Barriers to Rural Social Change
In every society, where many conditions encourage change, some such opposing forces or obstacles are also active which keep creating obstacles in change. We call these barriers ‘barriers of change’. The process of change in a society cannot be understood unless these barriers are understood.
One of the main points in this regard is that the barriers to change are not of the same nature in all societies. They are related to a large extent with socio-cultural values.
and at different levels of economic development. Due to these conditions being different in different societies, the barriers to change there may also be different from each other.
That many factors are responsible for creating hindrance in rural social change. It is true that a particular factor may appear to be more effective in a particular situation or period, but each factor can prove to be an effective barrier to change only in the proximity of the other. That is what should be seen. The second fact is that the effect of the factors obstructing the path of various changes can also be different from each other. From this point of view, the various factors responsible for the inhibition of change, can be assessed realistically only by looking at the micro-level and macro-level.
The second fact is that any barrier to change is not a permanent feature of any society, but due to change in circumstances, the nature of these barriers also varies. It is possible that in the early stage of development, the traditions and religious beliefs of the society hinder the change, whereas after the economic development of the society, various types of technology interests start hindering the change.
The barriers to change may be different from each other even in industrialized and agricultural countries. From this point of view it is necessary to try to understand the nature of all the barriers to change which operate differently in different rural societies. Among these barriers, social, cultural and psychological barriers are the most important, which can be understood as the following:
SOCIAL BARRIERS
Class Conflict: The greater the possibility of class conflict in a society, the more obstacles arise in the way of change. Although many thinkers believe that conflicts between different classes encourage change, but such ideas are not very practical. The reality is that when the society is divided into many classes on social, economic or political basis and the process of conflict and struggle starts between them, then the life of each class is practically confined to its own class.
Class division gives rise to such a class-consciousness, under which a person does not see any change keeping in mind the interest of the whole society or community, but only from the point of view of the interests of his class. As a result, there is opposition to every such change which is not in the interest of a particular class. If any change takes place in the interest of one class, then it is natural that the other class starts considering it as against their interests. The result is that every change must be resisted by some class or the other.
Ascribed Statuses – The social barrier to rural change is also the social structure based on ascribed statuses. The ascribed statuses are those which a person gets himself according to the rules of the society, the person does not earn them according to his skill and ability.
Such situations are characteristic of a closed social system. For example, in rural India, the rules of caste decide how much prestige a person will get in the society, what occupation he will do, in which groups he will be allowed to establish marital relations and with whom he will establish social relations. . It means that being given all the major social statuses, the individual does not have the freedom to accept any particular change at will. If a person accepts a particular change by breaking the rules of caste, then he starts being opposed in the society.
This is the reason that many such changes could not be accepted in our society which, despite being useful, are against the caste rules. Even if an attempt is made to make the change effective with some special efforts, then the given conditions definitely generate some opposition.
Interest Oriented Leadership In the present era, leadership is not only a major medium of change, but the nature of leadership also affects the acceptance or rejection of social change to a great extent. Societies where leadership is progressive and gives priority to group welfare, there is more potential for change. Conversely, benevolent leadership proves to be an important barrier to change. Leadership whether social or political, the personal interests of the leaders are more protected than the maintenance of traditional values. Crutch and Crutchfield
It has been written that “interest-oriented leadership shuts down the mind of the people, makes their conscience loose and tries to prove the usefulness of those modes of behaviour.” approved by tradition.
“The reality is that interest-oriented leadership does not want to risk its position by adopting innovation. As a result, individuals are deprived of adopting many useful changes.
Social Isolation – Social isolation is an important element of rural change.
There is a physical barrier. If a community is very small in size, leads a separate life from the rest of the society, due to lack of facilities of change and communication, it gets very few opportunities to come in contact with other communities, then it is natural that new ideas in such community And the opportunities for adopting new technologies will be very less. As a result of this, conservatism will be encouraged and every change will become a hindrance. In such a community, religious beliefs gradually become so dominant that they themselves discourage change. Apart from this, due to lack of specialization, accumulation of knowledge and mobility in an isolated community, change is not encouraged.
Higher Dependence on the Group The social structure of the Paman society is such that the dependence of the individual on his group increases greatly. These groups may be in the form of a kinship group, gotra or local. The kinship group itself is of such a nature that it does not permit any action which is contrary to tradition.
Similarly, the gotra-group tries to control the change by giving importance to a particular family tradition. Local level groups create obstacles in change to fulfill their own interests, or because of mutual conflicts. Among the various groups related to social structure, those individuals who are considered superior to others in age, wealth or system of stratification have got the most rights. The interests of all such individuals can be protected only when change in society is encouraged at least. Thus, different types of social groups always try to create barriers to change. Of
Familism is a condition in which the welfare of the family is given utmost importance by considering the interests of individual members as secondary. In this regard, Sorokin, Zimmerman and Galpin have written that “Familiarity is a condition in which all social institutions and basic social relations are built according to family characteristics and according to them individual activities are determined.” It is clear that if If all the behavior of a person is determined on the basis of family norms, then there is no incentive for change.
Generally, in the family system of traditional societies, the head has so much authority that it is very difficult to adopt any new way of behavior without his permission. The head of the family considers only those behaviors as ideal which have been propounded by his ancestors. In rural society today, many useful changes related to marriage, property, untouchability, food habits and technology could not become more effective because they were widely opposed by the joint family system here.
Dominance of Factions – In a society, when the groups formed on different grounds have special importance in the social structure, then these groups start creating obstacles in social change. If we take the example of rural society, then it is clear that the process of group formation on the basis of kinship, caste, gotra, lineage and local authority is becoming more and more effective. As a result, the attitude of the individual and the decision of acceptance of a particular change becomes dependent on a particular group. It is natural that if any change is considered inappropriate by the members of the group related to the person’s lineage, gotra, caste and kinship, then the person is not able to accept that change even after considering it appropriate. Different factions oppose all such changes which are against their interests. Generally, the practices and beliefs of groups are based on tradition and they play a more effective role in dividing a community than in organizing it. This condition itself proves to be a major obstacle in the path of change. At present in villages on political basis
Many factions of the people also continue to oppose the progressive ideas so that their political dominance remains.
Institutional Values - Different institutions of every society set some such criteria on the basis of which we evaluate the good and bad of something. These norms are called ‘social values’. For example, caste, religion, family, marriage and property are some of the major institutions and each of these institutions expects a person to behave in a particular way according to many values. Since every institution has a cultural history, it considers it necessary to follow the same norms of behavior according to which individuals have been behaving since long ago. This is the reason that institutional values neither allow any change nor want to give respectable position in the society to those persons who are supporters of change. This creates a major obstacle in the way of change.
Traditionalism – This is a special situation in which the observance of traditions is seen not only as religiosity but also as maintaining traditions.
The individual understands his social and moral responsibility. That
In any society, there is a strong belief in traditionalism or traditions, where this condition proves to be a major obstacle to change. Traditionalism makes people believe that breaking the traditions started by their ancestors is an insult to the ancestors. Generally no person wants to insult his ancestors, so he is afraid to accept change by breaking the traditions. In societies that are traditional, individual liberty is generally not of much importance. This condition also creates obstacles in change. Faith in traditions also assures that every tradition is the result of long experiences and breaking tradition and accepting change can be fatal not only for the group but also for the individual.
Ethnocentrism – This is a feeling under which a person believes that his religion, race, culture and beliefs are superior to all other human groups. When the feeling of racial superiority becomes very strong, then a particular group becomes completely isolated from all other human groups. Due to the feeling of caste superiority, he not only considers it as humiliating to accept the ideas, inventions and modes of behavior developed in another group, but also tries to prove the disadvantages arising from them in various ways. As a result, the people of such a society are deprived of many useful changes.
Tendency of other Worldliness is such a cultural tendency according to which every thing in the physical world is tried to be connected with the transcendental world. It is this tendency which is an important barrier to change. The reality is that if all the features of this world and new ways of behavior are discussed from a scientific point of view, then by understanding their advantages and disadvantages, we can easily decide whether to accept them or not. On the contrary, when we start explaining everything in the world, every event and every innovation in the religious context, then our point of view becomes unbiased and thus the path of change is blocked.
As a result of the tendency towards altruism, not only does the motivation to invent and do any work with confidence disappear, but we also start to see the observance of traditions as the only duty. Due to the effect of this tendency, not only the manner of behavior, but also the principle of principle, it starts getting affected by the spirit of the hereafter. In this situation, the innovators and those who accept change do not get any reward in the society, but they get criticized and disdain.
Cultural Conflict – It is true that in many situations, a favorable environment for change is also created as a result of cultural conflict, but in most cases, cultural conflict proved to be an obstacle to change. Cultural conflict is mainly seen in two forms. – One in which different cultural groups living away from each other are in the process of mutual conflict and the other form is that in which the process of conflict starts due to coming and living in a society by some outside group having different cultural characteristics.
In both these cases, different groups start looking at each other with distrust and accepting each other’s ideas and modes of action as against their caste superiority.
It is this situation that begins to discourage change. The truth is that in societies where there are more cultural conflicts, the greater the tendency to keep the group self-centred.
Antiagonsti Propaganda In the present time, the role of propaganda is very important in making the mentality of the person in favor or against any fact. Through various means of publicity, such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines and newspapers, the general public is attracted towards an innovation or opposing views are encouraged against it.
In the present era, propaganda is not always constructive, but keeping in mind their interests, various interest groups try to do such propaganda, so that changes that hinder their interests can be stopped. Generally, propaganda is made against the development programs implemented by the ruling party so that the ruling party can be maligned and the opposition parties can take advantage of this situation. Similarly, different producers also campaign against many changes so that the goods produced by them are accepted. This means that many changes do not become effective due to opposing propaganda.
Conservative Morality – Morality refers to the totality of all those rules that give a sense of right and wrong. In this sense, morality is not a barrier to change, but when morality becomes conservative, it becomes a major barrier to change. In other words, it can be said that when the relation of morality is no longer with justice, fraternity, duty and purity, but the meaning of morality is understood only with the fulfillment of religious activities and observance of traditions.
If so, then the morality becomes conservative and it starts resisting any change. For example, as morality became conservative in rural society, most of the people came to believe that it is an immoral act to remarry widowed women or move ahead in the field of earning a livelihood for women.
As a result of this, obstacles were created in the way of many such changes, with the help of which the condition of women could be greatly improved. Similarly, many useful changes could not be achieved in the field of nutritious food and use of fertilizers as a result of orthodox morality. This implies that there is a conflicting relationship between conservative ethics and new technology.
It is true that technology is tangible and its usefulness can be understood at any time but people who are not directly familiar with new technology do not want any kind of change in it. Such persons oppose every technological change in the name of cultural stability. Perhaps this is the reason why societies which have a very long cultural history (as in India and Egypt etc.) have more loyalty to the past and thus society is deprived of many important changes.
Religious Beliefs – Religious beliefs are a major part of culture and most religious beliefs hinder rural change. Religious beliefs are not based on logic on the one hand, and on the other hand, their usefulness or harm cannot be assessed neutrally because of their relation to the transcendental life. Religious beliefs continue to get power from the religious texts that individuals consider sacred. Most religious beliefs encourage one to accept traditional practices and act according to them. Before these beliefs, the place of divine grace and luck is far more important than personal ability and labor. It is natural that when religious beliefs become strong in the society, then the person is not only afraid of accepting the change but also starts considering the change as irreligious. For example, family planning innovations have been strongly opposed in rural areas of India, and mainly in the Muslim community, because they contradict their religious belief that “children are the result of God’s grace.”
One – siile Prejudices – A common characteristic of human beings is that they are prone to many prejudices in life. Prejudice means to develop a particular notion about a feature or fact without looking at its good or bad. When such prejudices become associated with a particular caste, religion, region, language, political party or race, then it starts proving to be a major obstacle in change.
Prejudices demand from the individual that he should give primacy to his own group, caste, religion or region in every situation and to oppose every such behavior and innovation which belongs to another group. It is because of these one-sided prejudices that we oppose every political ideology that is different from the ideology of our political party, each despise a belief that is different from our caste and religious beliefs, and each accepts that change. There is a fear of having an adverse effect on our region or language. Be it any kind of prejudice, it narrows the outlook of the individual and makes him anti-change. From
Anti Change Mentality The mentality of a person is a special psychological fact which is formed in a particular way of thinking. When the mentality of a person becomes anti-change due to the absence of various conditions, then any useful change is seen with suspicion. Generally, cultural heritage also plays an important role in the formation of the mentality of a group, but generally this mindset is related to the experiences of the past and the views of the general public. Even today in the villages a section will be found which opposes every progressive change and looks at every change with suspicion.
Ignorance – Ignorance is also an important barrier to change in the present age. Ignorance does not always mean illiteracy, but we call ignorance the condition of being unfamiliar with new ways of behavior and technology.
Ignorance is also a psychological condition that believes in the status quo and is opposed to the change of any cause. Due to ignorance, people not only remain unfamiliar with new ideas and new programs, but they also do not try to get their knowledge. The changes that were made in the field of agriculture and social welfare in India could not become effective due to the ignorance of the common man to a large extent. Thus ignorance hinders change by reducing public participation.
Cold War – An important feature of the present era is the continuous increase in cold war rather than direct conflict between different regions. It is a condition in which domination over another is not established by power directly.
Rather, attempts are made to weaken the morale of the other group by making various types of allegations, false propaganda and obstructing development programmes. This means that due to the Cold War, the mentality of the people of a society can become so faulty that they look at any useful change with suspicion.
When the development of agriculture started very fast in some countries of Asia, some countries exporting food grains to these countries started spreading such misleading propaganda that “the use of chemical fertilizers leads to shortage of nutritious elements in food” or That “it destroys the fertility of the land.” As a result, many superstitious farmers stopped using fertilizers and only after extensive efforts their faith in these fertilizers could be restored. It is clear from this that today the cold war going on between different countries is also proving to be a major obstacle to change.
Delayed Results – Every person tries to see the result of a new behavior or action as soon as possible. If results are delayed, such changes are often considered unhelpful. In societies where individuals have good educational and economic conditions, there is no rush to see the results of change. In contrast, in less educated and economically backward societies, the attitude of the people is not so prudent as to patiently wait for the outcome of the change. In this situation also the rate of change becomes very less.
Lower Level of Ambitions – Sachchidananda has clarified on the basis of his study that the level of ambitions of individuals in a society or group determines the extent to which they will accept change. There is a common saying that “an arrow shot aimed at a tree travels a greater distance than an arrow aimed at the sky.” So there is very little chance of change there. Conversely, in a community where education, industrialization, and urbanization have more people due to their “higher mobility”, they can move forward by accepting innovations. The reality is that low levels of ambition are not the only hindrance to change. It is itself the result of a stable society.
Vested Interests The most prominent psychological resistance to change is the vested interests of certain individuals or groups. b. J. Stern (B. J. Sten) has mentioned a number of situations in which various classes of persons, due to vested interests, resist many important innovations. Such resistors can be used in three areas-
(a) Barriers determined by Bureaucratic Inferests – Many people in the society consider the traditional system necessary for their prestige and hence they resist many efficient methods of work. On the one hand, government officials oppose many efficient and economical changes because by not doing so, they may either be deprived of their old rights or they may have to work more than before.
(b) Barriers determined by economic interests – Many people oppose new techniques or new ideas so that there can be no reduction in their benefits. For example, the productive class resists new inventions so that they do not render the old machines unusable. Ordinary traders oppose labor laws because it may harm their monopoly.
Barriers determined by Cultural Interests Under this, we include those barriers which arise due to the leaders of a society or some particular traditions or moral principles. Now as a result of some new technology or innovation, a particular class sees its religious or social authority in danger, then it is natural that it starts opposing them in the name of piety, morality and principle. The reality is that whatever may be the interests of different sections, it affects the mindset of a large section of the rural society and creates obstacles in the change.