social change

• social change occurs when whole societies adopt new attitudes, beliefs and ways to do things
• when individuals form an organisation to focus on their collective power - social change can occur
• minority influence is the main force for social change which occurs continuously
• if an individual is exposed to persuasive environment, they may change their views to match those of minority - referred to process as 'conversion' - necessary prior condition for social change
• 6 steps to social change

  1. drawing attention
  2. consistency
  3. deeper processing
  4. augmentation principle
  5. snowball effect
  6. social cryptomnesia
• step 1 of social change

  • drawing attention - minority draws attention to situation of issue by providing social proof for problem
• step 2 of social change

  • consistency - minority shows consistency when promoting social change that they want to see (continue to campaign)
• step 3 to social change

  • deeper processing - people who accepted current state questioned
• step 4 of social change

  • augmentation principle - if members of minority are willing to suffer for issue they are fighting for - seen as more commited so are taken more seriously by the majority
• step 5 of social change

  • snowball effect - change from minority to majority support as more people start to support cause
• step 6 of social change

  • social cryptomnesia - people remember there was change in society but dont remember how it happened
• evaluation points for social change

  • methodological issues
  • research support involving NSI
  • different levels of processing
• methodological issues being eval point for social change

  • methodological issues can undermine the links drawn between social influence processes and social change
  • example - research studies providing explanation for social change (moscovici) can be criticised for issues around methodology such as low generalisability as there are some issues which can influence differing findings
  • limitation as it weakens explanations claiming to support social change
• research support involving NSI being eval point for social change

  • researcher investigated whether majority influence led to reduction in energy consumption in community - researchers hung messages on doors of houses every week for 1 month
  • key message was most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage
  • control group - had different message asking to save energy, not referencing other behaviour
  • findings showed decrease in energy usage - who were informed 'most residents' were trying to reduce their usage
  • study shows how conforming to majority group can lead to social change
• different levels of processing as eval point for social change

  • minority and majority influences may involve different levels of cognitive processing
  • moscovici believed majority viewpoint forces individuals to think more deeply about issues
  • however researcher suggests opposite to this is true - suggested when majority group is thinking/acting in way different to ourselves we are forced to think more deeply about our reasons
  • suggestions cast doubt on validity of moscovicis minority influence theory - suggesting it may be incorrect