Social Process And Social Development Theory Paper Research Proposal Example

Social process and social development theory paper looks at the historical development of the society. The paper takes different views of different authors who try to explain the various theories of social development. The society developed through a series of events triggered by various human activities. The relevance of the paper is to show people how the society developed and where it is heading. Morals of the today world are changing, the paper gives the readers an opportunity to reflect on past events and ensure that they are heading towards the right direction.

Introduction

Social development theory tries to explain the changes in the structure and the framework of a society. The changes are in qualitative form and are very crucial to the growth of the community. The changes help the society realize its aims and objective thus they guide the thinking of the society in general. Community development is the upward movement of historical events in the community. It includes changes in energy levels, efficiency in the organization, enjoyment of the people making up the society and finally the accomplishment the society has made through time (George & Bennett, 2005).
For development to occur there must be forces or factors that trigger the development of the society. Increasing awareness in the society leads to a better organization whereby the community develops new forms to exploit. Change does not occur randomly; there must be a motive. A motive acts as the driver for social change. Of course, there must be obstacles but for the motive to be able to make the change occur it must be strong enough to overcome any hurdles that come its way.
There are also basic requirements for development to occur. Capital, technology and supporting infrastructure must be present for development to occur efficiently. In short development is the result of the society’s capacity to organize resources to meet challenges with whatever magnitude and opportunities as they present themselves.
A society develops over centuries; the community records events in its heart. It accumulates experiences and learns from them. Unconsciously development occurs. Such are events that people indulge in without foreseeing the end results. Knowledge is acquired at a later stage after the people have carried out activities that they know not what the requirements of success are.
In human development things do not just occur out of the blue. Initially at the first stage of development there is usually some resistance. Then in comes the role of a pioneer, a pioneer is an individual who is first to enter any field of inquiry or progress, they prepare the way before others follow. They come up with new ideas as to the way the society can progress and address the society to assimilate to the new ideas. Before the new ideas can become a way of life in the society, they pass through three different stages.
The first phase is the social preparedness followed by an initiative of pioneers and the last stage being assimilation of the new idea by the society. The role of pioneer should be as vital as they act as conscious minds for the society. The rest of the society depends on the pioneer’s experience. Development of the society has three different stages: physical, vital and mental. Features of the physical stage include domination of physical elements of human personality. At this stage, traditional values are strictly followed, and there is no room for change. The society is occupied by subsistence as it thrives to survive. The stage is characterized by ruling from military chiefs and feudal lords. Commerce and money have no role at this particular staged as innovation is discouraged the mind of the society is trapped by tradition.
The second stage is the vital stage. Dynamism and change infuse the second stage. There is a shift in interactions; people start interacting socially among themselves rather than the environment as it is in the physical stage. The society becomes curious about the things around them it becomes aware and innovation hits in, the society becomes adventurous. Commerce takes over from agriculture at this stage; money replaces land as the most productive resource. Demand for education rises as the nation yearns to learn new ideas.
The final stage of social development is the mental stage. Here there are three features that characterize the stage: practical, social and political application of the mind. The political use of the mind teaches the society to exercise their freedom to choose who is to lead them. The application gives the people the chance to learn about their rights. The Social use of the mind brings into light new types of social organization, and it is this stage that is very crucial to the development of the society. And then there is the practical application of the mind generates innovations.
And then there is the social process theory. The Social theory views criminal activities as a function of the relationship that exists between people from different organizational structures, institutions and processes in the society. Everyone has the same percentage of the possibility of entering the criminal world if they maintain social relationships that are destructive. A Social process theory has three main branches: social learning theory, social control theory and labeling theory. The social learning theory puts forward that just as people learn conventional behavior they also learn criminal behavior.
Formulated by Sutherland, differential association theory holds that criminal activities are end results of people perceiving excess definitions in favor of crime rather than those definitions that uphold conventional behaviors. In additions to the already existing theories, the differential associations through psychological learning theory has gone through an upgrade and given rise to the differential reinforcement theory. Akers developed the method. Another approach that tries to find the reason for why people get involved in criminal activities is the neutralization theory. The neutralization theory indicates that young people learn behavior rationalizations that enable them overcome the values of the society and break the laws that are meant to govern them.
All people have the potential to become criminal, but their bonds to conventional society prevent them from violating the law. The control theory explains the concept above. The containment theory is another one of the social process theories; Reckless advocates the theory. The theory suggests that a person’s self-concept aids the person to commit themselves to conventional actions. Social bonds, as described by Hirschi, are elements containing belief, commitment, attachment, and involvement. The young it is believed act in an anti-social manner because of the weak elements present in them.
Some people believe that an individual negatively labeled by another person who is significant in their lives affect their actions and behaviors and thus get into acts of crime. The social recreation theory explains the effect of negatively labeling others. The social process considers criminal behavior as a human behavior that people learn through social interactions. Social development theories assume that criminal behavior is part of the process people undergo when maturing (George & Bennett, 2005).
In the playlist containing several videos related to criminal activities, for this social process and social development theory paper in details I will cover the first video. The video is mainly talking about causes of human trafficking. The video includes both the two approaches that are social structure theory and the social process and social development theory. Human trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual or commercial sexual exploitation of the trafficker or others. Human trafficking is the trade in people, and it can be within the borders of a country or it can take another form where people move from one state to another. The act is a violation of human rights.
In most cases, human traffickers prefer women and children. However, the most vulnerable people in society are the biggest targets. For instance, human traffickers target people from poor backgrounds by offering money and the opportunity for employment. Victims of human trafficking are the vulnerable individual who most of the times have no one to fight for them. Human trafficking can take the form of violence where using force predators take the victims or other time the victims are unaware of what is happening. Predators lure them with presents. With the hope of better lives, people turn to trading themselves.
Human trafficking is most prevalent in the developing worlds. These are individual who have lived in poverty and anything that can bring food to the table is more than welcomed. Illiteracy is the other factor that boosts human trafficking. Children do not attend any school, when they come of age in the today world there is nothing they can offer in the job market. Unemployment is next online. Human traffickers target the unemployed population giving the hope of jobs in other countries. The government is to blame for this illegal act. Social development theory tries to explain the changes in the structure and the framework of a society.
In the old days human trafficking never existed but as the organization grows, and new ideas come to the society changes. In the development stages, commerce replaces agriculture and money replaces land. When the two combine they become crucial tools that if not well balance can be very destructive. Change requires a motive and money. In this case, the cause is the greed for power (Moscovici, Jovchelovitch & Wagoner, 2013). The idea comes in, one can traffic other fellow being and make money. The first one to try out the idea acts as the pioneer, at first stages the ideas is not well accommodated into the society because people are scared. The when they see that it can work, and they can benefit they start to imitate the actions of the pioneer.
The main forces behind human trafficking are the social processes the society. The people that we relate with on daily basis influence our actions directly or indirectly. Social learning theory puts emphasis on people learning how to commit crimes. When we grow up the things, we are taught stick in our heads and the form the basis of our thinking. Just gives birth to a child the first language they speak is their mother tongue, this is because that’s what their teachers teach them in school, and that’s what gets into their heads. When they can speak the words, they utter are those they hear every day (Moscovici, Jovchelovitch & Wagoner, 2013).
The same happens in the society if a young person is brought up in an environment that is full of criminal activities the chances of such people indulging in illegal activities are very high. As they grow they learn new ways of bettering themselves, this is well explained in the social development theory whereas people grow and change in they start learning new ideas and become innovative. Criminals learn new ways of carrying out their acts without being caught. It would be a learning process if one act of crime led to one of them being caught then the rest will fight another way of going undetected.
Social reaction or labeling theory holds that criminality is promoted by being given negative labels by significant others. Hirschi describes the social bond as that which contains elements of belief, commitment, attachment, and involvement, and weakened relationships allow young people, in particular, to behave anti-socially. When the two theories of social process combine only the truth can be found that the youth is weak (Thwaites, Mathers & Simkins, 2013). When the young are in school, they learn a lot. In the learning patterns, a student is affected by the comments the teacher gives them. If a student performs well, then they are awarded but the challenges come when a student has performed poorly. Negative comments have a negative influence on the students. Like in the story of the cipher the comments the teachers from third grade affected the student throughout his learning process.
Labeling has a significant impact on those with weak minds. Call a student a criminal instead of correcting them and that will be the path their follow. They become discouraged and de-motivated and thus more often drop out of school. Such are the people who join gangs becomes their teachers did not appreciate them in schools. Social control theory analyzes the failure of the society to control criminal tendencies. Parents are supposed to act as role models but in the today world most just sit and watch. Criminals are getting better each day and evading the law all the time (Moscovici, Jovchelovitch & Wagoner, 2013). Law enforcers are giving up in their pursuit, and more devastating is the factor that some of the law enforcers are also taking part in the criminal activities.
As much as social change is a positive thing but the society is heading in a wrong direction. There are enormous consequences that come with social change; increase in crime is first on the list. People have lost the value of each other, and now everyone is thriving to better themselves. People have become more aggressive and only put their interests ahead. Child labor, sexual exploitation, murder have all become part of our day to day lives. Let us embrace change but use it as a tool for collective benefits. If we stick together and act as a team, then change will only bring positive results to us (George & Bennett, 2005).

References

George, A. L., & Bennett, A. (2005). Case studies and theory development in the social sciences. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: MIT Press.
Moscovici, S., Jovchelovitch, S. & Wagoner, B. (2013). Development as a Social Process: Contributions of Gerard Duveen. New York: Routledge.
Thwaites, K., Mathers, A & Simkins, I. (2013). Socially Restorative Urbanism: The theory, process and practice of Experiemics. New York: Taylor & Francis.