Role of Social Influence processes in Social Change Flashcards
Social change
Social change comes about when whole societies alter their attitudes and behaviour - the majority of people in a society adopt new ways of behaving and thinking.
Eg of social change
- The shape of the Earth
- People with mental illness
- Recycling
- Drinking alcohol and driving
- Wearing a seatbelt while driving
- Divorce
- Homosexuality
- Child abuse
- Marriage
- Apartheid
- Domestic violence
- Having children outside marriage
- Discipline of children
- Wearing face coverings
How does social change come about
A great deal has been learned from research into minority influence, conformity and obedience about social influence processes that can lead to social change.
The role of minority influence in social change
Minority influence is particularly important in bringing about social change. The work of Moscovici (1969) and others concluded that a consistent, committed and flexible minority is most effective in influencing an individual.
These, plus other social influence processes, can be also used to explain examples of social change which have occurred throughout history:
- The minority must initially draw the majority’s attention to its views. This often involves active campaigning.
- The minority must demonstrate consistency in its behaviour to get people to start to focus on their message.
- Members of the majority start to consider the minority message and experience ‘cognitive conflict’. The certainty they had about their existing views becomes open to doubt. The minority encourages deeper thinking about the message and this can reduce the certainty that the majority have about their current viewpoint. At this point, individuals might not necessarily agree with the minority but are motivated to think more deeply about it.
- The minority must show commitment to their cause. They may do this by participating in risky activities where they place themselves in danger. This may make the majority think that there must be a good reason why the minority are willing to put themselves in these risky and/or selfless situations. The minority’s behaviour serves to “augment” or strengthen their influence on the majority and is known as the augmentation principle.
- Majority group members begin to agree with the minority and change their private and public opinions/behaviour. As more and more people begin to promote the minority view, a tipping point arises where a view proposed by a minority becomes the view of the majority. This is known as the snowball effect. At this point, social change has come about where most people in a society adopt a new way of thinking or behaving.
- Once social change has occurred, people often forget how the change in opinions and behaviour occurred. They may be aware that some form of social change has occurred but are unaware of the events that led to this change. This is known as social cryptoamnesia.
Example of how the suffragettes created social change
The suffragettes were consistent in their view and
constantly used educational and political arguments to
draw attention to women’s rights. Furthermore, they remained consistent for many years and despite
opposition, continued protesting and lobbying until they convinced society that women were entitled to
vote. In addition, many of the suffragettes made significant sacrifices for their cause. Many risked imprisonment and others risked death through extended hunger strikes, making their influence even more powerful. Finally, the suffragettes used group membership to convince other women to join their cause to expand their influence and membership. Overtime their influence spread with people considering the issue until it lead to social change and women gaining the right to vote.
Evaluation of the role of minority influence in social change, practical application
Research in this area has led to a practical application regarding how minority groups can be more effective in creating social change. A study in 2013 aimed to investigate why people often resist change. It was found that people were reluctant to behave in environmentally friendly ways, even when they believed change was necessary, because they did not want to be associated with environmentalists who they regarded in a negative way. The researchers suggested that if minorities want to create social change, they need to avoid behaving in ways that reinforce stereotypes because this may be off-putting to the majority that they want to influence.
Evaluation of the role of minority influence in social change, challenge
Some have challenged the claim that minority influence causes individuals to think the most deeply about an issue. Mackie (1987) disagrees and suggests that it is majority influence that causes individuals to think more deeply, particularly if the individual does not agree with the view the majority are presenting. This is because we like to think that most people share our views and if we find out that they don’t, it forces us to think deeply about their arguments and reasoning. This means that suggestions about how minority groups create social change may be incorrect.
The role of conformity in social change
Research into conformity has shown that people have a strong desire to be the same as others and will often change their behaviour to fit in with others due to normative social influence. Often behaviour is based upon incorrect perceptions of what others are doing.
This knowledge can be used to help bring about social change by suggesting what other people are doing – regardless of whether people are actually behaving in that way!
For example, environmental campaigns promote messages to try to change behaviour in a desired direction. Information on rubbish bins such as… “Bin it – everyone else does” has been used to encourage a reduction in littering behaviour. Another example is the use of posters in hotels telling guests that “most hotel guests re-use their towels” to decrease laundry demands.
Evaluation of the role of conformity in social change, support
There is evidence to support the role of conformity in social change. Montana State University introduced an intervention programme aimed at bringing about social change in young adults (21-34) in relation to their drinking and driving behaviour. A survey found that 20% of this age group had driven after drinking and 92% of young adults said they believed the majority of their peers had driven within one hour of drinking two or more drinks in the previous month. The intervention aimed to change the misconception that most young adults behaved like this by disseminating the message that… “MOST Montana young adults (4 out of 5) don’t drink and drive.” This information led to a 13% reduction in drinking and driving amongst young adults compared to other states that did not run the intervention programme. The exposure to the social norm that most young adults do not drink and drive led to a social change – a decrease in the frequency of drinking driving behaviour. This supports the role of processes involved in normative social influence to create social change.
Evaluation of the role of conformity in social change, challenge
However, conformity is not always effective in bringing about social change. A study in 2009 ran a similar campaign to reduce alcohol use in students across 14 college sites. It used a postal survey to compare perceptions of drinking norms and personal drinking behaviour before and three years after the campaign had ended. Despite the marketing campaign correcting misconceptions about drinking norms, students in the study showed no reduction in their perceptions of student drinking levels nor did they report drinking any less themselves.
The role of obedience in social change
Obedience research has shown that participants are more likely to obey a large, sinister request if asked to do so in small steps. For example, Milgram’s participants were asked to provide shocks that increased by only 15v at a time. Once a small 15v request is obeyed, it became more difficult for participants to resist a bigger one of 450v – “I’ve given a 435v shock, what difference will 15v more make…?”. This is known as the process of gradual commitment.
In terms of social change, this means that if an authority wants to create social change, it needs to ask people to change gradually. One current illustration of this has been the requirement to wear face coverings in public places. In March 2021, most adults in the UK were highly likely to obey a request to wear a face covering in a public place. This example of social change did not happen overnight. Instead, the Government introduced the requirement to wear a face covering gradually from March 2020 onwards. For example, initially, wearing a face mask was voluntary, then it was made mandatory but only in certain settings, and then it became a requirement to wear them one in all public places where social distancing could not be maintained.
