 Dear students, in this module, we are going to talk about the change and social crisis in societies. Social crisis refers to a period of instability or conflict within a society, often resulting from a leading to drastic social or political change. This crisis can arise due to various factors including economic downturns, political instability, natural disasters, or widespread social discontent. Any situation that creates distress or discomfort in society is a crisis situation and this is why in societies, instability or sometimes conflicting situations arise. So although social crisis is a social change, they are considered to be negative social change. Similarly, societies adopt different mechanisms to deal with that crisis, so we are going to try to understand that what kind of mechanisms are available to deal with such kinds of or different kinds of crisis in the societies. For example, the Arab Spring, a series of protests and uprising that started in Tunisia and then spread across the Arab world and due to the rise of political scenarios early in 2010, was a significant social crisis leading to massive political and social change in the Arab world. So societal crisis often expose underlying social inequalities and disparities leading to social change as societies are forced to confront and address these social issues. For example, we have seen that during the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic that exposed and exacerbated the pre-existing inequalities around the globe. During COVID-19, these inequalities came to the fore in such a way that the ease of treatment was different for the rich and the poor. Those who could afford access to those facilities were available and unfortunately those who could not afford access to those facilities were not available to them. So this kind of crisis was caused by the inherent inequalities of the rich and the poor in the society that led to the rise of the crisis. So the crisis can also accelerate the social change as societies adapt and respond to new changes. This could be the form of changes in policies, behaviours or different social norms. For example, 2005 earthquake in Pakistan led to significant changes in the country's disaster management policies and infrastructures as well as the greater emphasis on the community resilience. So the 2005 earthquake was a wake-up call for us because the areas of rapid response were not available in that way. So the consequences of those after-effects were very devastating and very dire. And because of this, the government's policies made a major shift in how we can quickly respond to the crisis situation and we can quickly mobilize the different areas so that people can help. However, not all the social changes resulting from the crisis is positive. Crisis can also lead to negative social changes such as increased social tension, conflict and regression in social progress. For example, the Syrian civil war crisis sparked by political and social unrest has led to the severe humanitarian issues including mass displacement and violations of different human rights. Lastly, the manner in which societies respond to and recover from the crisis can shape the direction and extend to social change. The effectiveness of institutions, the availability of resources and the resilience of communities all play a significant role in this process. For example, New Zealand's successful response in Christchurch earthquake in 2011 driven by effective governance and community resilience has led to a positive social change including movements to urban planning and disaster preparedness. So these societies, they learn from their past experience and they prepare themselves for the future for such kind of disasters.