social influence in social change Flashcards
The role of social influence processes in social change.
what are social influence processes?
strategies that can cause social change which is when there is a shift in the beliefs or behaviour of an entire population and the previously widely accepted norm changes to be something new
examples of social influence process strategies
utilising minority influence
encouraging an internal locus of control
disobedience to authority
explain the role of minority influence in social change
the minority group manages to persuade the majority to adopt their point of view by being consistent, committed and flexible (demonstrated by Moscovici and Nemeth). however the minority must have an internal locus of control to resist compliance while also being able to disobey authority to drive their point into the limelight
explain the snowball effect
when the minority begins to be successful in their attempts to influence the majority, the new idea spreads and builds up over time in the majority to eventually be adopted as the majority opinion - the rate of conversion is higher than the number of the previous majority view
those who refuse to be influenced by the new idea will eventually be forced to comply by the majority
the new majority opinion tends to become the law so people are forced to obey it
example of social influence in social change
the shift in attitudes towards race and sexuality
being racist and homophobic used to be the norm but after influences from minority groups, it eventually became accepted as the new norm and those who continue to be racist and homophobic are pressured to hide it or change
hateful acts towards the minorities used to be accepted but is now illegal
explain Moscovici’s conversion theory (1980)
conversion theory explained how social change occurs and there are 3 clear factors that determine the success of a minority to facilitate social change: consistency, sacrifices and group membership
explain consistency in social change
the minority must be consistent in their opposition - consistent individuals challenge and question the values and norms of society e.g. Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela were consistent in their views which helped bring about social change
Moscovici’s research found that a consistent minority were more likely (8.4%) to convince a majority that the colour of a slide was green not blue compared to an inconsistent minority (1.3%)
explain sacrifices in social change
minorities that make sacrifices are more likely to be influential as they show their dedication to the cause - through imprisonment or death their influence becomes more powerful e.g. Rosa Parks demonstrated that people who are willing to make a sacrifice show their commitment to their cause and as a result are more influential
explain group membership in social change
if the minority is similar to the majority in terms of class, age, gender etc they are more likely to be influential
Maass et al (1982) investigated this and found that a minority of heterosexual men were more likely to convince a heterosexual majority about gay rights in comparison to a minority of homosexual people
concluded that straight men have more persuasive power when discussing gay rights with other straight men supporting the idea that similarity in terms of group membership is an important factor for minority influence and social change
explain an example of social change in which these factors are shown
the suffragettes were consistent in their view and persistently used educational and political arguments to draw attention to female rights
they remained consistent for many years and despite opposition continued protesting until they convinced society to allow women to vote
many suffragettes made sacrifices for their cause e.g. imprisonment, hunger strike, death which made their influence even more powerful
they 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 all adults gaining the right to vote
evaluations for social change
- Nemeth said social change is a slow process and produced fragile effects. he argues that the majority are not exposed to the main issue at hand so it may not be resolved as the process takes a long time meaning that the effects are also delayed. this suggests that social change through minority influence cannot be relied upon to bring about long-standing changes in society
- social change is not as simple as many people are set in their ways and unwilling to change. Bashir suggests that these social barriers are largely due to the stereotypes people have/ this suggests that minority and social influence are not always effective because they cannot tackle these issues
- Mackie suggests that the role of minority influence is very limited because we are more likely to change our own views if the majority view is different to our own. this is because we often take comfort knowing that other people share our view that we become settled which makes it difficult to make and process such a change
