Change the Wallpaper

Transforming Cultural Patterns to Build More Just Communities

De: Nilanjana Dasgupta

Narrado por: Nilanjana Dasgupta

A social psychologist reveals how to nudge local cultures toward positive structural change by moving people from individual action to collective action.

How can ordinary people fight for social justice? Can individual actions change structural inequality? In this book, social psychologist Nilanjana Dasgupta offers a science-driven approach to achieving social change, arguing that small changes to the “wallpaper”—the local cultures around us—are far more effective in producing structural change locally than seeking change through bias awareness training, symbolic acts, or relying solely on good intentions.

By integrating knowledge across diverse fields—including psychology, neuroscience, education, sociology, economics, public health, urban studies, cultural geography, and landscape architecture—Dasgupta shows how attitudes and beliefs take root in our mind based on what we see and hear every day. This wallpaper nudges our behavior to create or reinforce small inequalities that go unnoticed and accumulate over time. Disrupting these patterns and habits requires creating opportunities for social mixing across lines of difference, allowing new relationships to form, and promoting a better understanding of unfamiliar others’ experiences, followed by organizing and collective action. Together, these types of experiences and actions bring real change within our reach—in workplaces, in neighborhoods, in cities and towns. Dasgupta provides fresh, actionable approaches for everyone interested in working toward justice for all.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Nilanjana Dasgupta (P)2025 Audible, Inc.

A Book That Gave Me Language, Hope, and Power

As first-generation college student, Change the Wallpaper resonated with me on a deeply personal level. I had the privilege of attending a conference where the author spoke about this book, and it truly left a lasting impact.

One of the most powerful takeaways for me was the realization that the challenges I face as a first-gen student are not my fault. For so long, I’ve carried the weight of trying to “catch up” to peers who had more resources such as family who understood college, access to tutors, or schools that prepared them better. This book helped me reframe those feelings - not as personal shortcomings, but as reflections of broader systemic barriers. That shift from self-doubt to self-advocacy has been transformative.

Change the Wallpaper gave me not only understanding, but also a sense of validation, hope, and motivation. It reminded me that real change requires collective effort and that my voice, and the voices of others like me, matter.

Thank you Dr. Dasgupta for this important, empowering work.