Dramatic Social Change (DSC)

Abstract

Dramatic social changes (or DSCs) occur around the world and affect (or have the potential to affect) every person in the planet. Despite their prominence, psychology has been slow in defining, and as a consequence, in studying, DSCs. We offer a review of the psychological study of DSC. First, we focus on defining dramatic social change (sometimes called rapid social/societal change) from a psychology perspective. Based on sociological and psychological literature, DSC is defined based on four characteristics: 1) a rapid event that 2) ruptures the social structures and 3) normative structures of a society as well as 4) threatens the cultural identity. Second, to best grasp the unique and powerful situation represented by DSCs, we compare DSC to three societal states that share some of its characteristics: incremental social change, stability, and collective inertia. Finally, we present two broad methodologies used when studying DSC: a static approach (which focused on which society is/is not in DSC) and a dynamic approach (which studies the process of social change by placing time at the core of this approach).