Social change processes

• Social change


  A change that happens throughout the society and not just at the individual level
• Minorities can change the position of members of the majority

  • Via consistency
  • Flexibility
  • Commitment
• Snowball effect


  1. Minority changes the views of wider society

  2. Members of the majority slowly convert over to the minority

  3. As minority grows in size it starts to attract new members even faster

  4. Minority becomes the majority
• Social crypt amnesia

  Individuals who previously held the old view refuse to admit they held the old and popular view or even resisted the new view coming into dominance, and they completely forget the role of and don't give credit to the minorities who made the change happen
• Group membership


  Members of the majority are more likely to listen to members of an in-group than members of an out-group
• Informational social influence


  Mechanism most often used by minorities, using reasoned arguments to try and convince members of the majority, leading to internalization (permanent change in beliefs)
• Government


  Can bring about social change very quickly in the majority of the population by changing the laws and enforcing them, as a legitimate Authority that the majority can accept needs to be obeyed
• Advertising companies want consumers to adopt a new brand and reject an old one


  They could use social influence processes like group membership, informational social influence, and the snowball effect
• Examples of social influence processes in action

  • Smoking in public places like pubs was changed quickly due to legal changes and fines
  • Green issues like climate change have developed relatively quickly as knowledge has been transmitted mainly by informational social influence
  • The suffragettes' commitment and suffering showed via the augmentation principle
• Musset l looked at heterosexual views of homosexuals and found that heterosexual males were more convinced by other heterosexual males about the importance of gay rights than by homosexual males