Social Change Flashcards
What is social change
When a society as a whole adopts new beliefs that often starts with minority influence
What are the stages of social change
- Drawing attention to an issue
- Cognitive conflicts
- Consistency of position
- Augmentation principle
- Snowball effect
- Social cryptomeria
How does social change happen by drawing attention to the issue
If their views are different to those held by the majority, this creates a conflict that they are motivated to reduce.
How does social change happen by cognitive conflict?
Minority creates a conflict between what the majority believe and the position held by the minority.
Doesn’t necessarily result in a move towards the minority position, but it means that majority think more deeply about the issues being challenged.
How does consistency of position bring about social change?
Minorities tend to be more influential when they express their arguments consistently
How does the augmentation principle bring about social change?
If a minority appears to be willing to suffer for their views, they’re seen as more committed and so taken more seriously
How does the snowball effect bring about social change?
Minority influence initially has a relatively small effect but this then spreads as more and more people consider the issues being promoted until it reaches a ‘tipping point’, which leads to a wide-scale social change.
What is Social cryptomnesia?
People have a memory that change has occurred but do not remember how it happened.
What are strengths of the processes of social change?
- Supported by research (Moscovici)
- Research support for NSI
- Supported by Milgram
What are limitations of the processes of social change?
- Social change isn’t gradual
- Deeper processing may not play a role
- Social norms approach isnt always effective
Evaluate research support from Moscovici as a strength of social support
P: Supported by research.
E: Moscovici found that when confederates consistently gave the wrong answer participants conformed in 8.42% of the trials. However when the confederates were inconsistent, participants conformity to the wrong answer dropped to 1.25%.
E: Strength of consistency because the research demonstrates that when a minority is consistent the majority are more likely to conform compared to when the minority are inconsistent.
Evaluate research support for NSI from Nolan et al
P: Research support to show social change through NSI.
E: Nolan et al (2008) aimed to see if they could change people’s energy-use habits. Researchers hung messages on the front doors of houses every week for one month. The key message was that most residents were trying to reduce their energy usage. As a control, some residents had a different message that just asked them to save energy but made no reference to other people’s behaviour. There were significant decreases in energy usage in the first group compared to the second.
E: This shows that conformity (majority influence) can lead to social change through the operation of normative social influence. Therefore suggesting that the explanation has validity
Evaluate support from Milgram as a strength of social support
P: Theory that independent role models can lead to social change is supported by Milgram
E: In one of Milgram’s variations, he found that if there are role models who do not obey authority then obedience decreases. When Milgram put the participant with two confederates who refused to shock the learner only 10% of participants carried on to the full 450 volts.
E: Strength because Milgram’s study demonstrates that role models encourage people to defy authority which could lead to social change.
Evaluate the fact that social change is gradual as a limitation of social support
P: Social change through minority influence is very gradual.
E: The role played by minority influence may be limited since minorities such as the suffragettes rarely bring about social change quickly. This is because there is strong tendancy for human beings to confirm to the majority position, people are more likely to maintain the status quo rather than engage in social change.
E: This is a limitation because it suggests that the influence of a minority is frequently more latent than direct. It creates the potential for change rather than actual social change
Evaluate the fact that cognitive conflict may not play as a role as a limitation of social support
P: cognitive conflict may not play a role in how minorities bring about social change.
E: Some people are supposedly converted because they think more deeply about the minority’s views. Diane Mackie (1987) disagrees and presents evidence that it is majority influence that may create deeper processing if you do not share their views. This is because we like to believe that other people share our views and think in the same way as us. When we find that a majority believes something different, then we are forced to think long and hard about their arguments and reasoning.
E: This means that a central element of minority influence has been challenged, casting doubt on its validity as an explanation of social change
Evaluate
P: Social norms approach is not always effective.
E: DeJong et al (2009) tested the effectiveness of social norms marketing campaigns to drive down alcohol use among students across 14 different colleges. Despite receiving normative information that corrected their misconceptions of drinking norms, students in the social norms condition did not report lower self-reported alcohol consumption as a result of the campaign.
E: This is a limitation because it suggests that not all social norm interventions are able to produce social change
