Mechanisms of Social Change: Outline of a Conceptual Framework
Abstract
The Mechanisms of Social Change (MOSC) framework provides a generalisable conceptual model for understanding and representing various change processes at the actor level. The framework comprises four key components: Resource Sets (the tangible and intangible assets actors own or access), Decisions (how actors allocate resources based on their expectations and capacities), Actions (what actors produce, exchange, or transform), and Resource Set 2 (the resulting state of resources after action). Operating within this framework are decision factors (information, risk, costs, benefits, others' actions) and resource factors (human, physical, financial, natural, informational resources) that determine resource access and outcomes. The framework is versatile enough to represent positive and negative change -from market systems and value chains to conflict, ecological destruction, and corporate strategy -while remaining grounded at the actor level for empirical measurement and strategic application.
Key takeaways
- The MOSC framework operationalizes change by focusing on four core elements: actors' initial resource sets, their decisions about resource allocation, the actions they undertake, and the resulting resource state -creating a measurable flow of change
- Decision and resource factors provide the explanatory mechanisms for why change happens, allowing analysis of both positive development outcomes and negative consequences like conflict or environmental degradation
- The framework's versatility allows application across diverse systems (market systems, value chains, organizational change, conflict dynamics) while maintaining consistency through actor-level focus and tangible resource concepts
- By grounding systemic change in observable actor behaviour and resource flows, MOSC enables programmes to move from abstract system concepts to concrete measurement and strategic intervention