International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

Planned social change is the result of an intervention by a change agent (an individual or organization that seeks to induce change) in order to transform the nature of human communities, most often as a response to some perceived problem such as health risks, environmental crises, political instability, economic hardships, underdeveloped infrastructures, and recovery from natural disasters. Thus, there are a variety of contexts in which planned social change is practiced including →  Health Communication , political transformation, crisis management (→  Crisis Communication ), technological innovation, and →  modernization. Across each of these areas, the predominant goal is to improve the quality of life and the standard of living within a given social system. Ostensibly, the goal of planned social change is the betterment of society, though there may be no consensus on which goals of the campaign are most important and indeed whether they are socially desirable at all. Most planned social change campaigns can be divided into three basic phases . First, there is a planning stage in which all relevant situational information is assessed and strategies are formulated. Second, there is an implementation phase in which campaign strategies are put into action. Finally, there is an evaluation phase in which the performance of the campaign is assessed so that future campaigns can benefit ... log in or subscribe to read full text