Social change

Define social change

a process in which whole societies (rather than just individuals) adopt new attitudes beliefs and behaviours. This is often as a result of minority influence

How many steps are there to how minority influence causes social change?

6

What is the first step?

Drawing attention:

individuals in the minority will use proof (statistics or evidence) to highlight to others that there is some sort of problem that needs addressing

What is the second step?

Consistency:

the minority are consistent in their message. They show synchronic consistency (all saying the same) and diachronic consistency (all saying the same over time)

What is the third step?

Deeper processing:

individuals who are listening to the minority will begin thinking about the issue much more than they have ever before. They will begin to see it in a different way

What is the fourth step?

Augmentation principle:

members of the minority engage in risky behaviours to demonstrate to others that they are committed to the cause. If someone performs an action with known consequences, their motive for acting must outweigh the consequences

What is the fifth step?

Snowball effect:

more and more people adopt the minority opinion, until gradually the minority becomes the majority. The group becomes more powerful and more people join the cause at a quicker rate than before

What is the sixth step?

Social cryptomnesia:

people have a memory that change has occurred but don’t remember how it happened - they forget where this ‘new’ view came from. This often happens when the individual once held a negative view of the minority

What is the role of conformity in social change?

Social change can be encouraged by providing information about what others are doing (e.g., "most people recycle").

What is the role of obedience in social change?

Gradual commitment can lead people to agree to small changes, making it easier to accept bigger ones later (the "foot-in-the-door" effect)

How is the fact that social change has real-life application a strength? (+counter/development)

as it means that advice can be given to any members of the minority to get their message heard

C: on the other hand, it can be argued that given how much society has changed, these processes may no longer apply. Now, the minority can get their voices heard by going ‘viral’ on social media

Give an example of this strength

for example, by being able to understand social change, these tactics can be used in future campaigns that aim to promote and change attitudes towards public health (e.g vaping), environmental responsibility (e.g recycling) etc.

How is the fact that the during social change, the minorities are often labelled as ‘troublemakers’, meaning people may resist their message a weakness?

as it reduces the chance of their views being taken seriously and change actually occuring

Give an example of this weakness

for instance, environmetnal activists are often dismissed rather than listened to

How is the fact that there is real world evidence of social change an advantage of it?

as it demonstrated that psychological theories about social change can be applied to real-life situations, increasing the external validity of the theory

Give an example of this advantage

for example, the civil rights and suffragettes movements show that minority influence can lead to long-term social change. These movements used consistency, commitment and the augmentation principle to achieve their goals

How is the fact that social change is a slow process and may not happen at a rate that is needed a disadvantage?

as it shows that because of the rate that social change happens, it may involve serious sacrifices

Give an example of this disadvantage

for instance, during the US civil rights movement, activists campaigned for years before gaining equal rights, and many people even lost their lives in the process