What the Rest of the World Knows: In Depth
- The 25% Tipping Point
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The 25% Tipping Point
New research reveals how to make social change.
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2 MIN READ
Nov 3, 2020
There are a lot of good ideas in the world鈥攏ew and different ways of being that challenge the status quo. What does it take to upend conventional beliefs and behaviors?
Social scientist Damon Centola at the University of Pennsylvania has studied how social change happens, from the civil rights movements to the Arab Spring revolutions to #metoo and #BlackLivesMatter. Much about how social change happens is predictable, and he examines the implications of that for grassroots strategies in his upcoming book Change: How to Make Big Things Happen (Little Brown, 2021).
鈥淚f you want to change a culture or a social system, you need to understand the power of social networks鈥攁nd I鈥檓 not just talking about social media. Information and disease spread as 鈥榮imple contagions,鈥� requiring only one contact for transmission. But social change typically spreads as 鈥榗omplex contagions,鈥� requiring multiple sources of social reinforcement to induce adoption,鈥� he explains.
His new research reveals precisely when cultures shift. 鈥淭his is the first-ever demonstration that tipping points lead to change in collective behavior,鈥� Centola said. When 10% or 15% or even 20% of a population grabs hold of an idea, progress is slow. Failure looms. But then, a few more people get on board. And suddenly, success.
Here鈥檚 how it works.
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Tracy Matsue Loeffelholz
is the former creative director at 大象传媒, where she directed artistic and visual components of 大象传媒 Magazine, and drove branding across the organization for nearly 15 years. She specializes in infographic research and design, and currently works with The Nation, in addition to 大象传媒 She previously worked at The Seattle Times, The Virginian-Pilot, Scripps Howard Newspapers, Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Post, The Connecticut Post, The San Diego Tribune, The Honolulu Advertiser. She lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and currently serves on the board of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association. Tracy speaks English.
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