Catalyzing social change: Does concentration encourage action?

Countless social problems demand solutions, from climate change and gun control to poverty and systemic racism. But while some of these problems inspire action (e.g., "Black Lives Matter" and "Me Too" movements), most fail to gain traction or inspire new policy. Why do some probl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one 2022-12, Vol.17 (12), p.e0277934
Main Authors:	Berger, Jonah, Jackson, Joshua Conrad, Kolsarici, Ceren
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Advertising Burglary Climate change Consumers Cultural change Discrimination Economic models Engineering and Technology Evaluation Fatalities Firearm laws & regulations Gun violence Hypotheses Legislation Management Marketing Mass murders Medicine and Health Sciences Modelling Oil spills Organized crime Poverty Secondary data analysis Sex crimes Sexual assault Sexual harassment Social Change Social conditions Social interactions Social Sciences Sociological research
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Summary:	Countless social problems demand solutions, from climate change and gun control to poverty and systemic racism. But while some of these problems inspire action (e.g., "Black Lives Matter" and "Me Too" movements), most fail to gain traction or inspire new policy. Why do some problems garner more attention and response? We suggest that the relative timing of related events may play an important role. Specifically, action may be more likely when related events are concentrated in time. A multi-method investigation tests this possibility. Study 1 borrows a modeling strategy from the economics and marketing literatures to examine a particularly important domain: gun control. Analysis of over 40 years of gun control legislation finds that, even after controlling for the frequency of mass shootings, bills are more likely to be proposed (and passed) when shootings are concentrated in time. Study 2 further tests concentration's causal impact and demonstrates that concentration increases support against sexual assault. These findings illustrate how a modeling approach commonly used to study advertising goodwill can be applied to a broader set of situations, suggest why some social problems are more likely to catalyze action, and shed light on drivers of social movements and collective action.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203