social change

• what does social change mean?

  • social change refers to how society develops over time to replace beliefs, attitudes, and behaviour with new norms and expectations.
  • minority groups also play an important role in facilitating social change by influencing an entire society to change its attitudes, behaviours and beliefs.
• irl examples of social change:

  • history has provided many real-life examples of circumstances in which consistent individuals have challenged the norms and values of society.
  • e.g. MLK and Nelson Mandala led civil rights movements and were consistent in their views against apartheid for many years, which helped bring about social change.
  • e.g. Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat to a white male passenger in the 50s.
  • e.g. the suffragettes who were consistent and took life-threatening risks to draw attention to female rights.
• what are the processes of social change?

  • consistency
  • deeper processing
  • drawing attention
  • augmentation principle
  • snowball effect
  • social cryptoamnesia
  • NSI
  • gradual commitment
• what is meant by consistency?

  • displaying consistency of viewpoint and intended outcome is beneficial in bringing about social change, as a consistent message appears more credible and can help convince a majority.
• what is meant by 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 change.
• what is meant by drawing attention?

  • in order for a social change to occur, the majority must first of all be made aware of the need for the change.
• what is meant by the augmentation principle?

  • when the majority pays attention to selfless and risky actions being taken by the minority group and is more likely to integrate the group's opinion into their own personal viewpoints due to the personal sacrifice made by the minority.
• what is meant by the snowball effect?

  • once the minority viewpoint has got the attention of some of the majority group members, more and more people begin paying attention and the minority viewpoint gathers momentum, much like a snowball growing in size when rolled along a snowy field.
• what is meant by social cryptoamnesia?


  • the majority knows that a social change has occurred but the source of the change and the message itself have become disassociated through the process of social cryptoamnesia and they do not recall how it has happened.
• what is meant by NSI?

  • social change can be encouraged by reporting the behaviour or attitudes of the majority, to urge others to follow suit for normative reasons (e.g. to fit in with the majority).
• what is meant by gradual commitment?

  • once a small instruction has been followed, it is harder for larger requests to be declined.
  • this is often referred to 'the foot in the door technique' and means that people effectively find themselves adopting a new way of behaving gradually over a period of time.
• evaluation of social change:

  • Bashir (2013) - minority influence can often act as a barrier to social change. interested in investigating why so many people resist social change even when they believe it to be needed.
  • it was found that some minority groups, such as environmental activists or feminists, often live up to the stereotypes associated with those groups, which can be off-putting for outsiders.
  • this means that the majority often does not want to be associated with a minority for fear of being stereotypically labelled.
• evaluation of social change:

  • methodological issues may undermine the links drawn between social influence processes and social change.
  • e.g. many of the research studies explaining social change (Asch, Milgram, and Moscovici) can themselves be criticised for issues in their methodology ranging from low generalisability to demand characteristics.
  • this means that there are doubts about the validity of some of the processes involved in social influence and social change due to the research informing the theories.