PERSPECTIVES, NORMS, AND AGENCY

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 260-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Muldoon
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Economic Modeling ◽  
Actor Model ◽  
Independence Assumption ◽  
Rational Agents ◽  
Core Set ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
The World ◽  
Informal Coercion ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

Abstract:A core set of assumptions in economic modeling is that rational agents, who have a defined preference set, assess their options and determine which best satisfies their preferences. The rational actor model supposes that the world provides us with a menu of options, and we simply choose what’s best for us. Agents are independent of one another, and they can rationally assess which of their options they wish to pursue. This gives special authority to the choices that people make, since they are understood to be the outcomes of the agent’s considered judgments. However, we have come to see that the independence assumption does not always hold in the way that we may have initially thought. Social norms can govern our choices even when we disagree with them. Here we can begin to see how the standard model of choice and agency begins to weaken: no longer are my choices wholly mine, but instead there is a subset of choices that are governed by the broader culture that I live in. Social norms constrain my behavior with informal coercion — my desire to remain a community member in good standing requires me to behave in accordance with the community’s social norms. What I wish to challenge more substantively is the claim that the menu of choices agents “see” is in fact the objective set of options that is transparently provided by the world. Instead, I argue that the options that people perceive and the evidence they use to make choices are mediated by perspectives. Perspectives can importantly interact with social norms to make some norms more resilient to change, and others harder to adopt. This further shapes both our descriptive and normative understanding of agency. Our choices are not over all of the objectively available options, but over the options that we can see. The evidence we marshal to support our choices is not the full set of evidence, but the evidence that we recognize as salient. This is not to deny that individuals have agency, but rather we need a more nuanced understanding of the nature of this agency.

The Essence of Quantum Computing

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajendra K. Bera
Keyword(s):  
Hilbert Space ◽  
Quantum Computing ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Quantum Algorithms ◽  
Quantum Computers ◽  
Turing Machines ◽  
Classical Physics ◽  
Core Set ◽  
The World ◽  
Subordinate Role

It now appears that quantum computers are poised to enter the world of computing and establish its dominance, especially, in the cloud. Turing machines (classical computers) tied to the laws of classical physics will not vanish from our lives but begin to play a subordinate role to quantum computers tied to the enigmatic laws of quantum physics that deal with such non-intuitive phenomena as superposition, entanglement, collapse of the wave function, and teleportation, all occurring in Hilbert space. The aim of this 3-part paper is to introduce the readers to a core set of quantum algorithms based on the postulates of quantum mechanics, and reveal the amazing power of quantum computing.

The World of Particles and the Standard Model

2012 ◽  
pp. 31-49
Author(s):  
Constantinos G. Vayenas ◽  
Stamatios N.-A. Souentie
Keyword(s):  
Standard Model ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
The World

A practice-based framework for understanding (informal) play as practice phenomena in organizations

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 846-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Spraggon ◽  
Virginia Bodolica
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Constitutive Relationships ◽  
Perspective Drawing ◽  
The World ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Practice Literature ◽  
Managerial Perspective

AbstractPlay as practice literature has long been dominated by studies on the serious play. Focusing on a play that develops in artificial settings and requires managerial intervention, these studies overlook other playful manifestations, which are employee-driven and situated in the natural work habitat. This paper extends current play as practice reflections by adopting the notion of informal play as an alternative to prevailing views that espouses the employee rather than the managerial perspective. Drawing upon insights from play and practice literature, we incorporate five practice-based constructs into the systematic analysis of informal play in the world of work. We advance an integrative framework that highlights the constitutive relationships between the retained constructs and acknowledges different enactments of informal play for generating productive outcomes or cynically resisting authority. A multi-domain agenda for future inquiry that may contribute to a more nuanced understanding of informal play as practice in organizations concludes the paper.

The Deconstruction of Sex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Luc Nancy ◽  
Irving Goh
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
The World ◽  
The Senses

In The Deconstruction of Sex, Jean-Luc Nancy and Irving Goh discuss how a deconstructive approach to sex helps us negotiate discourses about sex and foster a better understanding of how sex complicates our everyday existence in the age of #MeToo. Throughout their conversation, Nancy and Goh engage with topics ranging from relation, penetration, and subjection to touch, erotics, and jouissance. They show how despite its entrenchment in social norms and centrality to our being-in-the-world, sex lacks a clearly defined essence. At the same time, they point to the potentiality of literature to inscribe the senses of sex. In so doing, Nancy and Goh prompt us to reconsider our relations with ourselves and others through sex in more sensitive, respectful, and humble ways without bracketing the troubling aspects of sex.

Bayesian Rationality and Social Epistemology

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Gintis
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Nash Equilibrium ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Epistemology ◽  
Correlated Equilibrium ◽  
Epistemic Game Theory ◽  
Famous Theorem ◽  
Rational Agents ◽  
Natural Equilibrium ◽  
Bayesian Rationality

This chapter uses epistemic game theory to expand on the notion of social norms as choreographer of a correlated equilibrium, and to elucidate the socio-psychological prerequisites for the notion that social norms implement correlated equilibria. The correlated equilibrium is a much more natural equilibrium criterion than the Nash equilibrium, because of a famous theorem of Aumann (1987), who showed that Bayesian rational agents in an epistemic game G with a common subjective prior play a correlated equilibrium of G. Thus, while rationality and common priors do not imply Nash equilibrium, these assumptions do imply correlated equilibrium and social norms act not only as choreographer, but also supply the epistemic conditions for common priors.

The Mechanics of Failure and the Secrets of Success

2019 ◽  
pp. 111-153
Author(s):  
Justin Yifu Lin ◽  
Célestin Monga
Keyword(s):  
Standard Model ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Low Income Country ◽  
Extreme Dependence ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Policy Frameworks ◽  
The World

This chapter analyzes the mechanics of failure and the secrets of economic success. Cesar Luis Menotti's strategy's main ingredients could serve as a metaphor for the basic argument in the chapter: any low-income country can achieve sustained and inclusive growth if it properly identifies its endowment structure and uses its most competitive factors to exploit its comparative advantage. The chapter starts with a presentation of the standard model of stabilization and structural adjustment, which has come to dominate development thinking and policy across the world and has survived several decades of critical research. It then explores reasons why the model has endured despite criticism from across the ideological spectrum, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. It also offers an analysis of why traditional policy frameworks derived from the standard model often do not yield results, and it stresses the need to focus growth strategies on coordination and externalities. The chapter ends with a discussion of one of the main side effects of the standard model and its growth prescriptions: the extreme dependence on foreign aid by many low-income economies, especially those in Africa.

Who Instigated Violence: A Rebelling Devil or a Vengeful God?

2015 ◽  
pp. 93-106
Author(s):  
István T. Kristó-Nagy*
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Universe

The contrast between the attitude towards violence of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament was already explored by Marcion (d. c. 160 ad) before the advent of Islam and has been rediscovered again and again since.1 Marcion saw the former as the creator of the world and God of the law and the latter as the good God, the God of love.2 The character of the former reflects a community’s need for sanctified social norms, while the character of the latter shows the community’s and the individual’s longing for the hope of salvation.3 The God of the Qurʾān is also one of punishment and pardon. This chapter investigates the former aspect and focuses on: (1) the appearance of evil and violence in the universe as described in the Qurʾān; (2) the philosophical-theological questions revealed by this myth; and (3) its social implications.

Reflection Through Fiction

2012 ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Patricia Cranton
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

If we can learn to recognize ourselves and position ourselves in stories, we can identify beliefs, assumptions, and social norms that shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us. This has the potential for reflection and, in some cases, transformative learning. In this paper, I illustrate the process of positioning ourselves in stories using four Canadian short stories. I include the voices of participants who were engaged in a 12 week course on learning through fiction.

The Impact of World Religions on Conservatism

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-218
Author(s):  
Laura Swenson
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
The World ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Western Religion ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Jel Classifications

ABSTRACT This study examines the association between world religions and the earnings attribute of conservatism. I group the major world religions into two sub-groups, Western and Eastern. Prior literature documents that followers of Western religions have a lower preference for risk relative to followers of Eastern religions. Prior literature also finds a lower preference for risk is associated with more conservative reporting. Using a large sample of firms listed on exchanges around the world, I find earnings of firms domiciled in countries with larger Western religious presence are more conservative. The results hold after using an indicator for whether the predominant religion in the country is a Western religion, controlling for religiosity, and using a sample of U.S. foreign registrants that file a 20-F reconciliation with the SEC. My study contributes to our understanding of how social norms affect financial reporting. JEL Classifications: G14; G15; M41.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Priya Atwal
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Regional Politics ◽  
Founding Father ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The World ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Impact

This brief chapter introduces key figures from the ruling dynasty of the nineteenth-century Sikh Empire. It discusses how Maharajah Ranjit Singh, its founding father, has long occupied a central, glorified position in history-writing about this former northern Indian kingdom. It argues how such simplified narrativization has hampered our understanding of the roles played by his female relations and children in the running of the Sikh Empire; alongside the impact of wider cultural and political dynamics that shaped its fortunes in the period between the kingdom’s rise and fall, from 1799 to 1849. The chapter outlines core goals of the book: to reach a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the world of the Sikh Empire and its broader connections to South Asian and global royal history, by setting Ranjit Singh and his empire within the wider context of his family; as well as within the regional politics of the new, expanding powers of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century India.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document