Barth Article, Case Study Example

A clear understanding of social change requires the efforts of anthropologists in a candid description of the society in terms of its persistence, the process of maintain itself as well as the changes that occur with time. This can have the implications of casting majority of the terms towards describing the existing social systems. An adequate analysis of change calls far less adequate or less simple means of performance of the old jobs. This only makes sense to the people who prioritize on efforts of understanding change. People are generally unwilling to abandon the routines that are well established but there is a need for understanding social change by describing the eoeltts that is associated to change (Barth, 1967).

Barth has taken a keen interest in challenging the traditional approaches for social change analysis and gives alternative methods. The traditional perception of social change was linked to “anthropological investigation” that had similarities to social organization. This depicted social change as a custom in the society with morphological features (Bender, 1967). The arguments advocated by Barth emphasized the need for empirical study to events that are responsible for change coupled with the enabling concepts. Barth also emphasized the need for the specification of the approach of continuity of the sequences in change coupled with the processual analysis that was associated with it. Barth was also concerned about the significance of investigating the ongoing process of institutionalization (Barth, 1967). A true understanding of social change requires the contribution of social anthropologists in the description of the society in terms of its persistence, its maintenance as well as the changes that it undergoes over a period of time. In consideration of regular disinclination of abandoning the routines that are well established, it is good to have the perception of change in form of a series of events.

The initiatives of change and innovation diffusion are associated with great human as well as financial cost. The universally accepted approach involves layering the innovation together their anticipated behaviors on traditional culture. It is not in order to consider modification of processes, strategies as well as systems in order to suit the desired behavior of change. Time resources as well as priorities play a significant role in the measurement change and innovation diffusion in the organization. This is a very simple yet highly effective technique whose evolution is rooted to the contribution made by Fredrik Barth in this field (Bender, 1967).  According to Barth, change involves some processes that are associated with human activities that require an appropriate use of time, allocation of resources as well as setting priorities in order to result to observable indicators in response to the patterned activities of culture (Barth, 1967). In this respect, a reflection of values as well as beliefs should be taken in to consideration.

Barth argues that the human input to social anthropology is based on the provision of primary materials that are responsible of enhancing the understanding of the processes. People must also be focused on observing change rather than production of secondary information through extrapolation as well as deduction. This therefore has the implication that recasting the description in as far as the social chnge is concerned is an issue of primary concern that will facilitate accommodation of data concerning the events that are allied to change. This makes the task of humans to be difficult yet more interesting with regard to change and innovation diffusion. As people make efforts to gain a deeper understanding of social change, a shift of attention occurs in the general from innovation to institutionalization which is considered to be a vital phase in change. The allocations that are made by people are based on pay-offs that are anticipated and the most satisfactory bases of prediction of the pay-offs are based on the previous experiences that they ever encountered or the ones that have ever occurred in the communities in which they live.

Any form of new idea or innovation that is likely to emerge plays an insignificant role in determining the direction that is likely to be taken by social change. Among the ideas that are inherent among people and are likely to be implemented are the ones that are perceived to bear practical allocation in situations that are deemed concrete. And in case there exists a system responsible for allocation in as far as change is concerned the determinants of their adoption will be the rates as well as the kinds of the pay-offs attributed to alternative allocation in the particular system and this implies institutionalization (Barth, 1967). The major challenges facing change therefore is rooted in the system and not the variety of ideas behind innovation and the effectiveness of the challenges are associated with institutionalization phase by the use of Barth’s model to measure change and innovation diffusion.

References

Barth, F., (1967). On the Study of Social Change. American Anthropologist December, Vol.69  (6):661-669.

Bender, D. R. A., (1967). Refinement of the Concept of Household: Families, Co-residence, and Domestic Functions. American Anthropologist October, Vol.69 (5):493-504.