A Meso Level Theory of Social Change

When we think about the ways we operate in the world, we can organize those operations into three overlapping spheres, arranged hierarchically. At the bottom, or the micro level we are operating within our own psychology and within our intimate relationships. It is here that we feel fear and hope. At the top, or macro level we are operating within the broad social structures and institutions that govern our lives and that often feel abstract. These are things like government, economy, media. There are of course direct links between micro and macro. Every time you open this article and not that one, or go to this school and not that one, you are making a specific choice that links your micro and your macro.

But in the middle, at the meso level, we are operating within our schools, our workplaces, our households. Those instances of school, work, and home are of course representative of and embedded in the broader institutions of economy, politics, media. But our experience of thse macro structures are felt through our meso level experiences. As an example: in January of 2020, many of us who followed the news had a vague sense that something was happening and maybe that made us anxious or drove us to buy canned goods, but what really made it real was when our kids’ schools closed, our jobs went remote, and our households had to adjust to that reality both philosophically and physically. We had to figure out how to live the lives we had built, which necessarily involved a certain amount of living outside the four walls of our homes, into the rooms we lived in. We felt that macro shock in our meso experiences.

When social psychologists like me write about this we often examine the connections between micro, meso, and macro but I want to focus on the meso specifically and argue that this is where we can make real and lasting social change.

The thing is that the micro feels too close. As much as I love to give and read the advice to ruin Thanksgiving, end your marriage, and burn down a CVS, that feels scary because it is so close. We should still do those things when and if we are able. But if we cannot, the meso is available.

The macro, on the other hand, feels too big. How can I, local jackass, overthrow capitalism? Even if I get everyone I know to follow me into battle, its so big and complex. What can I do in the face of these entrenched social systems that were built over centuries? We can and should still work with each other in big ways to work towards revolution. But when we cannot, the meso is available. 

The meso, like I said, is that middle space. The things in between. Our workplaces. Our schools. Our households. We know that at the macro we have the components of society - to include race, class, gender, ability, sexuality - and the ways that those realities shape our experiences. But those things shape our experiences inside the meso. They shape where we go to school, what towns we live in, what cars we drive on what roads, what foods we eat, who we marry, how we parent. 

It is within these spaces that we can and should create social change. My theory is that this works because this space is in between. It is not too close and it is not too big.

In these spaces we can create solidarity with our coworkers - not the 10,000 that work for your multinational corporation but the 10 people you actually work with every day - and push back about working conditions. Now you aren’t just one jackass, you are ten jackasses and there’s only one boss. You outnumber him. Don’t take his shit.

In these spaces we can engage in small acts of resistance in our households. We can insist that our boy children learn how to cook eggs and sweep the floor and do their own laundry. We can sit down with our spouses and talk, really talk, about the household division of labor. We can go to therapy with our partners. We can learn how to can foods. We can talk to our neighbors, not about politics or because it’s a planned event, we can just have a beer with them in the driveway. 

In these spaces we can go to the school board meeting and the PTA meeting and our kids can run for student council. We can sell fudge for the marching band. We can know our kids teachers and give them $20 walmart gift cards at the holidays. We can volunteer to work in the lunchroom or to participate in Career Day. We can say hi to the other parents at Science Night, not because we think those people can become our best friends or because they agree with us on everything, but because they are our community. 

I know some of you read this and have already thought of five hundred reasons why you can’t. But what if you can. What if you are afraid. What if you tried. Try one thing. If it doesn’t work, punch me in the face and then try again. 

The thing is, the way we actually change our minds is through action, not the other way around. People don’t change beacase they learned a fact, they change becuase they had an experience. This includes you. Go out and do. Do anything. Show up.

Let me know how it goes.