How Does Social Change Occur
The main purpose of this chapter is to examine the concept of social change and what it means for people, how it is communicated, how it is achieved, how it spreads, and so on. Hickman (2010) here aims to show the social change does not spontaneously manifest itself as a protest like that seen during the 1960s or 1970s. Instead, the author intends to show that social change begins organically, usually at a grassroots level, and grows as more and more people find commonality with the views of the movement. When the ideas have spread to a large population from a small population, social change is demanded and effected, sometimes through the sort of protests that one typically associates with social change. The author pursues this purpose by defining social change, the purpose of social change, the language of social change, concepts in social change (particularly the periods of social change—i.e., the first period being the classical period in which movements are irrational, the second period in which rational action within structural constraints is demonstrated, the third period in which new social movements arise). Types of important social change concepts include leadership without formal authority, transactional leadership, charismatic leadership and so on. The author looks at social movement structure, resource mobilization, political opportunity structure, and the development of strategic capacity.

The key question that the author is addressing is what it means to engage in social change and how the engagement is demonstrated. The author aims to answer this question by looking at theories of social change over time. When the author wrote this chapter the key question in his mind was most likely this: How can I discuss the issue of social change in a comprehensive and informative manner that addresses the most important issues without glossing over important substantial details?

The most important information in this chapter is this idea that “social change initiatives call for the development of social capital to succeed” (Hickman, 2010, p. 208). In other words, social change cannot succeed without the proper movement and use of people in one’s network. That network will generally start out small and then grow as important people from other communities sign on and commit to spreading and promoting the message. The idea of suing social capital effectively is really at the heart of social change.

The main inference/conclusions in this chapter are that social change is generally achieved through a complex interaction of factors and variables, such as a ripening political environment in which social change can serve as a lever for political action—somewhat like the movement for a new economic order is happening today among far-left politicians responding to a far-left movement for social change. There also has to be an environment of nonconstituted leadership in order for change to happen, as this allows for multiple people on multiple fronts to lead in a truly collective effort that does not depend upon a single leader or decision-maker to call all the shots. Instead, the collective moves organically.

The key concepts we need...…as these are elements of the second dimension as well: the networking and use of social capital allows for individuals to connect in a marvelous way yet it retains some degree of mystery as the people do not really know or need to know one another. What binds them is their appreciation for the vision, the change that is being promoted and the good that can come from it. This is the magnificence aspect of the process that comes into play: there really has to be a sense of magnificence among the people and a belief in the incredible, because social change is so unusual in many ways and so unexpected because it seems to come out of nowhere though it is slowly building and building like a volcano that is about to erupt.

What are the related implications, benefits, impact, relevance and returns on investment if we take the author’s underlying premises? The related implications, benefits, impact, relevance and returns on investment if we take the author’s underlying premises are that social change does not necessarily have to be something that the majority of people are convinced of or are convinced is needed. Instead, social change can occur because the opportunity is there for the right people at the right time to take it and make something new happen. There has to be alignment among a number of factors so that there is momentum for the social change, there is access to power that can actually make the change happen, and the movement is real.