ABSTRACT
If one lesson emerged from our study, it is that the task of social reform is more difficult than we like to think. Our imaginative capacities are often not up to the task of visualizing a better world. Our very language and tools of thought stand in the way, preventing us from hearing or appreciating what an outsider group is saying. We overlook evidence in front of us or translate claims into safer, tamer versions. When reform begins to seem necessary, we embrace moderate saviors espousing moderate solutions rather than persevere until we find more sweeping, long-lasting ones. We disparage reformers, condemning them as opportunistic, painting their demands as encroachments on our own justified prerogatives.
