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Cited by 59Environmental Education and SustainabilityClimate Change Communication and PerceptionSocial and Intergroup Psychology

Minority influence in climate change mitigation

Open access
Bolderdijk, Jan Willem, Jans, Lise·2021·Current Opinion in Psychology
DOI 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.02.005
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Abstract

While the majority of people care about environmental quality, they keep engaging in carbon-intensive practices that exacerbate climate change. Can we expect humans to collectively change by themselves, from the bottom up? Social change is often initiated by minorities - individuals who challenge the status quo. The dominant literature paints a rather pessimistic picture about the ability of minorities to instigate change in the environmental domain: environmental activists, vegans, and other minority members often elicit social sanctions, thereby ironically reinforcing the majority's commitment to current, environmentally harmful norms. Recent findings, however, point towards more optimism: pro-environmental minorities can pave the way towards 'tipping points' and spontaneous social change. Policymakers can speed up this process by offering top-down support for minorities - by giving them 'voice'.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.02.005

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  • Vocal minority groups were able to create large waves of social change through visible platforms, as seen in cultural 'tipping points' such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter.

    “This can be seen in cultural 'tipping points' (i.e., #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter), wherein vocal minority groups were able to create large waves of social change through visible platforms [52].”

    From Climate Distress: A Review of Current Psychological Research and Practice (2023) · cites this paper as [52]

    The Concluding remarks (page unavailable) cite #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter as examples of spontaneous, bottom-up social change. The paper discusses giving minorities a voice and making pro-environmental actions visible, but it does not say that those two movements achieved change through visible platforms. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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1 of the 60 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Gifford R, Lacroix K, Chen A: Understanding responses to climate change: psychological barriers to mitigation and a new theory of behavioural choice. In Psychology and climate change: human perceptions, impacts, and responses. Edited by Clayton S, Manning C, New York: Academic; 2018:161-184.

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Authors
Bolderdijk, J. W., & Jans, L.
Affiliations
University of Groningen (NL)
Corresponding author
Bolderdijk, Jan Willem
ORCID
Venue
Current Opinion in Psychology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-12
Volume
42
Pages
25-30
ISSN
2352-250X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.02.005
OpenAlex
W3129270543
Cited by
59
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6
FWCI
1.26
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Keywords
minority influence, climate change mitigation, pro-environmental behavior, social change, environmental activism, social sanctions, tipping points, environmental norms
MeSH terms
Humans, Minority Groups, Social Change, Climate Change

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