Social Change, Psychology, and Entrepreneurship

Theories of Social Change

There are a number of theories of social change, referring to the ways in which a profession, person, or idea can help alter the prevailing values and structures within society — typically with a view toward the philosophical goal of improvement over time. Social change may refer to large-scale cultural shifts, such as the transition from feudalism to capitalism, social revolutions as presented in Marxism or Leninism, or social movements such as the Women's Equal Rights Movement or the Civil Rights Movement. As such, it may be driven by a number of forces: cultural, religious, economic, scientific, or technological factors that result in changes to social institutions, relations, or behaviors (Harper, 2010).

Social change may also occur from a micro perspective. Many of the social sciences are able to help social change evolve in a one-step-at-a-time manner, envisioning the grander historical and modern changes of the postmodern world and using them as a backdrop for progress. Modern psychologists have a responsibility to the field as well as to their patients to work within this paradigm of change and to support both individual growth and social progress through institutionalized evolution. This has never been as important as it is in the current global economic model. Globalization, along with the rapid clinical and technological changes occurring in the world today — partly due to the short half-life of technology such as the Internet and mass media, and partly due to the access individuals in various parts of the world now have to rising social standards and aspirations — makes this responsibility all the more pressing (Sampson, 1989).

The Psychologist's Role in Social Progress

There are a number of current issues that may be at the heart of social change for the psychology professional. If one can help individuals deal with life-threatening illness, individual differences in sexual preference, aging, workplace issues, and egalitarian concerns, it can only serve to open the field for discussion and advance life's process. For instance, whether or not one views a cosmic or social consciousness as a real possibility, helping an individual cope with a serious issue will have an effect not just on that individual, but on that individual's family, friends, colleagues, and even those ancillary people affected by the same issues. In turn, by the logic of geometric progression, if x number of people are affected and each in turn affects y number of others, the total impact grows far beyond the original interaction (Elder, 1994).

Similarly, psychologists have the opportunity to be more public in several ways that can accomplish social change: through publication in the scholarly and popular press, through media contacts and public seminars, and through teaching and interacting with students — particularly by training younger minds to be open to various possibilities and viewpoints.

Entrepreneurship as a Vehicle for Social Change

Entrepreneurship is but one way that social change may be accomplished on an individual basis — the "think global, act local" paradigm. The word entrepreneurship derives from a French term meaning "a person who undertakes innovations and risks in business in an effort to transform ideas into economic goods." In modern business usage, it has come to describe more of a mindset: one who will take risks in pursuit of gain, who will harness the spirit of innovation and discard conventional limitations to succeed within any organization (Searching for the Invisible Man, 2006).