Abstract
Dramatic social changes, such as the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the ongoing “Arab Spring” uprisings, are present throughout history and continue to affect millions of people every day. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of empirical ‘real-world’ research due in part to a lack of basic theory that might provide a framework to guide social psychological research. In the present paper, we argue that both psychology generally, and social psychology more specifically, have failed to adequately address the issue of dramatic social change. We argue that there is a need to move towards a new theoretical framework, one that is capable of addressing dramatic societal changes in terms of their impact at the individual level. As a first step toward achieving this goal, the present paper has two main objectives. We first offer a brief review of the extensive literature from the field of sociology, followed by a more in-depth analysis of the more limited psychological literature. Specifically, research on the topics of collective action, relative deprivation, and perceptions of social change are presented. Second, we outline the challenges associated with developing a heuristic framework for the psychology of social change.
Highlights
Dramatic social changes, such as the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the ongoing “Arab Spring” uprisings, are present throughout history and continue to affect millions of people every day
While social psychology has begun to contribute to social change research and to extend beyond a sociological perspective, we propose that the development of a psychology of social change is necessary to account for the individuals who lived through social change, their experiences and adaptation strategies
The present paper was motivated by the need to advocate for a more thorough understanding of the concept of social change, and for social change to be considered as a central topic within the field of psychology
Summary
Dramatic social changes, such as the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the ongoing “Arab Spring” uprisings, are present throughout history and continue to affect millions of people every day. We outline the challenges associated with developing a heuristic framework for the psychology of social change. Dramatic social changes affect millions of people, are omnipresent, inevitable, and touch every major and minor societal institution. (see Rogers, 2003) Answering this question is pivotal because it is only by understanding the adaptation process of individuals facing dramatic social change that the scientific community will be able to create tools that will help people and communities during such crises
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