Change the Wallpaper : Transforming Cultural Patterns to Build More Just Communities.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dasgupta, Nilanjana.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Equality.

Group identity.

Culture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (281 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2025.

Summary:

A social psychologist reveals how to nudge local cultures toward positive structural change by moving people from individual action to collective action How can ordinary people fight for social justice? Can individual actions change structural inequality? In this book, social psychologist Nilanjana Dasgupta offers a science-driven approach to achieving social change, arguing that small changes to the “wallpaper”—the local cultures around us—are far more effective in producing structural change locally than seeking change through bias awareness training, symbolic acts, or relying solely on good intentions. By integrating knowledge across diverse fields—including psychology, neuroscience, education, sociology, economics, public health, urban studies, cultural geography, and landscape architecture—Dasgupta shows how attitudes and beliefs take root in our mind based on what we see and hear every day. This wallpaper nudges our behavior to create or reinforce small inequalities that go unnoticed and accumulate over time. Disrupting these patterns and habits requires creating opportunities for social mixing across lines of difference, allowing new relationships to form, and promoting a better understanding of unfamiliar others’ experiences, followed by organizing and collective action. Together, these types of experiences and actions bring real change within our reach—in workplaces, in neighborhoods, in cities and towns. Dasgupta provides fresh, actionable approaches for everyone interested in working toward justice for all.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Types of Wallpaper and How to Notice Them

1 The Rooms in Which We Live: Vibe, Value, and Belonging

2 Chutes and Ladders: Access to Networks and Opportunities

3 Analyzing Myths: The Stories We Tell Ourselves

4 Incompatible Patterns: Consequences of Cultural Mismatch

Part II: How to Change the Wallpaper

5 Seeing Is Believing: How People and Places Promote Belonging

6 Tap into Emotions: Use the Power of Storytelling

7 Network for Social Justice: Your Action Changes

8 Talent Is Made, Not Born: How to Transform Potential into Excellence

Epilogue: How You Can Act

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780300281309

0300281307

OCLC:

1481797160