What is social change?

1. What is social change? “occurs when a society as a whole adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the ‘norm’” It is synonymous with minority influence & our understanding is based on the work of Moscovici.

2. Objectives: To determine what minorities need to do to create the potential for social change. To examine why social change happens.

3. Nemeth (1986) – even when minorities are wrong they can stimulate thinking. Small groups might be dismissed initially by the majority as eccentrics or extremists. However in certain circumstances and over time they can become very influential. They can become a force for positive as well as negative social change. What examples can you think of?

6. What does Moscovici suggest minorities need to be? • Moscovici (1985) identified behavioural styles minorities need to have for creating social influence: • Consistency – most important factor. • Not dogmatic – need to show flexibility. • Others added: • Acting out of principle – not self-interest. • Making sacrifices to maintain position – gives ideas credibility. • Views that are consistent with social trends (e.g. Environmental issues)

7. What characteristics do minorities have that help them achieve social change? Psychology and Social Change

8. Consistency: Both across time & within group. How can we support this? Why? Snowball Effect: Can occur in min. Inf. – a few of the majority begin to move to minority position and the minority view then gathers momentum and more people pay attention to its potential correctness.

9. Why? • The dissociation model: • A process called social cryptoamnesiaoccurs • This means that the minority ideas become part of the majority viewpoint without the majority remembering where the ideas came from. • The content is separated from the source (dissociated).

10. Remember initially the minority may be seen in a negative light – majority members won’t want to take on this identity but if there is dissociation the ideas can be identified with without becoming one of them. May be why it takes time, initially ideas may be resisted but over time they may become detached from source – seems to make sense. But hard to test experimentally.

11. What about independent behaviour? • Lone dissenter • Defying majority/ authority • Asch & Milgram – importance of social support.

12. How could we evaluate minority influence as a process for social change? • Supporting research • Real life examples • Contradictory examples?

13. What does Moscovici suggest minorities need to be? • Moscovici (1985) identified behavioural styles minorities need to have for creating social influence: • _______________ – most important factor. • ______________– need to show flexibility. • Others added: • Acting out of _________ – not self-interest. • Making ____________ to maintain position – gives ideas credibility. • Views that are consistent with ____________(e.g. Environmental issues)

14. Bingo!!

15. Example Question from Jan 2011 Mike and his grandfather were having a conversation about recycling. Mike explained that he always puts empty cans and plastic bottles in one box and newspapers and cardboard in another box and that his mum takes these to be recycled once a week. His grandfather said that when he was Mike’s age, people did not recycle. Mike said that everyone in his street recycles and that they have a big box at school especially for recycling. Using your knowledge of the psychology of social change, explain why recycling is now behaviour carried out by a majority of people in this country. (6 marks)

16. What the mark scheme says Social change occurs when a minority view challenges the majority view and is eventually accepted as the majority. This can take place in several ways, such as social impact theory, the snowball effect and social cryptoamnesia. Research into minority influence by Moscovici and Nemeth can be used to explain how this change happens. In the example of recycling, while the idea started with the minority of individuals, it is now a common behaviour (majority influence). Many schools are now actively teaching the importance of recycling and local authorities are introducing new schemes to encourage recycling. The majority of homes in the country have some form of recycling facility provided by their local authority. Through the snowball effect, what was originally a minority belief, the importance of recycling, has become a majority behaviour and accepted as the social norm. Candidates need to use their knowledge of how social change occurs and apply it to recycling.

17. What the mark scheme says

18. Example Question – adapted from Jan 2009 Discuss how social influence research helps us to understand social change. (12 Marks)

19. What the mark scheme says Social influence research has suggested that it is minorities and independent behaviour that brings about social change (conformity maintains the status quo). For example, a minority can challenge the beliefs and values of the majority causing them to re-think/re-evaluate their beliefs. However, this change can be slow and sometimes the majority does not even know where the ideas originated (eg social crypto-amnesia). It is also possible to show how a single individual can bring about considerable social change and candidates could illustrate this by considering figures in history. Sometimes it is the personality of the individual, other times it is the particular aspects of the situation, or it is a combination of these two.