Key Idea: Change is the concept that asks what actually changed, for whom, how fast, and what stayed the same. Continuity is not the opposite of change — it is the half of the picture that makes a prediction about change reliable.
Paper 1
- Part a: define change, or identify questions for evaluating it
- Part b: explain why speed matters as much as size
- Part c: is change driven by technology or by people?
Paper 2
- Q2: analyse how a source describes a change
- Q3: compare two sources that disagree about what changed
- Q4: synthesise sources on who gained and who paid
Everywhere else
- Every context question in unit 4 is a change question
- Continuity is the standard counter-argument in any AO3 answer
- Contested change explains why sources disagree in Paper 2
The four questions to ask of any change
| Question | Why it earns marks |
|---|---|
| What actually changed? | Separates the capability from the outcome |
| For whom? | Stops 'society' being treated as one group |
| How fast? | Speed decides whether institutions could adjust |
| What stayed the same? | Shows which part the technology caused |
“Technology decides what is possible; people decide what happens.” It is a position rather than a compromise, and it is supported by every case where the same technology produced different outcomes in two countries.
Continuity is the examinable half
What persists through almost every digital change
- The reasons people do something — screens did not remove the reasons people printed, which is why printing rose for thirty years.
- Institutions — regulation, training and responsibility move far more slowly than any capability.
- Inequalities — a new tool is converted into an advantage by whoever has time, skills and contacts to convert it.
- The problem being solved — a faster way of doing something rarely changes why it is being done.
Important: If you credit a technology with a change it did not cause, you will also recommend a technological fix for a problem it cannot reach. Continuity is how you avoid that.
Exam-style questions
Compare and contrast the way speed and scale of change affect a society.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Justify the claim that identifying continuities makes a prediction about a technology more reliable.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Quick check
What are the four questions? What changed, for whom, how fast, and what stayed the same.
Why does continuity matter? It shows which part of an outcome the technology actually caused, which is what stops you recommending the wrong fix.
Who is louder in a debate about change? The people who gain, because gains concentrate in organisations with resources to argue while losses spread thinly.
What is a contested change? One that different groups describe differently because they gain and lose different things from it.
Exam tips
- Open a change answer by naming what stayed the same. It signals immediately that you are doing analysis rather than description.
- “Concentrated gains, spread costs” explains who dominates a public debate. It transfers to economics, politics and the environment.
- Never write “society changed”. Name the group.