Social Change Flashcards
social change
When a society or a significant section of society
adopts a new way of thinking or acting which
then becomes the norm
process of social change
minority influence- consistency, commitment, flexibility, people internalise these views, creates snowball effect
6 processes:
1. drawing attention
2. consistency
3. deeper processing
4. augmentation principle
5. snowball effect
6. social Cryptomnesia
drawing attention
for a minority to create social change,
they need to draw the majorities attention to the issue, and also provide social proof of the problem.
consistency
In order for a minority to create social change,
they need to be consistent in their message, both with others in the minority (synchronic consistency)
and over time (diachronic consistency).
deeper processing
This needs to occur by the majority in order for social change to happen.
The minority creates doubt about the existing state of affairs and the majority therefore begins to think more deeply about the issues at hand and really considers the unjustness of it.
It is only when deeper processing has occurred that some of the majority ‘convert’ to the minority position.
augmentation principle
A minority is more convincing in their views if the majority can see that they gain nothing from holding this
minority position.
In fact, they’re even more effective if they suffer for what they believe in.
called the augmentation principle and
has a part to play in causing
social change.
snowball effect
There comes a point in social change where
the minority has become a majority. As
other members start to agree with the
minority, the group gains more power and
therefore influences more people. This is
called the snowball effect.
social cryptomnesia
This is when everybody
acknowledges that social change
has occurred, but as a social group
we tend to forget all the little steps that
lead to that change e.g. the rallies,
riots etc.
The process of change is helped by
social cryptomnesia as it allows
people to accept more readily the new
society that they now live in.
role of conformity in social change
Asch- dissenter- 5.5%. broke power of majority
minorities can also do this
enviro and health campaigns provide info on what other people are doing e.g. not littering
appeals to normative SI as people change to try and fir in with what ‘everybody else’ is doing
role of obedience in social change
Milgram variation- when confederrate refused obedience dropped to 10%
Zimbardo suggested obedience can create social change by gradual commitment
if small instructions are obeyed by others, it becomes more difficult to resist bigger ones
If laws are passed from government, social change can
ultimately occur through obedience to these rules.
strength process social change (support)
Nolan
Investigated wether social influence processes led to reduced energy consumption in a community
Hung messages every week for a month that highlighted most residence in the town were trying to reduce energy usage.
Control of different message saying just save energy
Found first group had significant energy usage decrease
Suggests people change energy behaviour because of normative SI and wanting to be like rest of community
Makes it valid explanation for process of social change
Limitation processes of social change (slow)
Social change is slow, if at all só role of minority questioned in creating change
Nemeth
Said effects of minority influence are mostly indirect and delayed
Indirect- majority influenced by issues at hand not central issue
Delayed- effects take long to be seen
Limits minority influence as an explanation because shows it’s effects are fragile
may not actually cause social change
So not valid explanation for social change
Limitation process social change (deep processing)
Moscovici says minority leads to deeper processing about an issue
However
Mackie says majority creates deeper processing
We believe our beliefs are shared by others so when the majority believes different we are forced to think long and hard about their reasons etc
Therefore challenging central aspect of how minority is supposed to cause social change because it seems majority causes deep processing not minority
Therefore not valid
