 Dear learners, we have already learnt about the concept of social change and the characteristics of social change. Let us now move to the second part of today's discussion. Here we will be basically discussing the process and nature of social change and the forms of social change. So let us first begin with the process and nature of social change. So dear learners, there are different perspectives on social change. We all know that in sociology there are mainly two macro-dominant perspectives. One is the conflict and the other one is the functionalist perspective. In both these perspectives they observe or they examine or they understand social change from different point of views. The conflict perspective, as we all know, they understand, they analyse the society from the point of view of conflict. And these societies, these perspectives, the conflict perspective, for the conflict theorists, the conflict is a social reality. And for them they see, they are of the view that conflict is present in all societies and conflict is constant. It is a social reality which brings social change. There is constant conflict between people, between groups, between communities, between societies which leads to what? It leads to social change. We all know that the conflict theorists, they examine or they analyse society from the point of view of the antagonisms, from the point of view of the rift that takes place between institutions, between groups, between societies, between people, so on and so forth. And when they talk about social change, for them it is conflict which leads to social change in society. For them when there is conflict between two groups, it leads to social change. For example, when there is a conflict between an employer and a trade union, the trade unions may be demanding certain things, they may have certain demands and they may be protest, they may be strike, they may be in conflict with the employers and gradually what happens they sit for negotiation. And through negotiation, they try to get what they want or they try to acquire, they try to achieve or they try to fulfil their aspirations. That might lead to changes, that might lead to a new situation. For example, they are finding certain kind of difficulties in their workplace and they are completely protesting, they are fighting for it, they are demanding that these kind of situations may be changed. And then there is a conflict with the authority, with the employers. And this conflict may not last for long, they may come for a negotiation for the functioning of the office, there has to be negotiation. And through negotiation, things may turn out to be better, the situations may improve. So what is this, when situation is improving, when situation is changing from what it was previously, this is social change. Similarly, there may be conflict between two groups, there may be conflict between individuals, two societies and situations may change and that would lead to a social change. So that is how the conflict theorists understand social change. For them it is conflict which brings changes in society. For them it is antagonisms, for them it is rifts between institutions, between people, between groups that brings in social change. So after understanding the conflict theory, let us now move on to the functionalist understanding of social change. As we have already discussed in our discussion regarding the characteristics of social change, the functionalist theorist understands society as a whole comprising of different parts and each parts are interrelated to each other and they are also interdependent and therefore change in one part of the society brings changes in the other parts. So for the functionalist, since society is a composite whole comprising of different parts, the change in one particular respect, in one particular part brings changes in the other parts and then there are the neo-functionalist who are of the view that the strains and tensions within a system can cause social change. For example, from what they have said is that there are strains, there are tensions within a system, within a society and that leads to social change. There are other thinkers, there are other social thinkers who sees social change from the perspective of innovation, intervention, creativity so on and so forth and according to them it is the new innovations, it is the creative thinking, it is the creative mind, the discovering mind of human beings, the curious mind of human beings who are constantly at work, who come up with new innovations, new technology which brings social change. So we have different perspectives, we have different viewpoints regarding social change. While some thinkers like the conflict theorists talk about social change from the perspective of conflict, they see social change as an outcome of conflict. There are the functionalists who sees social change as an alteration which is brought to the society by one institution or by more than one institution and simultaneously leads to change in the whole society. The neo-functionalist according to them the strains, the tensions in society brings social change. And there are also other social thinkers who sees social change as being brought by new new innovations, new inventions, new thinking that brings social change. So there are different understandings regarding the nature and the process of social change. One brings social change, how social change takes place, there are different views and understandings and out of this the conflict and the functionalists are the most important ones. So there are different viewpoints regarding the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory. So there are different views on the concept of conflict theory and functionalist theory.