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Social Norms Chat
Social Norms Chat is a podcast for practitioners, funders, and changemakers eager to explore how social norms shape behaviors, how they can be shifted to drive meaningful change and how this translates into practice. Hosted by Cäcilia Riederer from TransformNorms this podcast goes through thematic deep dives on topics like mental health, violence, and gender dynamics, we blend research, case studies, and expert insights to uncover what works (and what doesn’t) in fostering deep normative change. With special guests and real-world examples, we provide actionable strategies for those working in policy, advocacy, and community development.
Social Norms Chat
S2E11: Rethinking Citizen Participation, Power, and Agency
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How can collective action be triggered and maintained at scale and how can we use that for change?
In this episode of Social Norms Chat, host Cäcilia Riederer seats with Györgyi Galik, from Dark Matter Labs / Governing Together. Together, they talk about innovations at the local level, focusing on citizen participation and its importance.
Check Governing Together's summary introduction here.
Mentions and Recommendations made by Györgyi:
- Caroline Lucas
- Kate Crawford
- Chris Anderson
- Olga Kusinskaya (2023) The Politics of Invisibility Public Knowledge about Radiation Health Effects after Chernobyl
- Holly Buck (2024) A Climate Disinformation Focus Takes Us the Wrong Way
More about relationality, one of the main concepts mentioned during this episode:
Relationality refers to the underlying web of relationship dynamics, interactions, and exchanges through which governance actually happens. It is not an add-on to institutions or processes. It is the condition within which they operate. At its core, relationality recognises that:
- people, institutions, and systems are interdependent and entangled
- outcomes emerge from patterns of interaction, not only from individuals, intentions, formal decisions, norms, or structures
- governance is shaped as much by how we relate as by what we decide
Relationality might include:
- Relationships between people and groups
Trust, mistrust, care, conflict, reciprocity - Flows and exchanges
Information, resources, power, attention, legitimacy - Feedback loops
How we learn, iterate, and how signals travel, are interpreted, and influence present and future action - Collective sense-making
How shared understanding is formed, contested, and stabilised - Institutional arrangements
The formal and informal rules that shape how interactions happen - Value logics
What is considered valid, important, or legitimate within a system - Everyday practices and enactment
How daily practices are implemented and exercised through the design of ‘soft infrastructures’ – tools, processes, and practices that translate intentions and policies into institutional capacity
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Executive producer and host: Cäcilia Riederer
Special guest: Györgyi Galik
Producer and writer: Dora Ehrlich
Editor: Tabusum Akter