Ogburn's theory of cultural change

Ogburn defined invention as a combining of existing elements and materials to form new ones. Although we think of inventions as being only material, such as computers, there also are social inventions, such as capitalism and the corporation. As we have seen, inventions, whether material or social, can have far-reaching consequences for a society.
His second proess of change is discovery, a new way of seeing reality.
Ogburn defined diffusion as the spread of an invention or discovery from one area to another. Diffusion occurs because of culture contact, usually travel, trade, or conquest. With our new techonlogies, culture contact also occurs through telecommunications. As peopel migrate or visit an area, trade with one another, or one group conquers another, both their material and symbolic cultures change. One the material level, steel implements may replace stone items, or cellular telephones may replace written communications. The change, however, goes far beyond such material items, for culture contact also changes people's symbolic culture, their ideas and social relationships.

other points of view from my classmates

proposition speaker: traditional family-extended family. mother usually stays at home , father is the bread winner. nuclear family is not the predominant family form in the us.
opposition speaker: effective society- definition- effective ecomomically and sociaty. society is doing well economically, but socially may not be so. crime rate increasing.
values tought in the traditional family- missing out? corruption.
neutral speaker: 1st: traditional family-necessary to a certain extent. more and more elderlies abandoned by children. traditional family - children must take care of their parents. so traditional family necessary for society's effectiveness (links)
2nd: to a certain extent- due to decreasing no. of traditional families - leading to increasing crime rates? premarial sex, drinking etc. traditional families may not be necessary for society's effectiveness- partrarchal values perpentuated within traditional families. gey rights perspective-more open to gays and lesbians- traditional families deny.
3rd: previous speeches focus on values that traditional family teaches. expansion- teaching children differently... compared to education system. education system teach children to do work step by step, perservere. 2 teaching styles are at odds with one another.

traditional family is no longer necessary for society effectiveness

there are some values of traditional family which we must keep for society effectiveness, such as filial piety. nowadays more and more elderlies are abandoned by their children. these children may feel that their parents are "useless" or they are afraid that their parents will be financially dependent on them. however in traditional family, it is a must for children to foster their parents. nowadays people treat this as a burden. hence traditional family is still necessary for society effectiveness to some extent.

In general, traditional family ties are weakening. What effect is this trend likely to have on your society? (Dec 1980)

Family forms are shaped by the attitudes toward gender roles in a given society which, in turn, are influenced by the demographic, social, economic, and political realities of the time. The traditional family, idealized during the Victorian era and reestablished in the 1950s, is identified as a unit consisting of a married couple with two or more children where the breadwinning father goes out to work while the mother stays home to keep house and care for the children and her husband. Nowadays, traditional family ties are weakening. This affect Singapore tremendously.
In traditional family, people treat divorcing as an embarrass thing. Couples will continue to stay together even though they may found themselves unsuitable to each other. In fact they will never think about divorcing. Nowadays people are more open and divorcing is common. When couples keep quarrelling they may think divorcing as a way out. This also make people less prudent in choosing their partners. This is because they can divorce from their spouses when they found their spouses are unsuitable to themselves after a period of time. This is why divorcing rate have increased drastically over years. A stable society needs stable families. However with increasing divorcing rate, the unstableness in the society grows. For example, some children from divorce familes are lack of parental love and care. This will affect their character development and social behaviour, such as teenage crime.
Filial piety is one of the essential component in traditional family. It is a responsibility, or a must for all children to look after their parents when their parents are old and uncabable to work. This is the time which the next generation takes turn to support the whole family. However nowadays, when the family ties are no longer strong and the traditional families values are no longer grained into most people’s mind, fosterage of parents is not a must for most children, but a way of showing their positive personal characters. Because of this, in Singapore itself, more and more parents, or elderlies, are abandoned by their children. These children felt that their parents are burden of their life. They are afraid that their parents will become financially dependent on them. The lost of traditional values seems only bring miseries to the society.
However, the weakening of family ties gives children more freedom. In the past, children must obey everything from their parents, including their studies, their career, or even their marriage. Nowadays, children are free to choose what to study, and are encouraged to develop interests. They are given the freedom to choose their spouse as well. Only suggestions and advices are given by their parents. This is why nowadays Singapore is full of competition and creativity. This is essential for Singapore’s progress and prosperity.
Moreover, with the weakening of traditional family ties, children are more independent than before. In Singapore, many children move out of the family once they married or become finantially independent. This will allow children to interact with more people thus enlarge their social circle.
There are pros and cons when traditional family ties are weakening. The best way out is to keep the good traditional family values and to allow a certain extent of freedom. Traditional family values should not be abandoned but it should not be too rigid. Freedom of children should be given which children should decide for themselves how their lives should be. There must be a balance between traditional family and modern family in order for the society to progress.