How does a minority exert influence on a majority? Traditionally social psychologists have characterised influence as a process leading to conformity - the minority coming to accept the view of the majority. For the contributors to this volume, working in a society where the reverse process is frequently exemplified - a society characterised by change and innovation - such an approach is no longer tenable. They believe that only by examining social processes also in terms of minority influence can the paradox be resolved. The volume is organised into two broadly based but interconnected parts. Part I analyses the process of influence itself, while Part II sets it within the context of groups. The influence of minorities is thus located within the cognitive and social field in which interaction between minorities and majorities occurs. The original and dynamic research paradigms presented here and the theoretical and empirical results that are reported offer alternative insights not only into the phenomenon of influence per se, but also into such classical notions as 'the group' , 'deviance' and 'convergence'.

The two volumes of The Social Dimension present a comprehensive survey of the major developments in social psychology which took place in Europe during the very active 1970s and 1980s. They aim to capture the diversity and vitality of the discipline, stress the growing emphasis on fully social analyses of social psychological phenomena - hence 'the social dimension' - and to provide a valuable resource for researchers in the future. Although comprehensive in scope, the volumes are not written in the formal style of a reference handbook. Instead, the authors of the thirty-three chapters, drawn from more than a dozen mainly European countries and all experts in their own fields, were invited to present their own personal overviews of the issues in social psychology on which they were actively working. Both volumes are organized into three main Parts. Volume 1 is concerned with the social development of the child, interpersonal communication and relationships, and the social reality, group processes, and intergroup relations. This ambitious enterprise has produced a distinctive yet authoritative summary and evaluation of the growth points of social psychology in Europe which will interest and influence not only social psychologists but many readers from related disciplines.