Processes in Social Change
Social change: social change occurs when society or a section adopts a new belief or way
of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm.
E.g., women’s suffrage, gay rights, environmental issues
Minority influence on social change
1) Drawing attention
Minorities can bring about social change by drawing the majority's attention to an issue. If
their views are different to those held by the majority, this creates a conflict they are
motivated to reduce.
2) Consistency
Research on minority influence has established that minorities tend to be more influential
in bringing about social change when they express their arguments consistently (over time
and with each other).
3) Deeper processing
The minority creates a conflict between what the majority group members currently believe,
and the position advocated by the minority. People who originally accepted the status quo
think more deeply about the issues being challenged.
4) Augmentation principle
If the minority appears willing to suffer, they are seen as more committed and so taken
more seriously than others, their influence becomes greater and more powerful.
5) Snowball effect
Minority influence initially has a relatively small effect. This then spreads more widely as
more and more people consider the issues being promoted, until it reaches the tipping
point at which point it leads to wide-scale social change.
6) Social cryptomnesia
This refers to the idea that as a social group we tend to recall that change has taken place
but tend to forget about the steps that brought it about; the rallies, sit-ins, riots etc.
NSI is the desire to be liked by others.
Our perceived norm is what we believe others are doing, whereas our actual norm is
what they are really doing. This affects our behaviour as we try to do what others are doing.
Misperception is the gap between the perceived and actual norm and connecting this is
the basis for social change.
Social norms intervention
Social norms interventions attempt to correct misperceptions of the normative behaviour
of peers in an attempt to change the risky behaviour of a target population – drawing
attention to what the majority is actually doing / based on nsi
Social change: social change occurs when society or a section adopts a new belief or way
of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm.
E.g., women’s suffrage, gay rights, environmental issues
Minority influence on social change
1) Drawing attention
Minorities can bring about social change by drawing the majority's attention to an issue. If
their views are different to those held by the majority, this creates a conflict they are
motivated to reduce.
2) Consistency
Research on minority influence has established that minorities tend to be more influential
in bringing about social change when they express their arguments consistently (over time
and with each other).
3) Deeper processing
The minority creates a conflict between what the majority group members currently believe,
and the position advocated by the minority. People who originally accepted the status quo
think more deeply about the issues being challenged.
4) Augmentation principle
If the minority appears willing to suffer, they are seen as more committed and so taken
more seriously than others, their influence becomes greater and more powerful.
5) Snowball effect
Minority influence initially has a relatively small effect. This then spreads more widely as
more and more people consider the issues being promoted, until it reaches the tipping
point at which point it leads to wide-scale social change.
6) Social cryptomnesia
This refers to the idea that as a social group we tend to recall that change has taken place
but tend to forget about the steps that brought it about; the rallies, sit-ins, riots etc.
NSI is the desire to be liked by others.
Our perceived norm is what we believe others are doing, whereas our actual norm is
what they are really doing. This affects our behaviour as we try to do what others are doing.
Misperception is the gap between the perceived and actual norm and connecting this is
the basis for social change.
Social norms intervention
Social norms interventions attempt to correct misperceptions of the normative behaviour
of peers in an attempt to change the risky behaviour of a target population – drawing
attention to what the majority is actually doing / based on nsi
