From your perspective, social change is the change in relative dominance of various groups. Why would behaving as if one is already dominant be expected to work?
Because people don’t magically know which group is dominant and thus which group they should conform to.
By acting like they’re more dominant than they actually are, groups can convince more people that they really are that dominant and cause the people to conform to the group’s wishes; which is to say the group thus becomes more dominant. Sort of like the expression “fake it till you make it”.
BTW, do you have a sense of why my question got downvoted?
I thought you were one of the people who objected to over-reliance on status-based explanations.
For many of the most important groupings, the first selections are do by others. (I.e. the popular seniors are the first deciders of which grouping the new high school freshmen belong in).
By acting like they’re more dominant than they actually are, groups can convince more people that they really are that dominant and cause the people to conform to the group’s wishes; which is to say the group thus becomes more dominant.
I just don’t think this is accurate analysis of group dynamics.
Sort of like the expression “fake it till you make it”.
I think this is more accurate for individuals trying to become members of a group than it is of groups trying to change their relative position.
(I.e. the popular seniors are the first deciders of which grouping the new high school freshmen belong in)
I would argue that this is a non-representative example since in most situations there isn’t nearly as clear a division between the deciders and the people being sorted.
I think this is more accurate for individuals trying to become members of a group than it is of groups trying to change their relative position.
This can also apply when members of one group (e.g., people who believe in philosophy X) what to increase how many of their members are also in another group with fuzzy membership (e.g., the inner clique in the philosophy department).
Because people don’t magically know which group is dominant and thus which group they should conform to.
By acting like they’re more dominant than they actually are, groups can convince more people that they really are that dominant and cause the people to conform to the group’s wishes; which is to say the group thus becomes more dominant. Sort of like the expression “fake it till you make it”.
No idea. I didn’t downvote it.
For many of the most important groupings, the first selections are do by others. (I.e. the popular seniors are the first deciders of which grouping the new high school freshmen belong in).
I just don’t think this is accurate analysis of group dynamics.
I think this is more accurate for individuals trying to become members of a group than it is of groups trying to change their relative position.
I would argue that this is a non-representative example since in most situations there isn’t nearly as clear a division between the deciders and the people being sorted.
This can also apply when members of one group (e.g., people who believe in philosophy X) what to increase how many of their members are also in another group with fuzzy membership (e.g., the inner clique in the philosophy department).