SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

The process of social change embraces not only the wider society
but also the individuals as well, who too undergo a transfonnation in
personality, behaviour, values, and outlook. As against the subjected
individual of the traditional village, the modem individual emerges as a
person in his own right and asserts his individuality in the changing
scenario. This comes out clearly in the disintegration of joint families
and in the rise of individual initiatives. The new job opportunities,
greater exposure to wider world and the emergence of cash economy
have all caused significant changes in the personality of the individuals.
Even dairying has been identified as shaping the individuals by its
disciplined work nature (Mascarenhas 1988: 211). The social change
itself is viewed as emerging out of the individual actions, wherein the
isolated actions of an aggregate of individuals produce conditions of
exigency for such changes (Oommen 1984:25).
Change and Continuity: While change has become an inevitable
part of modem life, the factor of continuity has necessarily been a part
of the developing society, thus displaying its dynamic equilibrium. In the
process, serious alterations and modifications occur, resulting in the
continuous reshaping and re-integration of the cultural set-up.
People, most of the time, base their decisions on experience and
tradition. Moulick (1975:13) talks of 'the Weberian notion', which finds
the 'traditional' nature of the Indian peasants as one of the important
reasons for the resistance to change. Referring to Singer (1956), Srinivas
(1958:6) and Karve (1958:7), Moulick states that the backwardness of
Indian peasants has often been explained by traditional attitudes. Values
have been identified as playing an important role in detennining the
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