scholarly journals Greens or space invaders: Prominent utopian themes and effects on social change motivation

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian W. Fernando ◽  
Léan V. O'Brien ◽  
Nicholas J. Burden ◽  
Madeline Judge ◽  
Yoshihisa Kashima

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Fernando ◽  
Léan V. O’Brien ◽  
Nicholas J. Burden ◽  
Madeline Judge ◽  
Yoshihisa Kashima

One way in which individuals can participate in changing the society they live in is through the pursuit of an ideal society or ‘utopia’; however, the content of that utopia is a likely determinant of its motivational impact. Here we examined two predominant prototypes of utopia derived from previous research and theory - the Green and Sci-Fi utopias. When participants were primed with either of these utopias, the Green utopia was perceived to entail a range of other positive characteristics (e.g. warmth, positive emotions) and - provided it was positively evaluated – tended to elicit both motivation and behaviour for social change. In contrast, the Sci-Fi utopia was associated with low motivation, even when it was positively evaluated. Furthermore, the Modern Green utopia was shown to elicit greater perceptions of collective self-efficacy, which in turn predicted the increase in social change motivation.



2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 438-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Jost ◽  
Chadly Stern ◽  
David A. Kalkstein

AbstractWe agree that promoting intergroup harmony “carries insidious, often unacknowledged, ‘system-justifying’ consequences” (sect. 4.1.3, para. 2) and identify several ways in which “benevolent” and “complementary” stereotypes, superordinate identification, intergroup contact, and prejudice reduction techniques can undermine social change motivation by reinforcing system-justifying beliefs. This may “keep the peace,” but it also prevents individuals and groups from tackling serious social problems, including inequality and oppression.







Author(s):  
Robert L. Cooper


1982 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 592-593
Author(s):  
Leroy H. Pelton






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