Their Relationships and Role of Class Values Joan P Mencher Studies of development, in their search for the deterrents to change, have often concentrated on factors such as traditional attitudes, superstitions, and lack of faith in new things. It is argued in this paper that there are other factors at work which may he far more crucial to the success or failure of change programmes. A social system, because of the ways in which the various strata within society relate to one another, and to scarce resources, may itself impede aspects of modernisation in some ways. The interactions between the village social system and the administrative bureaucracies, for instance, may tend to reinforce existing power relations and act as a brake on change.
