Social change processes Flashcards
What is social change?
- When a society as a whole adopts new beliefs or behaviours which then become widely accepted as the ‘norm’
- Methods that have been used in attempts to bring about social change include: education, persuasion and brute force.
What are the 4 social processes that can trigger social change?
- Consistency of the minority
- Commitment
- Flexibility
- Snowball effect
If the point is:
A strength of the social change processes explanation is that there’s supporting research for the assumptions of minority influence and social change.
What is the evidence and link?
Evidence- For example, Moscovici’s study can support the ideas of how social change comes about, as in the study the consistency condition had a higher percentage of conformity of 8.4% compared to the inconsistent condition of 1.3%.
Link- This suggests that the explanation can be seen as high in reliability due to the fact that it is supported by research evidence and it’s findings.
If the point is:
A weakness of the social change processes explanation is that there are methodological issues with this research.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, participants in laboratory experiments are rarely ‘real groups’. More often than not, they’re a collection of students who don’t know each other and will probably never meet again.
Explanation- They’re also involved in an artificial task. This is due to the fact that they’re very different people from minority groups in a wider society who seek to change majority opinion.
Link- This suggests that the concepts from this research may not have full explanatory power, as the research lacks ecological validity.
If the point is:
A strength of the social change processes explanation is that it can be viewed as holistic.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- The theory takes into account a number of factors, for example; how consistent a minority needs to be, but also flexible at the same time, and willing to take risks.
Explanation- This can be further evidenced with examples from modern society such as LGBTQ+ movements.
Link- This implies that social change processes are a result of a combination of powerful factors that drive minorities to bring about social change.
What are the evaluation points for the social change processes explanation?
+ There is supporting research for the assumptions of minority influence and social change
— There is methodological issues with the research into the explanation
+ It can be viewed as holistic
