Social psychological reactions to social change and instability : fear of status loss, social discrimination and foreigner hostility

Multimedia technology is becoming ubiquitous in modern society, and it is having profound effects on institutions and our expectations of the future. The technology is very fluid, and its development is shaped by a great many social factors. Prediction of the co-evolution of multimedia technology and society needs to be informed by a research framework that focuses attention on the key social, psychological, political and economic influences on technology and technology use, and the emergence of stable uses, infrastructures, standards and development paths. The paper criticises ‘technological determinist’ approaches, which simply seek to extrapolate social change from technological potential. It shows how a three layer model of component, systems and application technologies can be used to integrate findings from the use and development of technology in specific sectors. Three cases of technology-based predictions are examined, and lessons for understanding technology futures are illustrated by research in different industry and user sectors.

Download Full-text

Contact and social change in an ongoing asymmetrical conflict: four social-psychological models of reconciliation-aimed planned encounters between Israeli Jews and Palestinians

Beyond Prejudice ◽

10.1017/cbo9781139022736.016 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 269-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ifat Maoz

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Psychological Models

Download Full-text

Narrative Approaches within a Social Psychology of Social Justice: The Potential Utility of Narrative Evidence

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199938735.013.9 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

David M. Frost

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Social Justice ◽

Social Change ◽

Narrative Research ◽

Psychological Research ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Psychological Study ◽

Narrative Approaches ◽

Research Findings ◽

Social Psychological Research

This chapter illustrates the utility of narrative approaches within the social psychological study of social justice. By providing an overview of narrative approaches within social psychology, the potential for narrative research to generate knowledge of interest to social justice researchers is highlighted. In efforts to further promote the utility of narrative approaches in social justice research, the concept of narrative evidence is introduced in order to encourage the translation of knowledge gained from social psychological research on social justice concerns into attempts to inform and provoke social change. An illustrative example is discussed drawn from the author’s own research. The work of translating narrative research findings into narrative evidence is an important next step within a social psychology of social justice that seeks to produce knowledge of social justice concerns and has the potential to inform and inspire social change efforts.

Download Full-text

Why Professions Matter: Structural Invariance, Institutional Consequences, Bias

Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1163/156913310x522598 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 744-803 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

David Sciulli

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

Economic Approach ◽

Conceptual Level ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Sociology Of Professions ◽

State Administration ◽

Alternative Approach ◽

Structural Invariance ◽

Anglo American ◽

Stratification System

AbstractReceived wisdom in the sociology of professions employs two approaches, a narrow socio-economic approach (largely in the Anglo-American world) and a much broader cultural and social-psychological approach (largely on the Continent). Both approaches agree on two points. First, professions cannot be distinguished at a conceptual level from other occupations. Second, whatever consequences either successful or failed professionalism introduces into civil society or state administration are confined to the occupational order and stratification system. They do not and cannot affect the direction of social change. The alternative approach outlined and discussed here is structural and institutional. With this approach we distinguish professions proper analytically from other occupations and we identify consequences of professionalism proper that uniquely reflect or anticipate notable shifts in the direction of social change.

Download Full-text

Socially Engaged Social Psychology in Asia: Sustaining Research Progress in Diverse Directions

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology ◽

10.1017/prp.2018.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Allan B. I. Bernardo ◽

James H. Liu

Keyword(s):

Social Psychology ◽

Social Change ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Research Progress ◽

Special Issue ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Social Phenomena ◽

The Social ◽

Wide Range ◽

Psychological Paradigms

The final thematic special issue in the series ‘The Social Psychology of Social Change: Science and Practice in Asia’ features 10 empirical studies that apply diverse social psychological theories and approaches to understand and to address a wide range of social concerns in Asian societies. The articles in the special issue align more to mainstream social psychological approaches to studying social phenomena, and as such are mainly derivative of Western social psychological paradigms, with the exception of a couple of studies that adopt emic indigenous approaches. Nevertheless, the various studies display a clear motivation to use social psychology to engage particular societal concerns, representing incremental progress towards using social psychology in the service of social change.

Download Full-text

Round Table Talks did not happen in a vacuum: The political solidarity model of social change and Polish transition to democracy

Social Psychological Bulletin ◽

10.32872/spb.v14i4.2313 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Paulina Górska

Keyword(s):

Social Change ◽

Round Table ◽

Social Processes ◽

Transition To Democracy ◽

The Political ◽

Psychological Perspective ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Political Solidarity ◽

Social Psychological Perspective

Theories of social change developed within social psychology are rarely employed to interpret historical events. This is a serious neglect, as a social-psychological perspective has the capacity to inform our understanding of long-term processes that prepare the ground for major political breakthroughs. In this commentary, I utilize the political solidarity model of social change (Subašić, Reynolds, & Turner, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868308323223) to examine Poland’s path to democracy. Using a tripolar division for the authority (i.e., communist leaders), the minority (i.e., democratic opposition), and the majority (i.e., unengaged citizens), I argue that the Round Table Talks of 1989 originated from two interdependent social processes that precipitated in the late ’70s. Whereas one of these processes encompassed the loss of popular support for the Communist Party, the other one involved an increase in the majority’s identification with the democratic opposition. I propose that without the co-occurrence of these two processes, the Round Table agreements would not have been possible.

Download Full-text

What a Good Idea! Ideologies and Frames in Social Movement Research

Mobilization An International Quarterly ◽

10.17813/maiq.5.1.g54k222086346251 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 37-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 243

Author(s):

Pamela Oliver ◽

Hank Johnston

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Social Change ◽

Social Construction ◽

Social Movement ◽

Frame Theory ◽

The Other ◽

Social Psychological ◽

Coherent Systems ◽

Political Ideas ◽

The Social

Frame theory is often credited with "bringing ideas back in" social movement studies, but frames are not the only useful ideational concepts. The older, more politicized concept of ideology needs to be used in its own right and not recast as a frame. Frame theory is rooted in linguistic studies of interaction, and points to the way shared assumptions and meanings shape the interpretation of events. Ideology is rooted in politics and the study of politics, and points to coherent systems of ideas which provide theories of society coupled with value commitments and normative implications for promoting or resisting social change. Ideologies can function as frames, they can embrace frames, but there is more to ideology than framing. Frame theory offers a relatively shallow conception of the transmission of political ideas as marketing and resonating, while a recognition of the complexity and depth of ideology points to the social construction processes of thinking, reasoning, educating, and socializing. Social movements can only be understood by linking social psychological and political sociology concepts and traditions, not by trying to rename one group in the language of the other.

Download Full-text