Social Change Flashcards
What is social change?
When a society as a whole adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes wildly accepted as the “norm”
What are the five stages of social change through minority influence?
- Drawing attention to an issue
- Cognitive Conflict
- Consistency of position
- The augmentation principle
- The snowball effect
What is drawing attention to an issue?
If the views of a minority are different to those held by the majority, this creates a conflict that they are motivated to reduce so start by drawing attention to the issue.
What is cognitive conflict?
The minority creates a conflict between what majority group members currently belive and the position advocated by the minority.
What does cognitive conflict cause?
Majority group members to think more deeply about the issues being challenged.
What is consistency of position?
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) .
What is the augmentation principle?
If a minority appears willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more commuted and so taken more seriously by others.
What is the snowball effect?
Minority influence initially has a relatively small effect but this then spreads more widely as more and more people consider the issues being promoted until it reaches a ‘tipping point’ at which point it leads to wide scale social change.
