A novel and scientific approach to creating transformative social change—and the surprising
ways that each of us can help make a real difference. Changing the world is difficult. One
reason is that the most important problems like climate change racism and poverty are
structural . They emerge from our collective practices: laws economies history culture
norms and built environments. The dilemma is that there is no way to make structural change
without individual people making different—more structure-facing —decisions. In Somebody Should
Do Something Michael Brownstein Alex Madva and Daniel Kelly show us how we can connect our
personal choices to structural change and why individual choices matter though not in the way
people usually think. The authors paint a new picture of how social change happens arguing
that our most powerful personal choices are those that springboard us into working together
with others—warehouse worker Chris Smalls’s unionization at Amazon is one powerful example.
Taking inspiration from the writer Bill McKibben they stress how one “important thing an
individual can do is be somewhat less of an individual.” Organized into three main parts the
book first diagnoses the problem of “either or” thinking about social change which stems from
the false choice of making better personal choices or changing the system. Then it offers a
different way to think about social change anchored in a new picture of human nature emerging
across the social sciences. Finally the authors explore ways of putting this picture into
practice. Neither a how-to manual nor an activist’s guide Somebody Should Do Something pairs
stories with science (plus some jokes) to help readers recognize their own power turning
resignation about climate change and racial injustice into actions that transform the world.
