Social Change

Question 1

What is social change?

Answer 1

Occurs when a society or section of society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm.

Question 2

What are the stages of social change through minority influence?

Answer 2

Drawing attention to an issue.
Cognitive conflict.
Consistency of position. 
The augmentation principle. 
The snowball effect.

Question 3

What does drawing attention to an issue mean?

Answer 3

Drawing the majorities attention.

If their views are different to those held by the majority, this creates a conflict that they are motivated to reduce.

Question 4

What’s an example of drawing attention to an issue?

Answer 4

The suffragettes used educational, political and militant tactics to draw attention to the fact that women were denied the same voting rights as men.

Question 5

What does cognitive conflict mean?

Answer 5

Creates a conflict between what majority group members currently believe and the position advocated by the minority.

It makes the majority think more deeply about the issues being challenged

Question 6

What’s an example of cognitive conflict?

Answer 6

The suffragettes created a conflict between the existing status quo (only men allowed to vote) and the position advocated by the suffragettes (votes for women).

Some people dealt with this conflict by moving towards the position advocated by the suffragettes, other simply dismissed it.

Question 7

What does consistency of position mean?

Answer 7

Minorities tend to be more influential in bringing about social change when they express their arguments consistently (over time and with each other).

Question 8

What’s an example of consistency of position?

Answer 8

The suffragettes were consistent in their views, regardless of the attitudes of those around them.

Protests and political lobbying that continued for years, plus the fact that women played a conspicuous role in WW1, eventually convinced society that some women were ready for the vote.

Question 9

What does the augmentation principle mean?

Answer 9

If a minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more committed and so taken more seriously by others.

Question 10

What’s an example of the augmentation principle?

Answer 10

Because the suffragettes were willing to risk imprisonment or even death from hunger strikes, their influence became more powerful (i.e. it was augmented).

Question 11

What does the snowball effect mean?

Answer 11

M.I initially has a relatively small effect but this then spreads more widely as more and more people consider the issues being promoted, until it reaches a ‘tipping point’, at which point it leads to wide-scale social change.

Question 12

What’s an example of the snowball effect?

Answer 12

Universal suffrage (all adult citizens having the vote) was finally accepted by the majority of people in the UK.

Question 13

How does social change occur through majority influence?

Answer 13

Conformity

Behavioural choices are often related to group norms, i.e. they are the subject of normative influence.

Question 15

What is the social norms approach?

Answer 15

If people perceive something to be the norm, they tend to alter their behaviour to fit that norm (Perkins and Berkowitz, 1986).

Question 16

What’s an example of the social norms approach?

Answer 16

If university students think that heavy drinking is the norm, they’ll drink more.
If they think responsible drinking is the norm, then they’ll drink less (i.e. they conform).

Question 17

What is behaviour based on?

Answer 17

More on what people think others believe and do (the perceived norm) than on their real beliefs and actions (the actual norm).

Question 18

What is the gap between the perceived and actual norm?

Answer 18

It’s referred to as a ‘misconception’.

Correcting this misconception is the basis for an approach to social change known as social norms interventions.

Question 19

What’s the basis for the social norms interventions?

Answer 19

Correcting this misconception is the basis for an approach to social change known as social norms interventions.

Question 20

How do social norms interventions start?

Answer 20

By identifying a widespread misperception relating to a specified risky behaviour within a target population.

E.g - young adults generally misperceive the frequency and quantity of alcohol typically consumed by their peers, and as a result develop norms that justify their own heavy drinking behaviour.

Question 21

What happens after a misperception has been identified?

Answer 21

Perception correction strategies can then be used in media campaigns, promotional material and through other routes.

The aim of these strategies is to communicate to the target population the actual norm concerning that particular behaviour.

Question 22

What is social norms interventions?

Answer 22

Attempt to correct misperceptions of the normative behaviour of peers in an attempt to change the risky behaviour of a target population.