Social change Same sex marriage Racial equality Legalisation of homosexuality No smoking in public places Vote for women Abolition of slavery

Social change “When society adopts a new belief or way of behaving which then becomes widely accepted as the norm” Example of recent social change include legalisation of same-sex marriages, no smoking in public places. Less recent examples include the American Civil Rights and the vote for women (Sufragettes)

Majority vs Minority Influence Majorities maintain the status quo, promoting uniformity and exerting pressure on those deviating Minority influence is associated with change & innovation as the ideas cause a social conflict For minority influence to work there must be a conversion in those from the majority. Social change is due to minority influence

Study on minority influence: Moscovici (1969) Aim: to investigate the effect of a minority on a majority. Sample: female students. The Ps were placed in groups consisting of 4 Ps and 2 confederates. They were shown 36 slides of different shades of blue and asked to state the colour aloud. There were two groups in the experiment. – Group 1: the confederates were consistent and answered green for every slide. – Group 2: the confederates were inconsistent and answered green 24 times and blue 12 times. Results In the consistent group 8.42% of trials Ps answered green (agreeing with the minority). 32% of the Ps agreed at least once. In the inconsistent group 1.25% of trials resulted in P’s answering green. Conclusion: This suggests that minorities can change the opinion of the majority, particularly if they are consistent.

Conditions for Conversion Consistency The minority must be consistent in their opinion Flexibility The minority must not appear to be rigid & dogmatic Relevance The minority will be more successful if their views are in line with social trends Commitment A committed minority will lead people to rethink their position.

Snow ball effect This occurs when a minority convert a small group of people to their views, this small group convert other people. Over a period of time the original minority view can become the view of the majority.

Social crypto amnesia Minority ideas are assimilated into the majority viewpoint without those in the majority remembering where the ideas came from. This often happens when the minority ideas are so strongly associated with the source that to adopt the message risks assuming the negative identity of the source.

Social change Informational social influence i.e. Effects of smoke inhalation on health Internalisation: Internalisation: conversion of a few people who then become a minority. Snowball effect: The minority becomes the majority Compliance to the majority norm. Crypto amnesia Conditions for Conversion Normative social influence

Social crypto amnesia Most people have forgotten who started this movement A law is passed (2007) People obey the law and stop smoking in public places. Conformity The minority (now the individuals still smoking in public places) conform to the majority and stop smoking in public places. Snowball effect These individuals are consistent, flexible and committed and “convert” others to their point of view, these people convert others... until the minority becomes the majority. Internalisation A minority of individuals become convinced that it is dangerous and that smoking in public should be banned. Informational social influence Scientific research into the effects of passive smoking shows that it can lead to cancer in non-smokers An example...