Economic and Sociological Accounts of Social Norms

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-96
Author(s):  
Hartmut Kliemt
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Individual Behavior ◽  
Rule Following ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Economic Methods ◽  
Experimental Economic ◽  
Seeking Behavior

AbstractClassifying accounts of institutionalized social norms that rely on individual rule-following as ‘sociological’ and accounts based on individual opportunity-seeking behavior as ‘economic’, the paper rejects purely economic accounts on theoretical grounds. Explaining the realworkings of institutionalized social norms and social order exclusively in terms of self-regarding opportunityseeking individual behavior is impossible. An integrated sociological approach to the so-called Hobbesian problem of social order that incorporates opportunityseeking along with rule-following behavior is necessary. Such an approach emerges on the horizon if economic methods are put to good sociological use on the basis of recent experimental economic findings on rule-following behavior.

Altruistic Punishment: The Golden Keystone of Human Cooperation and Social Stability?

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-284
Author(s):  
Peter Lewisch
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Altruistic Punishment ◽  
Costly Punishment ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Emotional Basis ◽  
Instrumental Goal

Abstract ‘Altruistic punishment’ (i.e., costly punishment that serves no instrumental goal for the punisher) could serve, as suggested by the pertinent experimental literature, as a powerful enforcer of social norms. This paper discusses foundations, extensions, and, in particular, limits and open questions of this concept-and it does so mostly based on experimental evidence provided by the author. Inter alia, the paper relates the (standard) literature on negative emotions as a trigger of second party punishment to more recent experimental findings on the phenomenon of ‘spontaneous cooperation’ and ‘spontaneous punishment’ and demonstrates its (tight) emotional basis. Furthermore, the paper discusses the potential for free riding on altruistic punishment. While providing valuable insights into the understanding of social order, ‘altruistic punishment’ is thus not the golden keystone of social stability.

scholarly journals The rule of rules

Public Choice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Hamlin
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Constitutional Political Economy ◽  
Rule Following ◽  
Rule Based

AbstractRules are central to the constitutional political economy (CPE) approach. On this approach, rules, of a variety of types and forms, are necessary for the emergence of a political and social order, so that all genuine political order is rule-based. The central role of rules within the CPE approach is examined starting from an explicit definitional discussion of the concept of a rule and including discussion of the nature of rule-following behavior, the supply of rules, and rule enforcement.

scholarly journals Social Order and Practical Wisdom of Walking in a Crowd

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-29
Author(s):  
Andrei M. Korbut
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Joint Production ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Phenomenal Field ◽  
Almost All

The article suggests returning to the “crowd” as an object of sociological analysis. Crowds have attracted early sociologists because crowds were visual embodiments of social forces that surpass individuals and also served as a symbol of the profound social transformations which were taking place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Analyzing crowds allowed for the first sociologists (G. Simmel, R. Park, M. Weber, E. Durkheim) to oppose the psychological interpretation of mass social phenomena with a purely sociological approach. However, in the second half of the 20th century sociologists had lost almost all interest in the crowd, as it did not meet the interests of researchers of “large” social structures, nor the interests of the proponents of interactionist approaches. This article shows that the crowd can again be made interesting for sociology if we were to consider it from the point of view of the everyday practices of the participants. In these everyday practices a specific form of phronesis, i.e. practical wisdom, technical skill coupled with moral judgment about which action is good and which is not, is implemented. It is shown here that the study of the practical wisdom of walking in a crowd requires special concepts and methods that can be found in phenomenology and ethnomethodology. The article suggests using three such concepts for the analysis of crowds: phenomenal field, oriented object, and figuration of details. With the help of these concepts, the methods of the crowd’s situated social order production are analyzed in relation to the management of speed and trajectories of movement, following one another, walkers’ stopping and slowing down, and joining the crowd. This analysis shows that the joint production of the crowd’s social order by its participants is a situated practice, i.e. it consists of making the local scenes of everyday life familiar and accountable, and of assessing the local adequacy of the actions performed.

Individual Decision and Social Order

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Rüpke
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Individual Behavior ◽  
First Century ◽  
Innovative Behavior ◽  
Individual Decision ◽  
Political Role ◽  
The Third ◽  
Religious Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Religious Obligation

This chapter looks at examples of individual interpretations of traditional priestly roles from the third until the first century BC. There was innovative behavior not only on the part of the plebeian Pontifices Maximi; among the patricians, there were also individuals who interpret a priestly role not in the traditional way but as a specifically religious role. Both case types demonstrate highly individual behavior. It seems that the actors intended to problematize the relationship between their priestly and political offices or to privilege a specific religious obligation over a political role. In each case, they did this by asserting the obligation of perfect religious performance. Basic, however, to these individual attempts to further develop given roles was a shared conviction: the religious framework of the Roman polity was to be provided by its patrician members in particular.

Establishing Social Order in 3D Virtual Worlds with Virtual Institutions

2011 ◽  
pp. 140-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Bogdanovych ◽  
Simeon Simoff
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Physical World ◽  
3D Interaction ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Virtual Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rule Changes ◽  
Controlled Environments

An important security aspect of Virtual Worlds (in particular Virtual Worlds oriented towards commercial activities) is controlling participants’ adherence to the social norms (rules of behavior) and making them follow the acceptable interaction patterns. Rules of behavior in the physical world are usually enforced through a post factum punishment, while in computer-controlled environments like Virtual Worlds we can simply block the actions that are inconsistent with the rules and eliminate rule violations as such. In order to facilitate enforcing the rules in such automatic manner and allow for frequent rule changes, the rules have to be expressed in a formal way, so that the software can detect both the rules and the actions that can potentially violate them. In this chapter the authors introduce the concept of Virtual Institutions that are Virtual Worlds with normative regulation of interactions. For development of such systems the authors employ the Virtual Institutions Methodology that separates the development of Normative Virtual Worlds into two independent phases: formal specification of the institutional rules and design of the 3D interaction environment. The methodology is supplied with a set of graphical tools that support the development process on every level, from specification to deployment. The resulting system is capable of enforcing the social norms on the Virtual Worlds’ participants and ensuring the validity of their interactions.

Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 506-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Judicial Decisions ◽  
Cultural Expectations ◽  
Mitigating Factors ◽  
Specific Factors

Despite the significant role that aggravating and mitigating factors play in sentencing outcomes, they have been neglected by both policy and research. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of culture—which has been deemed to be an “elusive” influence—in the plea mitigation and sentencing process. An empirical study was conducted to examine the effects of both offense-specific and offender-specific factors that may serve to aggravate or mitigate the sentence in a magistrate’s court in Hong Kong. Data was collected through courtroom observations of sentencing hearings (n = 712). Statistical analyses reveal that Chinese cultural and social norms motivate judicial decisions, as defendants who did not conform to the cultural expectations of family, industry, enduring hardships, and maintaining good social order are likely to be sentenced more severely when they are convicted of a crime. A disciplinary model of sentencing is proposed to explain why certain factors are considered as aggravating in Hong Kong’s penal culture. These factors, however, are extraneous to the offense or the culpability of the offender. Implications and future directions are discussed.

The Dignity of Servanthood in Pastoral Care

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald H. Sunderland
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Rich Source ◽  
Care Recipient ◽  
The Social ◽  
Caring Relationship ◽  
Pastoral Relationship

Servanthood is a dominant image of ministry in both Jewish and Christian scriptures, and poses a rich source of material from which to address the theme of human dignity from the perspective of pastoral care. The biblical concept of servanthood, which defines the nature of the pastoral relationship and dignifies the personhood of the care recipient, suggests an approach to the issues of vulnerability of both giver and receiver of care, and proposes that the caring relationship is best conceived as a partnership to which each participant brings gifts. The servant theme implies addressing the notion of the kingship of Christ, how control issues affect the ministry of pastoral care, and the realization that being a servant of the Lord entails a concern for the well being of each individual and of the social order; that is, servant ministry mandates both visiting the sick ( Matthew 25) and seek justice and righteousness as social norms ( Isaiah 16:5).

Book Reviews

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-381
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Economic Games ◽  
Experimental Economic

Jeffrey V. Butler of EIEF and University of Nevada, Las Vegas reviews “Experimenting with Social Norms: Fairness and Punishment in Cross-Cultural Perspective”, by Jean Ensminger and Joseph Henrich. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Seventeen papers, plus thirteen case studies available for download only, explore the historical emergence of prosocial norms and their relationship to economic growth. Papers in the text discuss theoretical foundations─the coevolution of social norms, intrinsic motivation, markets, and the institutions of complex societies; cross-cultural methods, sites, and variables; major empirical results─markets, religion, community size, and the evolution of fairness and punishment; and double-blind dictator games in Africa and the United States─differential experimenter effects. Case studies available for download discuss Hadza behavior in three experimental economic games; the effects of sanctions and third-party enforcers on generosity in Papua New Guinea; an experimental investigation of dictators, ultimatums, and punishment; behavioral experiments in the Yasawa Islands, Fiji; economic game behavior among the Shuar; economic experimental game results from the Sursurunga of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea; Maragoli and Gusii farmers in Kenya─strong collective action and high prosocial punishment; sharing, subsistence, and social norms in Northern Siberia; the influence of property rights and institutions for third-party sanctioning on behavior in three experimental economic games; cooperation and punishment in an economically diverse community in highland Tanzania; social preferences among the people of Sanquianga in Colombia; the effects of birthplace and current context on other-regarding preferences in Accra; and prosociality in rural America─evidence from dictator, ultimatum, public goods, and trust games.” Ensminger is Edie and Lew Wasserman Professor of Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. Henrich is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Culture, Cognition, and Coevolution in the Economics and Psychology Departments at the University of British Columbia.

Social Order in a Leisure Setting: The Case of Recreational Swimmers in a Pool

1986 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard L. Nixon
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Control Analysis ◽  
Patterns And Processes

Firsthand observations of recreational swimmers in a university pool are used to show how leisure participants, informally and largely nonverbally, structure and maintain their interaction in predictable and sociable patterns. The paper builds on these observations to show the kinds of social norms, statuses, and roles that constitute basic elements of social structure in the leisure setting of a pool, and it examines how regular leisure participants in such a setting maintain their informal social order through subtle or obvious, but usually nonverbal, means of social control. Analysis of the construction and maintenance of informal social order in a pool is presented here as a spring-board for enriching our understanding of patterns and processes of informal, nonverbal social organization and social control in other settings.

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