Narrative Change

The work of shifting public opinion on a social issue.

When the obstacle to your work is public opinion of a social issue — you need a bigger persuasion strategy.

Narrative change is a communications strategy used when public opinion on a social issue is an obstacle to social change. The work of narrative change is persuasion; in a narrative change strategy, communications and storytelling are efforts to persuade public opinion. Examples include:

  • shifting public opinion on same-sex marriage to support legislation

  • shifting public opinion on the safety of elections to support new voting options to increase election turnout

  • shifting public opinion on the impact of climate science to support government funding for science research

  • shifting public opinion on acceptable workplace behavior to create a new cultural norm where sexual harassment of any kind is not tolerated

Opinion / Public Relations

Opinion of a person, organization or event.
Argument: binary — for or against
Persuasion: right or wrong (exclusive)
More personal
Values-based messaging

Examples:
“Same-sex marriages deserve equal rights”
“Care work deserves worker protections”
“Poverty isn’t a crime”
“Elections are safe”

Narrative Change

Opinion of a social issue
Argument: plural — multiple options
Persuasion: new possibilities (inclusive)
More cultural/social norms
Reframing

Examples:
“Love is love”
“Care is the work that makes all other work possible”
“We’ve all needed help before”
“Democracy works better when we all participate”

Narrative change reports, practical guides, reports, messaging and organizations can be found at The Narrative Home, which bridges the study and production of narrative texts.

FAQ

  • If public opinion is an obstacle to your work, you may need to invest in a narrative change strategy.

    If public opinion is not a direct obstacle, a narrative change strategy is not necessary.

  • You can find a list of organizations, resrouces and guides related to narrative change on The Narrative Home — a project of No Lip Service.

  • The objective of narrative change is to persuade; narrative change seeks to persuade the public’s opinion on a social issue.

    However, most persuasion is binary: arguing for one opinion in opposition to another. Narrative change is plural: opening public opinion to multiple opinions.

  • The explicit goal of public relations is that the public has a positive opinion of your organization.

    Narrative change is related to the public’s opinion on a social issue, not your organization specifically, which is why you’ll often see organizations form narrative change coalitions if they are all working to impact the same social issue.

    Storytelling is a communications tactic, not a strategy; a PR campaign might include storytelling as one tactic.