Abstract for:Modeling social change: A tribute to Jorgen Randers

The paper presents a model for social change proposing concepts such as pushing factors, catalyzers, and enabling factors. The model portrays the dynamics of processes of social change. At the frontiers of societies, natural, technological, cultural or economic forces create fissures in current mental models. This gap is perceived by formal or informal groups, who push for social change, eliciting potential opposition from other groups. Proposed changes battle for public’s attention and support in the marketplace of ideas. Public support creates the condition for support from institutional validators, who are the social actors enacting policies in the system to adjust it to the proposed change. Three examples of causes – basic sanitation, marijuana and climate change – are briefly discussed.