Order via norms

1. Order via norms • Norms • Cultural phenomena that prescribe and proscribe behavior in specific circumstances • Thus: external criteria for evaluation • Unlike values, norms • Require sanctioning if they are to be effective • an external solution to the problem of social order

2. Norms: some examples • Books of etiquette tell us how to behave at • Weddings • Funerals • Baseball games • Birthdays • Classrooms • When we are visitors to other countries

3. Goffman • Norm in this society about interaction between strangers • The possibility of social interaction should not put the individual at risk.

4. Goffman, Behavior in Public Places • Exposed positions • Open incumbent up to interaction with strangers (cops, priests, etc.) • Opening positions • When individual has right to initiate overtures to strangers (what time is it?) • Mutual openness • Situations when strangers can be mutually open to one another (ethnic solidarity; singles bars; parties) • Evasions • Lady dropping handkerchief to gain a man’s attention

5. Violations have consequences • Coach George O’Leary • Historian Joseph Ellis • These people are very good at their jobs -- but they lied • Implication: there is a norm of truth-telling at American universities • Sanctions are strong

6. How norms  order • To the degree that people comply with pro-social norms • Their behavior will be predictable • They will act cooperatively

7. What is the content of norms? • Value theory readings explain internalization, but fail to explain the content of internalized values • Freud says we internalize the super-ego, but doesn’t tell us what the super-ego tells us to do • Durkheim says we obtain purpose and regulation from society but doesn’t say what that purpose is

8. Horne: explaining the content of norms • (1) Norms emerge from patterns of individual behavior • Individuals do things (for whatever reasons) • The more they do the same things, the more these acts come to be expected • When these acts are expected, they are imbued with a sense of ‘oughtness’ • People then react negatively to deviations from expected acts

9. Content of norms, cont’d • Example: teenage pregnancy in inner-city neighborhoods • Motherhood one of the few means of attaining adulthood for young females in these neighborhoods • Rewards of motherhood  high rate of teen pregnancy • High rate  greater normative acceptance of teen pregnancy

10. Content of Norms, cont’d • (2) Norms curb externalities – individual behaviors that have consequences for others • Individuals prefer that others do things that have positive consequences for them • And that others do NOT do things that have negative consequences for them

11. Norms from externalities • Norms emerge when • Behavior produces externalities • People recognize a right to sanction these behaviors • The group has the ability to enforce its decisions

12. Example • The rise of norms against smoking

13. The enforcement of norms • Norms have to be enforced • Sometimes, enforcement is relatively costless • Unconscious enforcement – requires no effort on the individual’s part • You give someone a look, roll your eyes, avoid them

14. Sometimes, enforcement is costly • It’s costly to • Ask someone at a neighboring table not to smoke • To redress a driver for a dangerous move  road rage • To engage in a pro-life or pro-choice demonstration  bombings, etc.

15. Why do people enforce norms? • The benefits of doing so outweigh the costs • You are willing to feel dumb asking someone to put out a cigarette because you want to have a nice dinner. • And other non-smokers may reward you. • The temptation to ‘free ride’ • Overcome if people reward you for enforcing norms

16. Why reward others for enforcing norms? • Even if everybody gains if norms are enforced, everyone has an incentive to free ride • The second-order free rider problem

17. Fehr and Gachter • Their experiment reveals that individuals often punish free riders without any reward • Why? • Free riding causes strong negative emotions, and most people expect these emotions in response to free riding

18. Evidence • Most punishment by above-average contributors, imposed on below-average contributors • Punishment increases with the deviation of the free rider from the average investment of others • Threat of punishment works because free riders anticipate the negative emotions their behavior causes • Opportunity to punish immediately deters free riders

19. Costly enforcement • Suggests that values are responsible for the enforcement of norms • That people will punish free riders even when this behavior is costly indicates that it is driven by values

20. Conjoint and disjoint norms • Conjoint norms • Targets of a norm are enforcers • Students enforce a norm against rate-busters • Disjoint norms • Targets of a norm are not enforcers • Full Metal Jacket

21. The enforcement of norms • How norms are changed (Full Metal Jacket)

22. Critique: Hechter and Opp • Norms are inherently ambiguous • Ambiguity surrounds the definition of the situation • Is it ok to use university email for personal business? • What constitutes personal versus professional business? • Ambiguity surrounds the definition of the norm • Ambiguity in dating behavior • The example of classical music • The notes are unambiguous; but the tempo, the phrasing, the color of the performance are all at the performer’s discretion. As listeners, we value the individuality of the interpretation, rather than its predictability

23. SI: norms are not given, but performed • Rather than being ‘given’ by society, norms are ‘performed’ by actors. They are understandings recognized in situ, and are tied to meaning systems

24. Example: the behavior of mushroom-hunters • Mushroomers are strong environmentalists • Yet they also like to eat the mushrooms they find • How do they reconcile protection of the environment with their own depredation of it?

25. The ambiguity of norms • The desire for smooth interaction – for comity – is the core motive for individuals to give up their own material interests for the sake of others • Actors share a powerful desire to allow interaction to occur without strain, and they often make substantial adjustments in their behavior to ensure this result – choosing to satisfice outcomes for the sake of harmony • Thus, considerable interpretive leeway may exist in response to behaviors • In responding to a particular interaction context, people select from among a set of possibilities. It is rare that a single behavior is judged the only appropriate option.