Social Change Using Innovation and Technology

It is commonly understood that technology and innovation results in social change. Technology and its innovations are generally created for the urban people who have the willingness to adopt them coupled with the purchasing power. While the urban people benefit the most from the new technology and innovation creating social change, the rural people either cannot afford it or the benefit reaches them late thus widening the techno-econo-socio-rift between the urban and rural people. The process of social change for the rural people is much slower than one would have desired, creating a feeling: does technology and innovation lead to social change in the rural areas? We examine the linkage of social change with innovation and technology with the help of four case studies from India. The cases show it is innovation which is paramount for creating the desired social change. The approach to social change is to focus on the change that is intended and then find innovative solutions which could use technology in an appropriate manner to achieve it compared to the conventional approach wherein technology and innovation are positioned as the initiators and drivers of social change.