ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the significance of the rate of social change for the processes of societal development in general and for modernization in particular. It argues that an essential element of the modernization experience is the subjective perception of the rate of change and of variations in this rate. The chapter shows that a specific rate of change constitutes one of the basic characteristics of modernization. It focuses on the discussion of the function of the change rate in the modernization process and explores the concept of the rate of social change in general. The objective rate of social change depends on a number of factors, which are the same as those determining the receptivity of social systems to change. Certain forms of social change, extending over a long period, may be objectively quite considerable and yet hardly enter the perception of the generation of individuals who have lived through them.
