Minority influence

Using:

Debates
Publications
Media appearance
Lawful protests
Licensed public demonstrations, conducted according to the rules

1. Disrupts the majority norm and produces uncertainty and doubt
2. Draws attention to itself as an entity
3. Conveys the existence of an alternative point of view (role of conflict)
4. Demonstrates certainity and unshakeable commitment to its point of view (consistency)
5. Shows that the only solution to the conflict is to support the minority viewpoint (augmentation principle) "snowball effect"

To influence the majority, the minority would take the approach of informational social influence

Minorities are more effective if they are seen to to make personal or material sacrifices for their cause

Acting out of principle rather than alterior motives

The impact of their position on other group members is increased or 'augmented'

Drawing attention to the issue - women denied the same political rights as men - political, militant and educational tactics used

The role of conflict - expressing a different viewpoint, some members of the majority would experience a conflict and move towards the Suffragettes movement

Consistency - expression of views were consistent, fight continued for 15 years, even when imprisoned their protest carried on in jail

The augmentation principle - Suffragettes taken seriously because they were willing to be imprisoned and suffer for their view point

Sometimes the minority group are seen as 'deviant' in the eyes of the majority 

Many avoid agreeing with the deviant minority so they are not viewed as deviant themselves

The influence of a minority is more latent in that it creates the potential for change, rather than leading directly to social change

Social change and social movements would not be possible if active minorities could not have influence over the masses

Examples:
Fathers 4 justice 
Animal testing in the cosmetics industry 

Minorities have to challenge the dominant consensus by providing an alternative viewpoint that is strongly accepted among minority members and often need to adopt particular styles of behaviour in order to be effective (Mugny, 1982)

Moscovici claimed that if majority influence was all-powerful, we would all think and behave the same. He pointed out that major social movements start withan individual or small group, and that without such influences, there would be no innovation in society.

Procedure - participants were placed into 32 groups of 6. Each group there were 4 real participants and 2 confederates.
Pps were told it was an investigation into perception, each group were shown 36 blue slides with filters varying the intensity of the colour.
In the consistent condition, the confederates answered wrongly that the slides were green.
In the inconsistent condition, the confederates said that 24 of the slides were green and 12 were blue.
Answers were given verbally in front of the rest of the group.

Findings - there was an 8.2% agreement with the minority in the consistent condition, with 32% agreeing at least once. 
There was only 1.25% agreement in the inconsistent condition.

Although the consistent condition finding of 8.2% seems a small figure, it is higher than the inconsistent condition figure of 1.25% and so shows that although minority influence is relatively small, consistency is the important variable.

Evaluation - consistent minorities have even greater influence on private attitudes. In a seperate experiment where participants gave their answers privately (consistent condition) there was even greater agreement.
Moscovici used only female participants as he thought that they would be more interested in colours - the results are not generalisable to males.
Study is unethical because it involved deceit, which means informed consent could not be given
The study does not identify important factors in minority influence, like group size, status or degree of organisation.
Research studies generally support Moscovici's findings - Meyers et al (2000) found minority groups that were successful in affecting majorites were more consistent than those that were not.