ABSTRACT
Research in the social sciences has proliferated and become increasingly specialised over the past century as modern societies sought answers to pressing questions confronting humankind. In social psychology, landmark studies such as those of Sherif (1936) on norm formation, Asch (1956) on conformity to majority established norms, Zimbardo (1972) on conformity and obedience in institutions, Milgram (1974) on obedience to authority, and Moscovici (1976) on minority influence, have yielded some valuable insights. Yet in spite of these advances, the need for deeper understanding of the human condition has grown rather than lessened, as the threat humans pose to one another in situations of conflict has grown with accelerating globalisation (Moghaddam, 2010). The social sciences have focused on understanding and explaining human behaviour across a variety of domains in the hope of finding ways to remedy the potentially damaging tendencies of the human condition. The recent global economic meltdown is yet another example of how human behaviour can spiral into unforeseen chaos that threatens the very foundations of contemporary societies. This time a major source of problems is the widening wealth disparities between the ‘super rich’ and the rest in many societies around the world.
