role of social influence processes in social change Flashcards
What is social change
Social change is change that happens throughout a society and not on an individual level.
Minorities can change ideological positions of members of the majority via consistency, flexibility, and commitment.
What is snowball effect
snowball effect is when members of the majority are slowly converted by the minority. As the minority grows in size it attracts new members faster. As the group grows bigger its legitimacy seems stronger. Eventually it grows so large that it is now the majority.
What is group membership that enhances snowball effect
snowball effect is enhanced by Group Membership. Group membership states that we are more likely to have our views changed by a member of an ingroup that we belong to
This could be age, gender, educational level, sexuality ..etc. Ingroups are more likely to change the position of the majority than outgroups (for example when white people stood with black people in the civil rights movement, it made other white people more likely to re-evaluate their viewpoint).
When does social cryptoamnesia occur and what is it?
A process called social cryptoamnesia occurs after the social change, where individuals who previously held the old view refuse to admit that they held the now unpopular view or resisted the new view. Eventually people forget about the old view, and about the minorities who changed society.
How can government bring about social change?
Governments can bring about social change very quickly by changing the laws and enforcing them since they are a legitimate authority who therefore ought to be obeyed.
Minority influence evaluation
•Mass et al looked at heterosexual views of homosexuals. They set up a condition where heterosexual males were trying to convince other heterosexual males about the importance of gay rights, and compared this condition to one in which homosexual males tried to convince heterosexual males about the importance of gay rights. They found that straight men were best convinced by other heterosexual men rather than gay men to change their opinion. This demonstrates the importance of group membership in minority influence.
•Smoking in public places such as pubs was common but changed very quickly due to legal changes and fines
•Green issues such as climate change have developed due to better knowledge transmitted by informational social influence.
