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Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change
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 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. 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 sections, 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 and 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.
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 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. 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 sections, 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 and 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.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published September 16, 2025
3197 people want to read
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September 17, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. With rich examples in the recent and distant past, the authors develop a novel theory of how social change occurs through the interaction of individual choices and systems, whether we're talking about the reduction in cigarette smoking or the expansion of gay rights. The authors are admirably honest about the limitations of attempts to engineer moral progress, either through grassroots movements or technocratic manipulation of social arrangements. By drawing on scientific research and detailed examples, the book demonstrates that social change is complicated but can be promoted through a better understanding of human psychology and sociality.
Displaying 1 of 1 review