3. Processes of Minority Influence

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about some key processes of minority influence, focusing in particular on: (i) the tendency for majorities to reject minority ideas prematurely on the basis that they are unreasonable; (ii) three strategies of a minority to break through the premature dismissal of an idea by a majority as consistency (divided into diachronic and synchronic), commitment and flexibility; (iii) social change as an outcome of these strategies, legitimising the minority’s existence, even if this change doesn’t precisely align with the minority’s original proposals.

Course

In this course, Professor Gordon Sammut (London School of Economics) explores minority influence. In the first lecture, we think about contrasting the influence of a minority to that of a lone individual. In the second lecture, we think about the concept of a minority presenting a legitimate alternative to the current way of thinking/acting. In the third lecture, we think about some minority influence processes, including three strategies of consistency, commitment, and flexibility. Next, we think about some key experimental evidence for minority influence. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about some ways in which majority and minority influence may or may not be differentiated.

Lecturer

Professor Gordon Sammut is a visiting fellow in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Sammut’s research interests are in intercultural and intergroup relations, the theory of social representations and modalities of social influence. Some of Professor Sammut’s recent publications include 'The Psychology of social Influence: Modes and Modalities of Shifting Common Sense' (2021) and '‘Social Re-presentation for…’: An Action-Oriented Formula for Intergroup Relations Research' (2020).