Social Change Flashcards
(15 cards)
Social change
When whole societies, not just individuals, adopt new attitudes and beliefs
What are the 6 stages of social change
1-drawing attention
2-Consistency
3-deeper processing
4-The augmentation principle
5-The snowball effect
6-Social cryptomnesia
Drawing attention
Providing social proof and drawing attention to important matters
Civil rights marches
Consistency
Synchronic-All saying the same thing
Diachronic-Over a long period of time
Consistent marches of small minorities all with the same message
Deeper processing
Activism leads to people thinking deeper about the topic
Attention means people start questioning the ‘justness’ of the status quo
The augmentation principle
When people commit to extreme activities to reinforce their commitment to their message
Freedom riders who got beaten up on racially segregated buses
The snowball effect
-As people change beliefs, social change occurs quicker
-The minority becomes the majority
Civil rights activists gained the attention of the US government to pass the civil rights act
Social cryptomnesia
People are aware that social change has occurred but they don’t know when
How does a dissenting peer lead to social change
If the majority is no longer unanimous then it encourages others to dissent as well
How does NSI lead to social change
By convincing people they’re being judged by others for their view, you provide social norms that people conform to in order to not get rejected
How does a model of disobedience lead to social change
The legitimacy of the authority that forms social norms (teacher, pm) is questioned
How does drifting behavior lead to social change
Once a small instruction is obeyed, it becomes more difficult to resist bigger orders due to gradual commitment
This is known as the foot in the door phenomena where you drift into new behaviors
Supporting research NSI
Nelson
San Diego notices which either reduce your energy consumption or your neighbours are reducing their energy consumption
Second one saw more effect
Counter NSI support
Foxcroft
Lit review of over 70 studies attempting to reduce alcohol consumption by making it perceived as a social norms
Slight decrease in quantity, no effect in frequency
Social barriers
Bashir
Research found that Ppt were less likely to behave in an environmentally friendly way because they don’t want to be seen as tree huggers
