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Book Review
Cass Sunstein, How Change Happens. The MIT Press, 2019, 584 pages, Rs 2276
Still best known for the best-seller, ‘Nudge’ (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008), Cass Sunstein has
combined behavioural economics, philosophy, psychology, policy, politics and law, among other fields,
in his latest attempt to explain how social change happens, the barriers to change, and how to
overcome them. It reads like a guide for “choice architects”, those planning for change to happen in
society or in policy, by relying on nudges rather than on ‘paternalistic’ routes like bans and mandates.
The 16 chapters of the book are divided into 3 sections: ‘Norms and values’ (1-3), ‘The uses
and limits of nudges’(4-11) and ‘Excursions’(12-16).
As Sunstein says, social norms can be “both powerful (in the sense that they greatly affect
behaviour) and fragile (in the sense that they can collapse in a short time)”(p. 8). Change happens
when someone rises and challenges the norms. Small starts can lead to cascades as resistance and
inertia gives way to large group participations and changes in belief systems. It is the job of the “norm
entrepreneur” to gauge the correct time to emphasize particular incidents and create that cascade to
change norms. If Sunstein uses the example of Martin Luther King Jr., Indians would recognise the
same in Gandhi, or Vivekananda or even Raja Ram Mohun Roy. More recent examples would include
the environmental activist Greta Thunberg. They not only revealed suppressed beliefs but also
created new preferences, belief systems and values.
Weakening of norms can also have a negative effect, as seen in the rise in anti-immigration
sentiment post Trump’s presidency in the US. We can surely draw similar parallels in India as well.
People give voice to their private beliefs when their views are corroborated in what is called ‘group
polarisation’ in this book. He then talks about the ‘expressive function of law’ (p. 88) which are
statements without sanctions to regulate behaviour, law having an expressive power rather than
punitive, and they express our society’s or group’s values. These act more like nudges, like laws
against littering, smoking or drinking in public.
In the second section, Sunstein lists out 10 types of nudges which are – default rules (like
automatic enrolment in retirement fund), simplification (of forms and regulations), use of social norms
(telling people everyone is voting), increase in ease and convenience (keeping healthy food options at
the checkout gate of a super-market), disclosure (environmental data connected to use of fossil fuel),
warnings (graphic on cigarette packs), eliciting implementation intention (“do you plan to vote?”), pre-
commitment strategies (going for a smoking cessation program), reminders (emails or text messages)
and informing people of the nature and consequences of their past choices. Nudging may be
‘libertarian paternalism’ but Sunstein argues that it is sometimes necessary to “force” people to
choose. If the state does not nudge me to change my behaviour of smoking, then the corporates
surely will. He then goes on to discuss why nudges may fail and what to do in such cases.
The final part of the book is arguably a breeze compared to the first two. He distinguishes
between “input and output transparency” (p. 335). In lay terms, input transparency is being
transparent about all the input which the group has on a particular discussion, and output
transparency is transparency about the final outcome of the discussion- the regulations, or the facts.
Sunstein correctly argues that it is output transparency which is more important, beneficial and
relevant. He talks of the precautionary principle, avoiding when in doubt, or “better safe than sorry” (p.
367), and suggests that inaction or, in fact, regulation causing inaction is worse. Using Aaron
Wildavsky’s principle of ‘resilience’ (p. 384) he tries to show that the shocks resulting from change can
be borne by nature and society, and that such shocks are sometimes necessary rather than not acting
upon problems such as climate change. Sunstein’s words may have been prophetic, as has been
proven by the US government’s response to the viral pandemic and the havoc it caused and is still
causing.
He takes on moral heuristics and counters our preconceptions by bringing in the argument
between consequentialists (if consequences are good, then the action is right) and deontologists
(some actions are wrong even if the consequences are good)- where he sides heavily with
consequentialists. He uses the classic example of ‘the trolley problem’, which asks people to imagine
that a runaway trolley is headed for five people, who will be killed if the trolley continues on its current
course. One has two options- throw a switch that would move the trolley onto another set of tracks,
killing one person rather than five, or throw a stranger, now on a footbridge that spans the tracks, into
the path of the trolley, killing that stranger but preventing the trolley from reaching the others. While
most people choose option one, Sunstein argues that this is due to our moral heuristics and it does
not matter which option we choose, since the consequence is the same. Ultimately our mental
heuristics stand in the way of change and should be done away with.
Finally Sunstein talks about Partyism, a word he coins, meaning identification with a political
party such that it creates a strong bias against all members of an opposing party. Like all the negative
“isms”- racism, sexism, classicism, this can both fuel and block social change (p. 477). He suggests
that in US, partyism is on the rise, taking the current political scenario. Indians will identify; in recent
times we have seen this very political climate in the country which Sunstein describes “… those who
identify with a political party often become deeply hostile to the opposing party and believe that its
members have a host of horrific characteristics”.
This book is an extremely detailed account of the ethicality of nudging, what may cause
changes to fail and how to counter it. It is a tome, amounting to 580 pages plus, including references
and index, and even though it uses references of popular culture to address the audience, like the TV
show Lost, as well as currently popular social movements like #metoo, the book is difficult to read,
dense at parts and abounding in technical terms which is difficult for a non-academic to gauge. The
frequent italics do not really help. Feminist examples, as well as other diversity terms are used in the
beginning but they fail to move forward to a logical conclusion. The ideas and examples seen in this
book are sometimes repeated from his previous works, even in ‘The Cost-Benefit Revolution’ and ‘On
Freedom’ both of which are recent releases. It is often meandering and one finds it difficult to
understand how some of the threads that Sunstein follows ties up to his central theme of ‘how change
happens’. This book, ultimately, is strictly relevant for Sunstein fans, behavioural economics
academicians and perhaps the “choice architects” that the author talks about. Others may be more
comfortable with the Daniel Kahneman-s and the Dan Ariely-s of the world.
References
Sugden, Robert. "On nudging: A review of nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and
happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein." (2009): 365-373.
Sunstein, Cass R. "Moral heuristics." Behavioral and brain sciences 28.4 (2005): 531-541.
Sunstein, Cass R. On freedom. Princeton University Press, 2019.
Sunstein, Cass R. The cost-benefit revolution. MIT Press, 2018.
Thaler, Richard H., and Cass R. Sunstein. Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and
happiness. Penguin, 2009.
Payal Mukherjee
Research scholar, School of Management and Labour Services
Tata Institute of Social Sciences
E-mail: payalmukherjee@gmail.com
