Mindset Shifts: What Are They? Why Do They Matter? How Do They Happen?

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FrameWorks will be hosting Moving Mindsets, a three-part webinar series discussing the report’s recommendations and what they mean for progressive change and those working to make it happen.  RSVP for the first webinar here.

The events of the last year join other major past shocks to society—the 1918 flu pandemic, the Great Depression, the World Wars, and 9/11. History has shown that serious social and political upheaval can bring about fundamental changes in how we think about the world. 

From a communications and framing perspective, how can the nonprofit sector use the landmark moment we are in to shift deeply rooted mindsets towards understanding the need for meaningful change?  

A new report from the FrameWorks Institute, Mindset Shifts: What Are They? Why Do They Matter? How Do They Happen?, explores the best practices and most effective strategies for moving mindsets.  

Mindsets—fundamental, assumed patterns of thinking that shape how we make sense of the world and act in it—are highly durable with deep historical roots. They emerge from and are tied to social practices and institutions that are woven into the very fabric of society. As such, they tend to change slowly. But with the events of 2020 and 2021 redefining how we think about fundamental aspects of our society like health and race, is change being sped up? Will it last?  Are the upheavals of recent months shifting fundamental American cultural mindsets? If so, which mindsets are moving? And in what ways are they shifting?