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Broadening Perspectives on Achieving Social Change
Author(s) -
Stroebe Katherine,
Wang Katie,
Wright Stephen C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/josi.12132
Subject(s) - dichotomy , collective action , action (physics) , social change , sociology , positive economics , social psychology , epistemology , political science , psychology , economics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , politics , law
The articles in this special issue challenge readers to reconsider the relationships among individual mobility, collective action, and social change. Taken together, they reveal an increasing and broadening interest in the concept of social change and raise important questions about its societal applications. In this commentary, we expand on this rich body of research by considering how surface indicators of (lack of) social change such as individual versus collective action may be related to a wider range of motives than has been assumed. Moreover, we consider more carefully what constitutes social change, and discuss different forms of equality as a means to conceptualizing social change. In doing so, we attempt to move beyond implied dichotomies between individual and collective strategies and actions to consider alternative perspectives on classifying and studying social change.