Community Psychology, 4: Social Change Flashcards
What are some causes of pressure to change a society?
Resource scarcity, Intergroup Conflict, Awareness of a lack of Accountability, and Social Diversity
How would you describe the current rate of technological change?
The rate is rapid compared to other eras (new tools and language being introduced more frequently), and that rate appears to be on an ever increasing trajectory over human history. The text uses the term ‘galloping’ to describe how new tools beget newer tools at a faster rate.
Race is:
A social construction. There is no biological consensus on a genetic or other definition of race. It is something we percieve culturally, but there is more difference within what we believe is a “race” than between what we call “races.”
The cognitive miser
A tendency to think effortfully (consciously) as little as possible. Psychological research suggests this is the common or default mode of most people.
This type of research is based in scientific theory but motivated by social change
Action Research
What is the difference between first order and second order change?
First order change is the action that the person who wants a larger change takes themselves to bring about change. Second order change occurs if and when that succeeds, and the desire change in other person(s) is brought about.
What are major impediments to the majority of attempts at social change?
According to Maton (2000), lack of funding and resources hampers most efforts at social change.
What is a sliding scale?
A fee structure in which a provider or agency determines the price of services based on the client’s ability to pay.
Why is new technology sometimes disturbing or alienating?
Many individuals lack the access to education or experience to utilize these new tools, which contributes to a gap in income and opportunity. People may also be reluctant, resistant, or fearful, which also contributes to a divide.
How is the human population size in the US changing?
The 2000 census documented the largest population increase in the US +on record.
Effects of social control
Social control is provided by a community’s expectations of its members, essentially its behavioral instructions and timeline to a ‘good life.’ As this breaks down, people experience more freedom, but also more anxiety, fear, and depression.
Unplanned change
Social change which occurs spontaneously or unintentionally; associated with stress due to the community’s inability to predict or control this type of change.
Leaders of social change need to prepare those who are seeking change with them for:
a) resistance and b) change taking longer than hoped. Failure to do so will lead to communities holding unrealistic hopes for easier and faster change, and thus ‘giving up’ prematurely.
Successful social change requires
Both diversity of tactics (a one-dimensional approach is likely to fail) and continuity over an extended period of time (time limited efforts fail to account for how much time it takes to change something as large and complex as a society). Movements that aim for an overwhelming, immediate change are setting themselves up for frustration.