The Role of Social Influence Processes in Explaining Social Change Flashcards
Social Change:
Occurs when whole societies adopt a new belief or way of behaving which becomes widely accepted as the norm. Examples of social changes are: women’s suffrage, Gay Rights movement and the rise in environmentalism
Social Influence:
The process by which individuals and groups change each other’s attitude and behaviours. It includes influence by pressures to conform and obey and pressures to yield to minority influence.
State the processes of Social Change:
- Drawing attention to an issue
- Consistency of position
- Comitment and flexibility
- Legal changes and obedience
- Snowball effect and social change
- After social change occurs (social cryptoamnesia)
Drawing attention to an issue:
Minorities can bring about social change by drawing attention of the majority to an issue.
E.g. The suffragettes used a range of different methods to draw attention to their cause, some were militant such as blowing up post boxes, and others were political, such as holding rallies explaining their demands.
Consistency of position:
Minority continues to maintain their position over time, causing majority to reassess the situation and consider the matter again.
E.g. suffraggettes maintained the same campaign for voting rights for many decades and were unified in their message of demanding the vote for women.
Comitment and flexibility:
If the minority is willing to give things up or suffer for their cause, they’re seen as more committed and will be taken more seriously by the majority. They must also be willing to listen to the views of the majority and accept valid counter arguments.
E.g. Suffragettes were willing to risk death or imprisonment through activities such as hunger strikes and dangerous protest activities.
Legal changes and obedience:
Changes in the law to fit with the minority position mean that it is seen as more of a social norm that needs to be followed and failure to do so can result in punishment. This means that obedience acts as a further pressure to change the majority position.
E.g. suffragette movement led to several laws being passed such as Representation of the People Bill 1918 whcih gave women legal right to vote.
Snowball effect and social change:
Minority gathers support over time and their influence converts more people until it reaches a tipping point where minority turns into majority. Social change is finished.
After social change occurs (social cryptoamnesia):
Society is aware that a social change has occured but target the origins of that change. The majority does not give credit to the initial minority for the change taking place.
E.g. Very few ppl know who initiated suffrage movement in the first place despite remembering certain members.
What are the 3 factors affecting minority influence:
- Commitment
- Flexibility
- Consistency
Explain Commitment:
- Minority need to appear willing to give up their time, work hard and be willing to take risks for their cause.
- Minority can engage in activities that place them at some risk (e.g. risk of punishment) in order to draw more attention to their cause + ensure majority takes them more seriously (augmentation principle)
- Minority can include spending personal time or effort to achieve a cause
Explain Flexibility:
- Minority exclusively being consistent makes them look rigid and unwilling to compromise - off-putting to majority
- minority need to be prepared to adapt their POV + accept reasonable and valid counter-arguments from majority.
Explain Consistency:
- On first exposure to a minority position - majority may assume the minority is wrong.
- however - if minority continue to maintain position - majority may reassess situation and change their position
- Consistency can be shown in two ways: 1) minority having a consistent position over time + 2) members of minority group having same position among themselves.
Strength of consistency as factor affecting minority influence is that there is supporting evidence.
E.g, Wood et al did meta-analysis of 100 studies similar to Moscovici’s of minority influence + found minoirties who were consistent were most influential. SB: supports idea that consistency is major factor in influencing majority. As study is meta-analysis - broader consensus in the field of research regarding consistency + is not a one-off finding - greater confidence in the conclusions. Increase in validity of consistency as a factor.
Strength of flexibility as factor affecting minority influence is that there is supporting evidence.
Nemeth - created groups (3 ppts + 1 confederate) where confederate had to decide how much compensation to pay a victim of ski lift accident. When consistent confederate argued for low amount and refused to change his position - no effect on majority. When he compromised a little and suggested slightly higher amount, majority changed their opinion to lower amount. SB: shows that when minority is flexible, have greater influence on majority. Increases validity of flexibility as factor.
