“Why you can justify almost anything using historical social movements” by JamesÖz 🔸

<p> [Cross-posted from my Substack here]</p><p> If you spend time with people trying to change the world, you’ll come to an interesting conundrum: Various advocacy groups reference previous successful social movements as to why their chosen strategy is the most important one. Yet, these groups often follow wildly different strategies from each other to achieve social change. So, which one of them is right?</p><p> The answer is all of them and none of them.</p><p> This is because many people use research and historical movements to justify their pre-existing beliefs about how social change happens. Simply, you can find a case study to fit most plausible theories of how social change happens. For example, the groups might say:</p><ul> <li> Repeated nonviolent disruption is the key to social change, citing the Freedom Riders from the civil rights Movement or Act Up! from the gay rights movement.</li><li> Technological progress is what drives improvements [...]</li></ul> <p><i>The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.</i> </p><p>---</p> <p><b>First published:</b><br/> April 24th, 2025 </p> <p><b>Source:</b><br/> <a href="https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/why-you-can-justify-almost-anything-using-historical-social?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Source+URL+in+episode+description&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/why-you-can-justify-almost-anything-using-historical-social</a> </p> <p>---</p> <p>Narrated by <a href="https://type3.audio/?utm_source=TYPE_III_AUDIO&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=Narrated+by+TYPE+III+AUDIO&utm_term=ea_forum&utm_campaign=ai_narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TYPE III AUDIO</a>.</p> <p>---</p><div style="max-width: 100%";><p><strong>Images from the article:</strong></p><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/dnhtukgo772sp78irwvk" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/dnhtukgo772sp78irwvk" alt="Text passage about linking local organizing to national influencing strategies." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/pflerjgfybgamt1itf3i" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/pflerjgfybgamt1itf3i" alt="Text image from ACTION organization about nonviolent activism and social change movements." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><hr style="margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;" /><a href="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/jipphadldehu6mhimci7" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/cea/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/kACcdhLDdWb9ZPG9L/jipphadldehu6mhimci7" alt="Graph showing progressive activists' estimates versus actual public views in Britain The visualization compares progressive activists' perceptions of public opinion with actual polling data across various social and political issues, highlighting consistent overestimation by activists on most progressive positions, particularly regarding issues like racism education, climate change, and monarchy abolition." style="max-width: 100%;" /></a><p><em>Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try <a href="https://pocketcasts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">Pocket Casts</a>, or another podcast app.</em></p></div>