Coursework 1

Coursework

The Enlightenment and social change

“The Enlightenment” is an intellectual movement which is usually connected with the periods of eighteenth century, however, the roots of this movement can be traced back much further than that. The Enlightenment is one of those historical movements which in fact named itself. In the recent times of history, this movement is mostly viewed as a historical change in which countless number of thinkers obsessed with numerous reasons about how a perfect society could be built on the foundations of tolerance and common sense. Moreover, most of the people assumed that these foundations were the fantasy which had collapsed the Romanticism and the Terror of the French Revolution. In addition, Marxists proclaimed this movement for promoting the power and ideals of the bourgeoisie at the cost of the working classes, religious thinkers denounced the Enlightenment dead, post-structuralists rejected the entire concept behind this rational thought, and critics of postcolonial period rejected the idealization of particularly European viewpoints as universal truths (public.wsu.edu).

The Enlightenment movement began in Europe after the end of the Thirty Years Wars of Religions. During this movement, a dramatic flourishing of the mercantile skills and arts developed throughout the Europe. This time in history is also known as “The Renaissance”, and most of the arts came to be demonstrated in the churches and courts of the empire.

Social change, on the other hand, is usually referred as an alteration in the social order of the society. The term is referred to the notion of socio-cultural evolution or social progress. The concept may also consider as an exemplary change in the socio-economic structure of the society that might result from a change in the form of society such as a shift from feudalism towards capitalism (public.wsu.edu).

One can also understand the term of social change in the context of social revolution, for instance the Socialist revolution that was presented during Marxism, or the Civil rights movement, or the movement of Woman's suffrage. Moreover, this type of change in the society may be driven by religious, cultural, scientific, economic, or technological forces. However, in general terms, social changes normally include changes in social relations, nature, social behaviors, or social institutions. In addition to this, sociologists have also used models related to social change from other fields of academics throughout their discipline's historical development. However, during the late nineteenth century, major ideas of social change resulted in taking an evolutionary cast because evolution became an underlying principle and a predefined model in order to understand major biological changes (Zhang, et.al, 2010, pp. 29-34).

Stages of history and progress

In an account of social and economic development, Adam Smith had divided history in four major stages. Numerous people had this perception that Smith has used the method of “Conjectural History”, as he used his theories and opinions in order to fill the gaps in the evidences of history. Moreover, some people also considered that Smith's theories resulted in ignoring the facts (Brewer, 2008, www.efm.bris.ac.uk).

However, Adam Smith divides history in four main stages ...