Social Change Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is social change?
The way in which society develops through shifts in peoples beliefs, attitudes and behaviour
Minority influence is the main cause of social change through minority viewpoints winning the majority over
Consistency
A consistent message appears more credible and can help convince a majority
Deeper processing
The more people think about the issue at hand, rather than blindly accepting it, the more they will be able to challenge the existing social norms to bring about changes
Drawing attention
The majority must be aware of the need for the change
Augmentation principle
Majority pays attention to selfless and risky actions being taken by the minority group an are more likely to re-examine their views due to the personal sacrifices made
Snowball effect
More and more people begin paying attention, the minority viewpoint gathers momentum
Social cryptoamnesia
Majority knows that the social change has occurred but the source of the change and the message have become disassociated - they don’t recall how this change occurred
Normative social influence
Social change can be encouraged by reporting the behaviour/attitudes of the majority to urge others to follow suit
Gradual commitment (foot in the door technique)
People will effectively find themselves adopting a new way of behaving gradually over a period of time
Limitation - MINORITY INFLUENCE CAN AT AS A BARRIER TO SOCIAL CHANGE
P - minority influence can act as a barrier to social change
E - Bashir et al was interested in investigating why so many people resist social change even when they believe it is needed
C - some environmental groups such as feminists often live up to the stereotypes associated with those groups which can be off-putting for outsiders
Limitation - MINORITY AND MAJORITY INFLUENCE INVOLVE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF COGNITIVE PROCESSING
P - minority influence and majority influence may involve different levels of cognitive processing
E - Moscovici believes a minority viewpoint forces individuals to think more deeply about an issue. Mackie counters this and suggests that when a majority group is thinking of acting in a way that is different from ourselves we are forced to think even more deeply about their reasons
C - casts doubt on the validity of Moscovicis minority influence theory
Strength - PROCESS OF SOCIAL CHANGE IS SUPPORTED BY NSI
P - the process of social change is supported by nsi
E - Nolan et al conducted a study in California which involved hanging messages on the front doors of peoples houses encouraging them to reduce energy consumption by indicating that most other residents were already doing this. As a control, some houses received a message about energy with no reference to the behaviour of other people in the area
C - this shows that the experimental group significantly lowered their energy consumption, conformity led to social change
I&D
- Reports of social change have/can not be tested meaning they lack scientific credibility
- idiographic approach is often taken, however research takes a nomothetic approach (asch, milgram, Moscovici) as they have created universal laws
