Somebody Should Do Something
How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change
Philosophers Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva, and Daniel Kelly’s social science study Somebody Should Do Something maps how well-meaning people get stuck between personal virtue and structural inertia when confronting “everything problems.”
The book’s answer to confronting issues including climate change and racism is a both-and model of change, whereby individuals change systems, and systems change individuals. Challenging either-or thinking, it revisits publicity campaigns including Keep America Beautiful’s “Crying Indian” to show how corporate interests reframe systemic issues, including pollution and public health, as failures of personal responsibility. Pointing to connected concepts, such as the “personal carbon footprint” that originated from fossil fuel public relations teams, the book shows how such tactics hamper efforts toward progressive change, as with focus on workplace DEI rather than policy reform.
The book’s accessibility is aided by its flowing, extensive chapter-by-chapter notes. And its academic credibility is further enhanced through several case studies. Evocative metaphors, as of “the cycle is the story,” bring complex structures into focus.
Persuasive and informative, the book includes a healthy dose of hopefulness. It argues that social change happens through individual heroics and commitment and sustained coalitional effort. Deep insights into how modest individual actions can trigger tipping points when aligned with collective efforts are proffered. For example, the “change your lightbulb” and “change the system” arguments found in climate change discourses give way to examples of groups including the NRA and Mothers Against Drunk Driving that shifted policy by reframing public will.
Somebody Should Do Something is an excellent social science book that lights a path to change for some of the pressing problems impacting the US and the world.
Reviewed by
pine breaks
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