The guide defines change as evolution, transformation, adaptation or movement from one form, state or value to another. In ordinary speech those blur together. Here they name different shapes of change, and picking the right one makes an answer precise.
The four kinds, each shown with a change you already know.
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The guide says change is investigated by history, science and technology studies, and future studies. Each asks a different question, and borrowing their questions is the fastest way to sound like you are analysing rather than describing.
| Field | Its question | What it gives your answer |
|---|---|---|
| History | What happened before this, and how is it similar? | Continuity — the half most answers miss |
| Science and technology studies | Who decided this, and in whose interest? | Somebody chose; it did not just happen |
| Future studies | What might follow, and what would have to be true? | A defensible claim about what comes next |
A technological revolution: The guide asks what one is. A useful answer: a change deep enough that the arrangements built around the old way stop working — not simply a faster version of what came before.
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Real-world examples you can name
The milestones that built digital society — ENIAC 1945 · integrated circuit 1958 · Intel 4004 microprocessor 1971 · ARPANET 1969 · IBM PC 1981 · the World Wide Web proposed 1989, public 1991 · iPhone 2007
The sequence a question about the development of digital society expects you to be able to place: computing shrinks from a room to a chip, networks join the machines, the web makes the network readable, and the phone puts it in a pocket.
Who it affected: Everyone — this is the order everything else in this bank happened in.
M-Pesa mobile money — launched 2007
Money is sent as a text message and cashed in or out at a local agent, so a phone becomes a bank account without a bank. Research has linked it to households moving out of extreme poverty, particularly those headed by women.
Who it affected: People with a phone but no bank branch within reach.
Platform work and employment status — UK Supreme Court ruling on Uber drivers February 2021; EU platform work directive adopted 2024
Work is allocated by an app rather than a manager. The UK Supreme Court held that Uber drivers are workers entitled to minimum wage and holiday pay, and the EU has since legislated a presumption of employment where a platform controls the work.
Who it affected: Couriers and drivers, and companies whose model assumed self-employment.
Pick the right word: M-Pesa mobile money (Kenya, then across East Africa, launched 2007) is a transformation — money became a text message.
Platform work and employment status (UK and European Union, UK Supreme Court ruling on Uber drivers February 2021; EU platform work directive adopted 2024) is closer to movement — the same work, allocated from somewhere else.
Naming which is what earns the analysis mark.
How this is tested — the concept of change is rarely the whole question — it is the lens you apply to a content topic. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part c: evaluate how far a described change was significant
- Part b: explain what changed when a technology arrived
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q2: explain a claim a source makes about a change
- Q3: contrast two sources on how much really changed
The trap: describing the technology: A change question is about what is different afterwards, for whom. An answer that explains how the technology works has answered a content question instead.
Define the concept of change as used in digital society.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Explain one reason why a new technology may transform an activity rather than simply improve it.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.