig. 1904–l905) also high–lighted the importance of ideas by revealing how the religious beliefs" of early Protestants set the stage for the spread of industrial capitalism. Ideas unite people in a common goal allowing social change to take place, such as creating a new neighborhood watch program or protesting wall street for more income equality. As populations grow and change, demographic patterns play a part in social change. Some patterns include change in household size, women having fewer children, the age of the population, and the migration from one place to another. In America, households have been shrinking over the last century and family size is about half of what it used to be. Also, women are deciding to have fewer children, and more people are living alone. Our population is steadily growing older by the year 2035, seniors will account for 20 percent of the total and their numbers will

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Social Media And Social Change

As technology develops rapidly in the modern society, the broad social influence it brings is also widely discussed, especially about its effects on social change. In the past, social movements were raised without the help of technology, specifically without social media, whereas social media has recently played a non–ignorable role. The connection between social media and social activisms concerned, here come some different voices. Few people maintain that social media now has no practical influence on social change, while others hold the opposite view, thinking social media is already a crucial factor in it. Personally speaking, I agree with the second kind of view: it is true that social media is not able to create social movements by itself in today's world, but it plays an important and essential part in making real social change. Some, including Malcolm Gladwell, a famous Canadian journalist, uphold a negative view that social media is not capable to make real social activisms. In the article, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, Gladwell states, "the platforms of social media are built around weak ties," (Gladwell 406) whereas high–risk activisms in the past concern more of the strong ties. In other words, Malcolm believes that closed relationships are critically required for the activisms while social media only provides distant connections among acquaintances. Therefore, weak ties offered by social media, "seldom lead to high–risk activism"

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