About this Research Topic
Social change – both real and imagined – is a central focus of political attitudes and action. The very labels progressive and conservative signal an overall preference for change and stability, respectively. Many political conflicts center on the preferred direction of change – i.e. restoring an idealized past vs. attaining an idealized future – or the preferred pace of change – i.e. incremental reform vs. revolutionary transformation. Further, political activism often involves a dialectic between social movements that advocate for social changes and counter-movements that oppose those very changes.
This Research Topic aims to showcase psychological theory and research that advances knowledge of perceptions, attitudes, and behavior regarding sociopolitical change. Specifically, this Research Topic welcomes contributions covering, but not limited to, the following themes:
• how ideologies function to promote or resist social change,
• rationalization of the status quo as a barrier to social change,
• cognitive processes that promote preference for the status quo or change,
• perceptions of progress towards equality and other political goals,
• perceived sociocultural threat in reaction to increased diversity,
• effects of perceived sociopolitical changes on subjective well-being,
• social representations of historical change and future trajectories,
• collective memory and its relations to attitudes and emotions,
• narratives of progress and decline in political discourse,
• nostalgia and motivation to restore an idealized past,
• optimism and pessimism about prospects for meaningful change,
• utopian vs. dystopian imagining of the future,
• accuracy and error in forecasts of sociopolitical change by experts and laypeople,
• perceptions and attitudes towards climate change, globalization, and other large-scale changes,
• the impact of dynamic social norms on attitudes and behavior,
• frustration at the pace of sociopolitical change,
• minority influence processes in advocating for change.
This Research Topic aims to showcase psychological theory and research that advances knowledge of perceptions, attitudes, and behavior regarding sociopolitical change. Specifically, this Research Topic welcomes contributions covering, but not limited to, the following themes:
• how ideologies function to promote or resist social change,
• rationalization of the status quo as a barrier to social change,
• cognitive processes that promote preference for the status quo or change,
• perceptions of progress towards equality and other political goals,
• perceived sociocultural threat in reaction to increased diversity,
• effects of perceived sociopolitical changes on subjective well-being,
• social representations of historical change and future trajectories,
• collective memory and its relations to attitudes and emotions,
• narratives of progress and decline in political discourse,
• nostalgia and motivation to restore an idealized past,
• optimism and pessimism about prospects for meaningful change,
• utopian vs. dystopian imagining of the future,
• accuracy and error in forecasts of sociopolitical change by experts and laypeople,
• perceptions and attitudes towards climate change, globalization, and other large-scale changes,
• the impact of dynamic social norms on attitudes and behavior,
• frustration at the pace of sociopolitical change,
• minority influence processes in advocating for change.
Keywords: Political Psychology, Social Change
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
