What are Social Norms?

Franz Dietrich () and Kai Spiekermann ()
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Franz Dietrich: Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris School of Economics, CNRS, http://www.franzdietrich.net
Kai Spiekermann: London School of Economics

Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne

Abstract: Most recent theorists take social norms to arise from certain attitudes, such as expectations on others, perhaps along with conforming practices. Challenging this view, we argue that social norms are instead grounded in a social norming process: an (often non-verbal) social communication process that institutes or ‘makes’ the norm. We present different versions of a process-based account of social norms and social normativity. The process-based view brings social norms closer to legal norms, by taking social norms to arise through ‘expressive acts’, just as some laws and contracts arise through acts of voting or signing, not through mere attitudes

Keywords: social norms; normativity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 D71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2024-11, Revised 2025-11
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mse:cesdoc:24009r

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