Role of SI in social change

• Moscovici 1980, when individual exposed to argument under certain conditions, their views can change to match minority
• Drawing attention to issue:

  • minority draws majority attention by showing different views, creating a conflict to be solved. Suffragettes used educational, political, and military tactics to draw attention that women denied same voting rights as men
• Cognitive conflict:

  • Minority creates conflict between what majority believes and minority argument. Makes majority think deeper on issues
• Position consistency:

  • When minority views consistent, shown to be more influential in change
• Augmentation principle:

  • If minority seems willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as committed and taken more seriously 
• Snowball effect:

  • Once minority influence spreads widely, issue reaches tipping point, where it can lead to widespread social change
• Perkins and Berkowitz 1986, if people perceive something as the norm, they tend to alter behaviour to fit the norm (majority influence):

  • Social norm intervention: by identifying widespread misconception, perception correction strategies can be used (media campaigns/promotional activity spreading research and facts in a certain issue) to show the target population what the actual social norm is, and therefore correcting a false perception
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  • Role played by minority influence may be limited, as social change usually very gradual. Humans have tendency to confirm, so more likely to maintain status quo. Minority creates potential for change rather than actual change
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  • If minority seen as deviants, majority may avoid aligning themselves with minority position to avoid being seen as deviants too. Lessens minority impact as majority focus more on source of message (deviants) rather than message itself
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  • DeJong 2009, tested social norm campaigns trying to reduce alcohol use in 14 college sights. Despite spreading normative info correcting misconceptive drinking norms, students did not lower alcohol consumption as a result
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  • Schultz 2007, suggests social norm interventions can make people who already adhere (and go above and beyond) to social norms reduce their adherence, to be more in line with norm (people who are usually frugal with energy use using more as they realise they use less than most people)
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  • To overcome being seen as deviants, minorities paint themselves as actually the majority (comm manifesto, communists made it clear that they were the majority proletariat, and the bourgeoisie were actually the minority)