Motivational patterns and planned social change.

The article discusses motivational patterns and planned social change. Social scientists have attempted to explain social change in several ways. The conceptual model used in the article is nearer the Marxist position. A societal system determines motivation and values, which in turn cause or determine the behavior of individuals in the society. According to this paradigm, a societal system, that is the system and the structure of the society mainly characterized by the level and kind of technology utilized and the pattern of interrelationships among main classes in the society, and its reinforcing mechanisms. Social change or change in behavior in a society is a result of the motivational pattern and the pattern of expectancy, which themselves are products of a societal system and its reinforcing mechanisms. The paradigm assumes that each societal system generates a particular pattern of motivation, which sustains and maintains that system by causing appropriate behavior among individual members in the society. Motivation occupies an important place in the strategy of planned change. Since a motivational pattern not only causes behavior but also influences the societal system, it deserves careful attention if a strategy of planned social change is to be effective. An effective strategy for inducing social change would consist of bringing about change in the societal system, its reinforcing mechanisms, the development of appropriate patterns of motivation and expectancy through suitable program. For any social change, the primary condition is a change in a societal system without which appropriate changes cannot be introduced or cannot be sustained.