Social Change

Question 1

Social change

Answer 1

Occurs when a society adopts a new belief or behaviour which then becomes widely accepted as the norm

Question 2

Real life examples

Answer 2

• applying findings from minority studies to terrorism
• obedience studies to genocide
• resisting social influence to political protest

Question 3

Explain how Milgram and agentic shift can show social change

Answer 3

• Milgram’s participants showed a strong tendency to obey
• he theorised that they had undergone ‘agentic shift’ , involving movement from a position of personal responsibility to attributing it to the authority present
• this process underpins the negative social change that is characterised by ethnic cleansing
• it has been used to explain the role of Nazi leaders in the Holocaust. They claimed that they were simply following orders

Question 4

Explain how Milgram and ash showed social change

Answer 4

• by adding disobedient or non conformist role models to their design, Milgram and Asch demonstrated how independent behaviour could be encourage
• this process is mirrored in the actions of dissenters such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela who have been key to movements for social change including the civil rights in the US
• both leaders demonstrated the personal qualities of those who show independent behaviour

Question 5

Explain Milgram and the Holocaust

Answer 5

• Milgram applied his concepts to the Holocaust
• However, this overlooked the context to the ethnic cleansing, complex socio-economic issues such as Germany’s pre war depression and anti Semitism - rather than simply obedience.
• These criticisms make it doubtful that social influence research can help us understand social change