 Dear students, in this module we are going to discuss contemporary perspectives on social change. Contemporary perspectives on social change underscores the complex and multifaceted nature of change in today's globalized world. It acknowledges that the multiple factors including technological advancements, cultural shifts and environmental changes contribute to social change. Let us try to understand it with an example. The rise of digital technology in Pakistan, for example, has significantly altered the social interactions, business operations and even our modern political lifestyle. The rise of social media campaigns and digital startups reflects this change. When we talk about different contemporary perspectives, one of the important aspects to understand is that it has become very complex and there are so many multiple aspects through which these social changes are occurring in the societies. For example, in today's world, there are so many globalized aspects which are directly or indirectly affecting the even to the remote societies of the world. So contemporary sociologists often employ a systems approach viewing the society as an interconnected whole. The changes in one aspect of the system can lead to the changes in another part of the system as well. For example, the introduction of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or what we call the CPAC has brought infrastructural changes which has affected multiple sectors such as employment, urban development and international relations for us. So contemporary perspective is also marked by the incorporation of new areas of study such as globalization, digital society and environmental sociology which are traditionally outside the scope of sociology. However, they are pretty much interrelated to this discipline. For example, environmental crisis in the form of increasing air pollution in Pakistan, particularly in Lahore and Karachi which is forcing different societal changes with people adapting their lifestyle and government considering the environmental policies to be implemented so that these pollution, smoke and smoke problems could be tackled. In line with the Anthony Giddens Structuration Theory, the contemporary perspective considers both the agency of individuals and the influence of social structures in shaping the social change. For example, in Pakistan individual efforts like philanthropic initiatives by citizens interact with the larger social structures such as government policies in shaping the societal changes like improving the success to education. So we are seeing and observing around us that how these social changes are occurring. However, being a sociologist you need to have a very systematic approach through which you could be able to understand those precise aspects through which these changes are occurring in different societies. So contemporary perspective also acknowledges that the social changes can both be progressive as well as regressive meaning that society may either evolve or devolve not necessarily implying the improvement but they can also have the downfall as well. For example, in Pakistan it has made the progress in the areas like digital infrastructure. There are concerns however about the regressive changes such as the dismal state of agriculture in Pakistan as well as the increasing digital censorship. So as you can see that we are observing around us more and more housing societies are being constructed on the digital on the agricultural lands for example and these agricultural lands were once fertile and were the source of food production for us. Unfortunately as we are watching the food is becoming more and more expensive however we are compromising on this only because we are producing more and more housing societies for us.