Accelerating social tipping points in sustainable behaviors: Insights from a dynamic model of moralized social change

Abstract

To address the climate crisis, it is important to accelerate social tipping points in the adoption of sustainable behaviors. Social tipping points describe the process whereby small changes trigger self-perpetuating feedback loops and produce a fundamental transformation in the social system. The current literature does not adequately address how the moralized nature of sustainable behaviors could lead to unique tipping trajectories. In this Perspective, we propose a dynamic model of moralized social change that provides insights on how novel sustainable behaviors spread over society and how to speed up this process. Although moralization may initially generate social friction that delays tipping points, it can accelerate change at later stages by increasing social pressure on laggards. By implementing early system-level changes, policymakers can help reduce the initial inertia created by moralization and accelerate social tipping points. We discuss how our model can inform the decisions of activists, policymakers, professionals, and researchers.