Abstract

This chapter illustrates the importance of “first movers,” trendsetters who are ready to bear a cost to initiate change. The chapter identifies the conditions that make someone a trendsetter: low risk sensitivity, low risk perception, low allegiance to the standing norm, high autonomy, and high perceived self-efficacy. It studies how trendsetters can spearhead change, by looking at the structure of the network of social relations in which trendsetters operate. Taking examples from the American Civil Rights Movement to Indian radio soap operas, the chapter furthermore illustrates how trendsetters can be groups or fictitious characters. It concludes with a discussion of how to identify them for better interventions.