Norms in the Wild

How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms

Cristina Bicchieri

Presents evidence based assessment tools for assessing and intervening on various social behaviors
Illustrates the role of mass media and autonomous "first movers" as the forefront of wide-scale behavioral change
Provides dichotomous models for assessing normative behaviors
Explains why well-tested interventions sometimes fail to change behavior

Norms in the Wild

How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms

Cristina Bicchieri

Description

The philosopher Cristina Bicchieri here develops her theory of social norms, most recently explained in her 2006 volume The Grammar of Society. Bicchieri challenges many of the fundamental assumptions of the social sciences. She argues that when it comes to human behavior, social scientists place too much stress on rational deliberation. In fact, many choices occur without much deliberation at all. Bicchieri's theory accounts for these automatic components of behavior, where individuals react automatically to cues--those cues often pointing to the social norms that govern our choices in a social world

Bicchieri's work has broad implications not only for understanding human behavior, but for changing it for better outcomes. People have a strong conditional preference for following social norms, but that also means manipulating those norms (and the underlying social expectations) can produce beneficial behavioral changes. Bicchieri's recent work with UNICEF has explored the applicability of her views to issues of human rights and well-being. Is it possible to change social expectations around forced marriage, genital mutilations, and public health practices like vaccinations and sanitation? If so, how? What tools might we use? This short book explores how social norms work, and how changing them--changing preferences, beliefs, and especially social expectations--can potentially improve lives all around the world.

Norms in the Wild

How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms

Cristina Bicchieri

Norms in the Wild

How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms

Cristina Bicchieri

Author Information

Cristina Bicchieri is S.J.P. Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics in the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology Departments, and director of the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program, the University of Pennsylvania.

Norms in the Wild

How to Diagnose, Measure, and Change Social Norms

Cristina Bicchieri

Reviews and Awards

"Cristina Bicchieri (2006) advanced a powerful and well-received account of norms. Her work reflects important ways in which philosophical and social scientific reflection on norms can be joined to great advantage. In its empirical richness, her work goes beyond the also important work of Philip Pettit (1990) and by Brennan, Eriksson, Goodin, and Southwood (2013). Bicchieri understands various kinds of norms as rules for which agents have a conditional preference to conform. Such preferences are keyed to various expectations--empirical expectations and normative expectations...This is a fascinating and informative read--one rich in its appreciation for complexities and grounded in concrete engagement with such complexities." -- Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

"'Philosophy isn't useful for changing the world,' parents of philosophy students and Karl Marx tell us (at least about non-Marxist philosophy). Cristina Bicchieri's new book Norms in the Wild provides an impressive antidote against this worry...To sum up, this is a fascinating book, and everyone interested in social norms and social change should read it." --Metascience