Social change is a phenomena of our times. Although such change has occurred throughout biological and human history, we believe that we are subject to more and faster change than any previous civilization. The speed and ubiquity of change in the 20th century has made it a household world, something everyone must contend with. This course is devoted to understanding why such change occurs and, with that understanding, forecast its likely outcome in the long-term future. Social change is the flip side of social stability.
Societies continue for centuries even millennia with recognizable identities.
The study of social stability used to be called social statics and is now called social structure. They do not last forever. These questions are the subject of this course. Change in the physical sciences has one and only one explanation at any one time. The motion of bodies, whether are galaxies or electrons, are governed by laws that we understand and can use for prediction.