Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
Abstract
This book is an expanded and revised edition of the author's critically acclaimed volume Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. In twenty-six succinct chapters, Jon Elster provides an account of the nature of explanation in the social sciences. He offers an overview of key explanatory mechanisms in the social sciences, relying on hundreds of examples and drawing on a large variety of sources - psychology, behavioral economics, biology, political science, historical writings, philosophy and fiction. Written in accessible and jargon-free language, Elster aims at accuracy and clarity while eschewing formal models. In a provocative conclusion, Elster defends the centrality of qualitative social sciences in a two-front war against soft (literary) and hard (mathematical) forms of obscurantism.
... In [1] a whole range of social mechanisms are described. Among them is the concept of social norms. ...
... An open question is the costs of sanctioning. Apart from social norms, [1] describes moral norms (that are unconditional) and quasi-moral norms (like social norms these are conditional but triggered by being able to observe what others are doing instead of by being observed by other people as is the case for social norms). Other connected concepts are legal norms (where special agents enforce the norms) and conventions that are independent of external agent action. ...
... Other connected concepts are legal norms (where special agents enforce the norms) and conventions that are independent of external agent action. In [1] some examples of norms are discussed in detail such as: norms about etiquette, norms as codes of honour, and norms about the use of money. ...
... In de sociale wetenschappen wordt het denken over (bedrijfs-)ethiek doorgaans gekoppeld aan methodologisch individualisme. Hierbij worden agency en de capaciteit om keuzes te maken toegeschreven aan natuurlijke personen en niet aan abstracte en moeilijk te operationaliseren begrippen als de groep, de organisatie of de staat (Elster, 2007). Rond deze inzet van methodologisch individualisme in de (bedrijfs-)ethiek zijn drie vragen te stellen vanuit de ideeëngeschiedenis van de vennootschap. ...
... Bedrijfsethiek, methodologisch individualisme en de ideeëngeschiedenis van de vennootschap Jeroen Veldman In de sociale wetenschappen wordt het denken over (bedrijfs-)ethiek doorgaans gekoppeld aan methodologisch individualisme. Hierbij worden agency en de capaciteit om keuzes te maken toegeschreven aan natuurlijke personen en niet aan abstracte en moeilijk te operationaliseren begrippen als de groep, de organisatie of de staat (Elster, 2007). Rond deze inzet van methodologisch individualisme in de (bedrijfs-)ethiek zijn drie vragen te stellen vanuit de ideeëngeschiedenis van de vennootschap. ...
In de sociale wetenschappen wordt het denken over (bedrijfs-)ethiek doorgaans gekoppeld aan methodologisch individualisme. Hierbij worden agency en de capaciteit om keuzes te maken toegeschreven aan natuurlijke personen en niet aan abstracte en moeilijk te operationaliseren begrippen als de groep, de organisatie of de staat (Elster, 2007). Rond deze inzet van methodologisch individualisme in de (bedrijfs-)ethiek zijn drie vragen te stellen vanuit de ideeëngeschiedenis van de vennootschap. De eerste vraag is hoe de status van de vennootschap zich historisch heeft ontwikkeld en welke consequenties dit heeft voor de (relatieve) toekenning van agency aan sociale constructen als de natuurlijke persoon, de organisatie en de staat. Een tweede vraag is welke consequenties deze ideeëngeschiedenis heeft voor het denken over de architectuur van de organisatie en claims van stakeholders. De laatste vraag is welke invloed het vasthouden aan methodologisch individualisme heeft op de mogelijkheid om de uitkomsten op de vorige twee vragen duidelijk in kaart te brengen. Ideeëngeschiedenis Om een antwoord te geven op deze drie vragen beginnen we met de ontwikkeling van het denken over de juridische entiteit die aan de wieg stond van de moderne naamloze vennootschap. Tot het begin van de negentiende eeuw stond de toekenning van een vennootschappelijke status onder controle van een externe soeverein of een staat. Omdat de toekenning van die status gebonden was aan een duidelijke maatschappelijke doelafbakening, kon het ontplooien van activiteiten buiten die doelafbakening (ultra vires) leiden tot het intrekken van de concessie. Door deze concessie-gedachte werden vennootschappen in essentie begrepen als een partnerschap (Ireland, 1999), waarin de natuurlijke personen die de organisatie vormden grondleggend waren voor het bestaan en handelen van de organisatie (Post, 1934). Op basis hiervan werden juridische, morele en economische agency en verantwoordelijkheid van de organisatie direct gekoppeld aan de agency van natuurlijke personen (McLean, 2004) wat deze manier van denken congruent maakt met een insteek als die van het methodologisch individualisme. Deze situatie veranderde gedurende de negentiende eeuw. Om problemen tussen verschillende soorten aandeelhouders op te lossen, werd de juridische entiteit steeds meer neergezet als een zelfstandige entiteit die de organisatie vertegenwoordigde. Hierdoor werd de vennootschap steeds minder begrepen als een 'zij', bestaande uit individuen en steeds meer als een enkelvoudig en zelfstandig 'het' (Ireland, 1999). Dit proces van reïficatie, waarbij de entiteit steeds meer als een zelfstandig sociaal construct werd begrepen (Litowitz, 2000), had grote praktische gevolgen.
... Teoretisk perspektiv: Kollektiv handling I denne studien tar vi utgangspunkt i samfunnsvitenskapelig teori om kollektiv handling (Coleman, 1990;Elster, 2015;Kollock, 1998) som verktøy for å forstå fenomenet RUN i en samfunnsmessig sammenheng. Med kollektiv handling mener Kommunal kannibalisme? ...
... Den analytiske vinningen i å bruke den kollektive handlingens problem som teori i analysen er begrepsfestingen (Elster, 2007(Elster, , 2015. Rasjonalitetsbegrepene gir oss mulighet til å påpeke at kommuners bruk av RUN er individuelt rasjonelle handlinger, men at resultatet er kollektivt irrasjonelt. ...
Sammendrag Mangel på helsepersonell er et økende problem i Norge. Kommuner forsøker å rekruttere sykepleiere gjennom å tilby insentiver utover normallønn (rekrutteringstillegg). I denne artikkelen undersøker vi dette fenomenet gjennom dokumentanalyser av offentlige styringsdokumenter og relevante medie-og nyhetsartikler, i lys av sosiologiske teorier om kollektiv handling Oppsummert viser vår analyse følgende: (a) Kommuner iverksetter egne rekrutteringstiltak for å møte sine forpliktelser gjennom å tilby rekrutteringstillegg, (b) slike rekrutteringstiltak oppleves ofte å føre til konkurranse mellom kommunene med noen negative konsekvenser, og (c) kollektive konsekvenser av bruken av rekrutteringstillegg ser ut til å vaere lite diskutert i forskning. Vår konklusjon er at disse rekrutteringspraksisene er rasjonelle for den enkelte kommune, som har et begrenset repertoar av tilgjengelige virkemidler for å løse sine bemanningsproblemer. Likevel kan praksisen kritiseres for å ha negative konsekvenser for kommunene samlet sett. Den er kostbar, kan medføre «tyveri» av helsepersonell på tvers av kommuner, og begrenser mulighetene for kommunene til å komme opp med mer kollektivt rasjonelle løsninger.
Nøkkelord: Sykepleiere, sykepleiermangel, kommuner, rekruttering, rekrutteringstiltak
Artikkeltype: Fagfellevurdert artikkel
... Según lo indica la tabla anterior, se observa como los deseos y expectativas están presentes en la mayoría de las respuestas obtenidas, aunque es importante recalca que estas mismas cambian, Tabla 1. Cruce de categorías con respuestas obtenidas en los focus group. ya que, a lo largo de la trayectoria formativa, se agregan detalles que entremezclan las oportunidades que surgen, con las acciones que toman los individuos (Elster, 2007). Desde esta perspectiva, el individuo (agente), toma decisiones basado en sus deseos y expectativas (creencias) respecto a lo que es mejor para él(ella), y conforme avanza en su trayectoria, las decisiones tomadas se derivan, o pueden derivarse, en circunstancias que cambian las posibilidades que podría haberse formado (Hedström, 2006). ...
Con el objetivo de conocer los impactos de estudiantes de Licenciatura en Turismo por la modalidad educativa a distancia debido a la pandemia de covid-19, se aplicó una encuesta a 339 jóvenes de cuatro programas de la Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG) —Centro Universitario de la Costa Sur (CUCSUR), ubicado en Autlán de Navarro; Centro Universitario del Norte (CUNORTE), que se encuentra en Colotlán; Centro Universitario del Sur (CUSUR), con sede en Ciudad Guzmán; y Centro Universitario de la Costa (CUCOSTA), en Puerto Vallarta—, todos localizados en Jalisco, México. Se encontró que a 74 % no le gusta o le gusta poco como reciben sus clases; un factor que no favorece a 80 % es la conectividad a internet; se resalta que 52 % quiere continuar de manera híbrida, 37 % en modalidad presencial, y 12 % prefiere 100 % virtual; además, sufren afectación en sus prácticas profesionales que son fundamentales en su formación porque se enfrentan a la realidad del trabajo en el sector turístico. Se considera que lo que comparten los alumnos es útil para las instituciones y sus docentes a fin de que se ofrezca un aprendizaje verdaderamente
significativo y de calidad pese a los cambios abruptos
... For example, people may perceive that others avoid certain behaviours despite societal approval, or vice versa, leading to discrepancies in norm perceptions. In these cases, individuals might feel tension between adhering to what is typically done versus what is socially desirable (Bicchieri & Xiao, 2009;Cialdini et al., 1990;Elster, 2007). Additionally, people may sometimes misinterpret their group's expectations where individuals incorrectly infer social norms based on others' visible behaviours (Dawes, 1974;Miller & Ratner, 1996). ...
This study explores the influence of social norms and individual beliefs on the well-being of unemployed individuals in Turkey, a context marked by both chronic unemployment and a high societal valuation of employment. Using province-level representative data from the 2013 Life Satisfaction Survey, encompassing 196,203 observations, we analyse how descriptive norms (prevalence of unemployment) and injunctive norms (social pressures due to unemployment) at the province level affect the happiness of the unemployed. We utilized people's perception of employment for being respected in social life and personally feeling social pressure as a measure of individual beliefs. Multilevel regression results reveal that descriptive norms can modestly alleviate the adverse impact of unemployment, particularly for the short-term unemployed, while injunctive norms slightly intensify the unhappiness of being unemployed, especially in the short term. The unemployed's personal beliefs about the value of employment matter for their happiness. These findings underscore the theoretical implications of social norms in shaping the well-being of the unemployed and highlight the importance of individual beliefs in moderating these effects.
... (p. 16, our italics) We concur with this and set out not only to put context on display but also discuss its agentic nature in search of the mechanism (Elster, 2007) by which context in higher education (HE) exerts its influence. This endeavour appears additionally important for ADs as they increasingly try to work strategically (Gibbs, 2013) through, for example, holistic AD (Sutherland, 2018;Troelsen, 2021). ...
... The mechanistic view of governing hybridity embraces the notion of causality. Mechanisms are the conduits for 'nuts and bolts' (Elster, 2015) or 'cogs and wheels' (Hedström & Swedberg, 1998), by which forms of influence materialise into action and behaviour. However, our aim is not to establish strictly deterministic links between aspects, actions and agents of society, but rather to provide heuristics, and cognitive tools to trace the links between hybridity and policy making in society. ...
The chapter elaborates on hybridity in terms of policies and value creation. To do so, it conceptualises policy hybridity from two perspectives: first, as part of policy formation, which includes goals and actors other than those of the government (‘hybridity of policies’), and second, as a medium to govern hybridity in societies (‘policies for hybridity’). The former view relates to grand policy challenges, such as sustainability or security requiring cross-sectoral
cooperation. The latter refers to the reorganising and reshaping of public-private-civil society interactions
... When demand exists, group members will jointly construct a norm to regulate the focal action in a way that benefits the group, usually by creating additional rewards or punishments that target the focal action and incentivize individuals to act in accordance with the norm (Hechter & Opp, 2001). Hence, in any given transaction, individuals can be targets of a norm (those to whom the rule applies), beneficiaries of a norm (those who benefit from the norm), and/or enforcers of a norm (those who enforce the rules and often benefit from the norm) (Coleman, 1990;Elster, 2007). ...
Norms promote cooperation and prosocial behavior in groups, and one way in which norms support social order is by regulating concealment. However, systematic evidence on whether a norm of concealment affects the frequency of concealment and the content of what people conceal remains scarce. Using data from two surveys of US adults, we find that the norm of concealment is a moral norm that correlates with counts of concealment, the proportion of behaviors concealed, and membership in unique subgroups of concealers. We also find that the norm of concealment is relatively weak in terms of its character: it is bipolar, conditional, and of moderate intensity, with respondents disagreeing about the nature of the norm. Our findings suggest that individuals who follow a moral norm against concealment withhold less information than others.
... Przytoczoną definicję można byłoby odnieść do tego, co w niniejszej koncepcji kryje się pod terminem normy społecznej w ogóle przy założeniu, że: (a) zbiorowość rzeczywiście formułuje tego rodzaju oczekiwanie pod adresem swych członków (a nie jest ono tylko wyobrażane sobie przez jednostkę); (b) egzogenny charakter tego oczekiwania nie musi być powszechnie odczuwany. Definicja ta podkreśla jednak ważną cechę norm społecznych -ich społeczną responsywność, którą w pełni odzwierciedla właśnie tryb nakazowy (Elster, 2007). Tworzące go struktury kształtują bowiem w nas przekonanie, że otoczenie społeczne nie jest obojętne wobec tego, czy obowiązujące w nim oczekiwania są realizowane czy też nie w tym sensie, że łamanie norm może spotkać się z karą, a stosowanie się do nich z nagrodą. ...
... At the individual level, when the significance of adhering to civic norms diminishes, opportunism is likely to spread. Opportunism reflects a deficiency in civic morality, as it is driven by norms that prioritize short-term material and other personal gains (Merguei, Strobel, Vostroknutov 2022), while neglecting ethical considerations (Elster 2007) and disregarding the broader social implications of such behaviour. (2021) claims that using connections for getting things done in the Croatian healthcare system is "modus operandi" for significant part of people -17% relied on personal connections during the 12 months preceding the study. ...
Informal practices are rather widespread in post-Yugoslav societies, representing a complex problem with significant social, economic and political implications. The study investigates the factors that determine or contribute to shaping young people’s benevolent attitude towards certain types of informality, by exploring the determinants of informality justification or permissiveness towards certain forms of informal practices. Firstly, justification of informal practices are observed as a reflection of youth political socialization, which imply their relation to the political system and democratic values. Secondly, this type of justification potentially stems from their rational evaluation of institutional performance by estimating the necessity of informality as a mechanism to navigate the perceived inefficiencies of formal institutions. By examining these dimensions, the aim is to detect the extent to which these two sets of factors contribute to young people’s justification of informality in the post-Yugoslav context.
... By norm we understand behaviors or situations deemed typical within modern-day society, with a particular focus on Western societies, as this cultural backdrop is predominant in the English language data we are using. Our attention is on social norms (Wear black to a funeral) and conventions (Follow the rules of English grammar) rather than moral or legal norms (Elster, 2007), e.g. honesty or justice. ...
... O termo explanans refere-se à explicação para o fenômeno. Geralmente, em ciências sociais, o objetivo das análises concentra-se em identificar, para um dado fenômeno (explanandum), quais outros fenômenos antecedentes que explicam (explanans) sua manifestação como tal em um dado momento (ELSTER, 2015). ...
Teoria com Dados: Construindo Modelos Explicativos Causais em Ciências Sociais, de Ronaldo Baltar e Cláudia Baltar, reflete mais de duas décadas de experiência em pesquisa e formação em análise de dados sociais e demográficos. Este livro foi projetado para introduzir estudantes, pesquisadores e profissionais a uma abordagem metodológica inovadora para enfrentar os desafios da pesquisa social.
O texto incentiva os leitores a transcender a dicotomia entre estudos teóricos e análise baseada em evidências, utilizando Diagramas Causais como ferramentas analíticas. Esses diagramas servem tanto para representar o conhecimento quanto para expor logicamente pressupostos e hipóteses, que podem ser testados com base nos dados.
Como exemplo, o livro ilustra, passo a passo, como a clássica tese de Max Weber sobre a relação entre a ética protestante e o espírito do capitalismo pode ser representada por um Diagrama Causal. Isso facilita uma compreensão mais clara e logicamente estruturada das complexas relações causais subjacentes, assim como da análise dos dados utilizados por Weber.
Ao final, Teoria com Dados oferece um guia comentado com referências bibliográficas essenciais para quem deseja se aprofundar na análise causal, além de listar pacotes fundamentais em R para aplicação em pesquisas nessa área. O livro proporciona aos leitores um conjunto de recursos indispensáveis para iniciar seus estudos e aplicações em análise causal na pesquisa social. A obra foi publicada pela Editora IHC em formato físico e também digital.
... Por lo tanto, el contexto de este trabajo propone las prácticas consumistas de las sociedades que se alimentan de diferentes discursos, entre estos el publicitario, para consolidar creencias en las personas y que, de esa forma, puedan actuar socialmente. Por otro lado, la teoría política que se usará para comprender este hecho es el marco sociológico de sociedades consumistas (Bauman, 2004(Bauman, , 2007Bauman y Bordoni, 2014;Lipovetsky, 1993Lipovetsky, , 2007, los avances de las ciencias cognitivas que relacionan el discurso y la acción social (Austin, 1990;Searle, , 2008Searle, , 2010Chomsky, 1997Chomsky, , 2006Van Dijk, 2006, además de la teoría de la elección racional (Elster, 2007(Elster, , 2009). La institucionalización de la publicidad Thompson (1987, p. 517) afirma que: "Los componentes cognitivos (ideas, significados, actitudes, etc.) no fluyen sin rumbo por el mundo social, sino que circulan por él en forma de frases, expresiones, palabras, tanto en forma hablada como en forma escrita". ...
Este novedoso volumen reúne 14 capítulos escritos tanto por catedráticos reconocidos en el campo del análisis del discurso y de la pragmática como por académicos más jóvenes cuyas aportaciones, sin embargo, no son menos importantes. Todos los estudios tienen en común un interés hacia la participación de la lengua y del discurso en el desarrollo de fenómenos sociales. La primera parte del volumen presenta planteamientos con orientación más teórica, como la caracterización de los discursos enunciados colectivamente, el análisis de la interacción entre teorías discursivas y cognición, la descripción de la representación del tiempo en el español o la clasificación de ciertos tipos de inferencias. En la segunda parte se presentan análisis discursivos de fenómenos sociales importantes, como las estrategias para establecer reglas de comunicación en ámbito político, las estrategias retóricas de convencimiento en los discursos publicitarios, las respuestas de estudiantes mexicanos a la crisis del covid-19 o los procesos de negociación de significados en la adquisición de la lengua extranjera en contexto. Al ofrecer una introducción a las teorías más importantes en pragmática y análisis del discurso, este volumen constituye una referencia fundamental para académicos y estudiantes que se interesan por las interacciones entre discurso y sociedad.
... Realistically simulating human personality and its impact on text generation is a challenging yet crucial problem (Elster, 2015;Park et al., 2023;Serapio-García et al., 2023;Frisch & Giulianelli, 2024). Embedding personality traits into LLMs can greatly enhance their authenticity across a wide range of applications, from conversational agents (Pradhan & Lazar, 2021) to educational tools (Kanero et al., 2022) and mental health platforms (Tudor Car et al., 2020;Ahmad et al., 2022). ...
In this work, we tackle the challenge of embedding realistic human personality traits into LLMs. Previous approaches have primarily focused on prompt-based methods that describe the behavior associated with the desired personality traits, suffering from realism and validity issues. To address these limitations, we introduce BIG5-CHAT, a large-scale dataset containing 100,000 dialogues designed to ground models in how humans express their personality in text. Leveraging this dataset, we explore Supervised Fine-Tuning and Direct Preference Optimization as training-based methods to align LLMs more naturally with human personality patterns. Our methods outperform prompting on personality assessments such as BFI and IPIP-NEO, with trait correlations more closely matching human data. Furthermore, our experiments reveal that models trained to exhibit higher conscientiousness, higher agreeableness, lower extraversion, and lower neuroticism display better performance on reasoning tasks, aligning with psychological findings on how these traits impact human cognitive performance. To our knowledge, this work is the first comprehensive study to demonstrate how training-based methods can shape LLM personalities through learning from real human behaviors.
... These norms often carry social rather than economic sanctions. 80 Social norms and the perceived socially acceptable behaviour can significantly influence financial behaviours, as demonstrated by Trautmann and Vahu, 81 who showed that the expectation of peers defaulting could induce similar non-payment behaviours in others. Further supporting this, various studies have noted the impact of foreclosure rates on the likelihood of strategic defaults. ...
Objective
This study aimed to understand how different communication strategies influence patients’ behaviour in paying unpaid hospital bills. The research focused on a healthcare system where patients have to pay a significant portion of their medical costs out-of-pocket.
Methods
The research was conducted in collaboration with a debt collection agency in Latvia. The field experiment involved 9196 individuals with unpaid hospital bills. These individuals received randomly assigned reminders through mobile text messages and e-mails. The study compared the effectiveness of personalized messages, which included the recipient's name, with generic reminders and messages that appealed to social norms or public good contributions.
Results
The findings revealed that personalized messages, specifically those that included the recipient's name, significantly improved payment rates compared with generic reminders. Conversely, messages that used social norms or public good appeals did not have a significant impact on payment rates.
Conclusions
The study highlights the importance of personalized communication strategies in improving hospital debt collection. Even simple, cost-effective modifications in communication, like adding the recipient's name, can significantly enhance payment compliance. This approach not only keep the financial books of healthcare providers balanced but also suggests that personalized strategies can be extended to other areas of healthcare management. However, while these findings are promising, they indicate that more personalized and nuanced communication strategies are needed to address the broader issue of unpaid hospital bills effectively.
... Przytoczoną definicję można byłoby odnieść do tego, co w niniejszej koncepcji kryje się pod terminem normy społecznej w ogóle przy założeniu, że: (a) zbiorowość rzeczywiście formułuje tego rodzaju oczekiwanie pod adresem swych członków (a nie jest ono tylko wyobrażane sobie przez jednostkę); (b) egzogenny charakter tego oczekiwania nie musi być powszechnie odczuwany. Definicja ta podkreśla jednak ważną cechę norm społecznych -ich społeczną responsywność, którą w pełni odzwierciedla właśnie tryb nakazowy (Elster, 2007). Tworzące go struktury kształtują bowiem w nas przekonanie, że otoczenie społeczne nie jest obojętne wobec tego, czy obowiązujące w nim oczekiwania są realizowane czy też nie w tym sensie, że łamanie norm może spotkać się z karą, a stosowanie się do nich z nagrodą. ...
Od lat 70. poprzedniego stulecia zjawiskiem wypalenia zawodowego interesuje się coraz większa grupa badaczy na całym świecie. Istnieje wiele empirycznych dowodów na to, że wypalenie zawodowe stanowi poważne zagrożenie dla zdrowia psychicznego pracowników i ich zdolności do pracy. Celem przeprowadzonych badań była odpowiedź na pytania, czy istnieje związek pomiędzy stratami i zyskami w zasobach osobistych a wypaleniem zawodowym, a także które ze strat i zysków w zasobach osobistych są predyktorami wypalenia zawodowego. Próbę badawczą stanowiło 90 nauczycieli szkół podstawowych i gimnazjalnych z województw warmińsko-mazurskiego, kujawsko-pomorskiego i pomorskiego. W badaniu zastosowano następujące narzędzia badawcze: Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-ES) i Kwestionariusz Samooceny Zysków i Strat (na podstawie teorii Stevana Hobfolla). Analiza danych wykazała relację strat zasobów hedonistycznych i witalnych oraz władzy i prestiżu z wyczerpaniem, a także zysków zasobów hedonistycznych i witalnych z wyczerpaniem i poczuciem osiągnięć, jak również zysków zasobów rodzinnych z wyczerpaniem. Nie potwierdzono związku strat i zysków zasobów z depersonalizacją oraz strat i zysków zasobów wewnętrznych i duchowych, ekonomiczno-politycznych z wypaleniem. Ujawniono również, że zasoby hedonistyczne i witalne są najistotniejszym predyktorem wypalenia zawodowego.
Słowa kluczowe: wypalenie zawodowe, dobrostan, straty i zyski zasobów osobistych, profilaktyka, zdrowie.
... China's gross enrollment rate of tertiary education expected to exceed more than 60% of total student enrollment on 2022 and after, i.e., surpassing European and American countries and entering the stage of popularization of higher education. The growing and diverse tertiary education student enrollment can present a challenge for the university administrators to sustain their institution values [5]. Mainly including the following three management challenges: ...
This study explores the variable factors that affect the identity management identity of the Generation-Z in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, and provides solutions for improving the youth's identity, inheritance and further improving the efficiency of organizational management of red cultural organizations. This study uses quantitative investigation and qualitative analysis methods, and derives three independent variables, an intermediary variable and a dependent variable. A total of hypotheses and a conceptual model were proposed. Pilot study was used for data collection and analysis, factor analysis, path analysis, and regression analysis to verify the research hypothesis. This study will take the organizational identity theory as the theoretical basis, provide a new research perspective for the Xi'an Municipal Government and relevant red culture functional management departments to improve management effectiveness, and provide reference ideas for the identification and inheritance of red culture among adolescents in the Generation-Z in Xi'an.
... Non-mandatory DRP can limit human movement and alleviate the global COVID-19 pandemic by establishing social norms. Social norms are defined as external influences that are conditional and expectation-based [43], or 'shared expectations' are achieved through external sanctions [44]. Reynolds [45] summarized three main theories to explain how norms affect human behaviour. ...
Natural disasters bring indelible negative impacts to human beings, and people usually adopt some post hoc strategies to alleviate such impacts. However, the same strategies may have different effects in different countries (or regions), which is rarely paid attention by the academic community. In the context of COVID-19, we examine the effect of distance restriction policies (DRP) on reducing human mobility and thus inhibiting the spread of the virus. By establishing a multi-period difference-in-differences model to analyse the unique panel dataset constructed by 44 countries, we show that DRP does significantly reduce mobility, but the effectiveness varies from country to country. We built a moderating effect model to explain the differences from the cultural perspective and found that DRP can be more effective in reducing human mobility in countries with a lower indulgence index. The results remain robust when different sensitivity analyses are performed. Our conclusions call for governments to adapt their policies to the impact of disasters rather than copy each other.
... This section will thoroughly examine the migration of Indonesian migrant students abroad, focusing on migration and the decision-making process to return to their home areas or settle in their current residences either temporarily or permanently. The migration intentions will be strongly associated with the influence of social media on their decision-making process, as has been established by Todaro (1978), McGrew and Wilson (1982), Burch (1980), Becker and Murphy (1988), Goldthorpe (1996), andElster (2015). ...
This study examines how social media has impacted the decision-making process of Indonesian students in Sweden who are considering migration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the unique circumstances of the pandemic, health and safety have become critical factors in the decision-making processThe research was conducted using quantitative and qualitative methods, which were highly effective in gathering data. A survey was conducted with 33 participants, who were selected using accidental sampling. In addition, open interviews were conducted with 10 participants from different countries, which provided valuable insights into the subject matter. Data was collected through online questionnaires and interviews across multiple social media platforms. Although there were some potential limitations in data quality and participant engagement, the methods utilized in this study were highly effective and produced reliable results. The study found that social media was vital in helping Indonesian students make informed migration decisions and obtain information about the pandemic. In particular, social media facilitates knowledge sharing and communication with friends and colleagues. However, the pandemic created temporary obstacles for migrants considering returning to Indonesia due to safety and health concerns.
How do new technologies emerge? This book shows: Not through rigid plans, but through shared social praxis. Using the wind energy sector as an example, the author analyzes how innovation processes are shaped – or blocked – by social norms, standards and power constellations. The book systematically analyzes the institutional barriers to collaborative innovation projects and shows that shared working standards are the silent backbone of any successful technology collaboration. The author provides new food for thought for sociologically based innovation management and the management of open innovation. The book is aimed at practitioners, researchers and policy makers alike.
What do Norwegian reading lists in pedagogy in postgraduate teacher-training communicate about race? A content analysis of all reading lists for modules in pedagogy that form part of the Norwegian postgraduate certificate of education and were posted online in autumn 2021 coded 0.2% (75 of the 35,116) of the pages as authored by people of colour; about one in every twenty pages pertained to people of colour and almost all the contributions by authors coded as people of colour concerned people of colour. Compared to statistics regarding students taking these courses that year, people of colour are not only invisible in these reading lists, but their visibility is primarily as an educational concern and only secondarily as intellectual agents. Although reading lists in education communicate concern about people of colour, they do not communicate trust in them as fellow academics.
A central problem of social theory consists in explaining individual cooperative behavior. One of the main interpretations is rooted in the rational choice theory, born from the homo oeconomicus model , which proposes instrumental rationality, maximization of expected utility and self-interest as unique presuppositions of individual behavior. These assumptions have been widely criticized, especially concerning their descriptive adequacy in cases of cooperative behavior. Numerous empirical evidence shows how individual behavior can be disinterested in these cases, not based on instrumental calculation and, therefore, explainable on the basis of other dimensions in cognitive human system and individual action. Based on the literature developed in the field of cognitive psychology and experimental economics, the article proposes to analyze cooperative behaviors (conceived in a broad sense since not necessarily implying shared goals), considering components of the rationality of a cognitive and emotional nature, using the concept of affect heuristic . It shows how some emotional behavioral responses (e.g., love, fairness moods, etc.) can be crucial in explaining individual selfless behaviors and their role in developing cooperation. Our analysis is developed in the light of a broader cognitive system and a more extended notion of rationality than the strictly economic one.
This paper addresses the persistent ambiguity in the evaluation of legitimate expectations within investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS), critically examining this through Fuller’s interactional theory. Traditional approaches fail to adequately capture the evolving socio-economic contexts and the dynamic nature of investor–state interactions. This paper introduces a novel analytical model that integrates Fuller’s principles, emphasizing continuous dialogue and mutual understanding between investors and host states. By shifting focus from static legal interpretations to interaction-based assessments, this framework provides a more equitable and context-sensitive method for adjudicating legitimate expectations. The research offers significant academic contributions by redefining the foundational principles of legitimate expectations in ISDS, highlighting the necessity of procedural fairness and shared understanding. Practically, it proposes actionable guidelines for tribunals and policymakers to enhance the legitimacy and predictability of investment arbitration. This includes revising bilateral investment treaties (BITs) for explicit policy disclosure and fostering ongoing communication between parties. The adoption of Fuller’s interactional theory in ISDS not only clarifies legal ambiguities but also promotes a more cooperative and transparent investment climate, ultimately benefiting both investors and host states.
Our world has been and still is plagued by oppressive social and political systems. Why do these systems persist or why did they persist for as long as they did? Initially developed by Karl Marx, ideology explanations point to distorted beliefs among the oppressed. Favored by social scientists, collective action explanations point to an inability among the oppressed to coordinate resistance. This paper is about how to resolve the debate. Several philosophers look for a conclusive resolution, trying to show that one of the hypotheses is fatally flawed, so the alternative must be embraced. These resolutions fail, I argue. Instead, we should decide which hypothesis best explains persistent oppression on a case-by-case basis through empirical investigation. I call this piecemeal resolution. After introducing and defending the piecemeal approach, I sketch an empirical strategy.
Scientific normativity, one of the contentious issues in the philosophy of science, warrants thorough exploration to situate the epistemic role of the norms governing methodological choices in science. This paper endeavors to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of it by using Lewis' account of convention. The attempt is to develop a social conventional framework for scientific normativity. It is an epistemological framework that recognizes scientific norms governing methodological choices as social conventions. These social conventions are arrived at by appealing to the values, goals, desires, and assumptions that characterize the sociality of the situation in which they emerge. We argue for a pluralistic notion of scientific normativity without being dismissive of the universalists’ central concerns.
Why do many postpositivists caricature contemporary social science? Why make incorrect claims, for instance about social scientists avoiding values? Why discuss features that often no longer matter, such as seeking laws or predictions? Why reject extreme forms of social science without discussing more sensible forms? Why say little or nothing about scientific methodology, which is a great strength of recent social science? To explain such oversights and caricatures, philosophical analysis will not suffice. These are not isolated intellectual errors, but systematic ones, made by numerous scholars and fostered by social practices and institutional conventions. We thus need ideological analysis, which specializes in explaining institutionalized systems of belief. Speculative explanations are offered for postpositivist caricatures, including not only psychological factors, but also external ones (for example, the arrogance of many social scientists), limitations of language (for example, the ambiguity of the term ‘methodology’), rhetorical strategies (for example, genealogical approaches), and conventions (for example, bad citation practices).
Rasyonalite kavramını sadece ekonomik bir bağlamda ele alınmanın yanı sıra felsefi, sosyal ve psikolojik anlamlara sahip bir konu olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu nedenle rasyonellik konusunda çok çeşitli görüşlerle karşılaşılmaktadır. Bu görüşlerden biri de rasyonelliği kişisel çıkara dayalı değişmez bir varsayım olarak gösteren geleneksel iktisat yaklaşımıdır. Tam rasyonellik yaklaşımına birçok eleştiri yapılmıştır. Bu eleştirilerden biri de Herbert Simon'un önerdiği tam rasyonelliğe karşı sınırlı veya sınırlı rasyonelliktir. Klasik iktisadın, faydanın temelde hedefe ulaşmada özetlendiği tam rasyonellik yaklaşımını eleştiren Simon, karar sürecini, tamamen bilgiye sahip bir kişinin tasarrufunda olan bir süreç değil, dışsal ve içsel çeşitli faktörlerin etkisi altında olan bir süreç olarak değerlendirmektedir. Sonuçta insanın verdiği karar tamamen optimal bir karar değil, aksine onu araştırmayı ve değerlendirmeyi bırakacak belli bir tatmin düzeyine getiren bir karar olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Tam rasyonellik yaklaşımının aksine, bireyin yapılan seçimden duyduğu tatmin, kişisel menfaatin tam olarak gerçekleşmesinden kaynaklanan tek fayda değildir; aynı zamanda karar vericinin inancını, sosyal ve bireysel tatminini de takip etmektedir. Simon'un araştırma yöntemi basit ve açık olmasına rağmen, görünen o ki bu teorinin sonucu, yönteminden daha çok önem arz etmektedir. İktisat teorisinin temel taşı olarak kabul edilen tam rasyonellik gerçeklikle örtüşemiyorsa, geleneksel iktisat teorisinin toplumu anlama ve toplumun sorunlarına çözüm üretecek pratik öneriler sunma yeteneğine sahip olmadığı sonucuna ulaşılabilinmektedir.
Neste artigo, argumentamos que o casamento infantil deve ser entendido como uma prática social opressiva direcionada a meninas e mulheres, sustentada por uma estrutura normativa complexa que reforça estruturas e dinâmicas patriarcais. Baseamos nossa análise em uma perspectiva feminista e socioecológica da teoria das normas sociais, destacando a influência das normas de gênero e do contexto social e político. Em seguida, exploramos o papel da agência e da deliberação de meninas e adolescentes em contextos marcados por injustiça e opressão de gênero, utilizando teorias não-ideais para aprofundar a compreensão das estratégias que orientam a escolha dessas jovens por essa prática.
This chapter reviews the theoretical foundations of critical juncture research and, based on a consideration of how foundational issues should be addressed, suggests that some changes to the core ideas used in this research are needed. The aim of the chapter is to show how the critical juncture framework can be reconstructed on stronger foundations.
Competition has rarely been an explicit theme in ethnographies of African settings, despite being a familiar dynamic to ethnographers in the field. Trust and mistrust, although prominent themes, tend to feature in discussions of their relationship to cooperation. Re-reading ethnographic and historical accounts of diverse competitive practices on the continent invites a closer attention to the subtle ways in which competition – as a specific genre of collective action – shapes and is reshaped by relations of trust and mistrust. This article begins by drawing this lead out from extant literature, before pursuing it in conversation with the ethnographic materials presented across this part issue. We show that competition gives rise to particular acts and dispositions of trust and mistrust. These, in turn, prompt people to reimagine the competitive structures and practices they engage in. Competition, trust and mistrust are thus mutually implicated. This insight demonstrates how ethnographies of African settings can continue to strengthen conceptual understandings of both competition and trust in anthropological and social theory while challenging representations of African societies as historically uncompetitive at a time when assumptions about the relationship between competition and trust continue to inform macro-economic modelling and policymaking that shape millions of lives, in Africa and beyond.
Experiments have gained prominence in sociology in recent years. Increased interest in testing causal theories through experimental designs has ignited a debate about which experimental designs can facilitate scientific progress in sociology. This book discusses the implications of research interests for the design of experiments, identifies points of commonality and disagreement among the different perspectives within sociology, and elaborates on the rationales of each. It helps experimental sociologists find appropriate designs for answering specific research questions while alerting them to the challenges. Offering more than just a guide, this book explores both the historical roots of experimental sociology and the cutting-edge techniques of rigorous sociology. It concludes with a tantalizing peek into the future and provides a roadmap to the exciting prospects and uncharted territories of experimental sociology.
According to methodological individualism any scientific explanation in the social sciences should have recourse to individual beliefs, wishes, intentions and actions. This article sets forth two practical reasons to endorse a clear-cut, classical version of methodological individualism as a research programme in the social sciences. The first one is that methodological individualism should lead to fundamental heuristic hypotheses. The second reason is that methodological individualism has the epistemological strength of producing statements open to logical refutation.The present article questions highly sophisticated accounts of methodological individualism. It suggests instead four tenets to be a valid research programme in the social sciences underscoring an intuitive language to analyze social phenomena. By doing so, it reviews some distinctive features of methodological individualism: Max Weber’s ideal types, Joseph Schumpeter’s notion of given behaviour, Friedrich Hayek’s concept of individual action and Jon Elster’s account of explanatory mechanisms.
Despite three decades of rapid expansion and public success, global history's theoretical and methodological foundations remain under-conceptualised, even to those using them. In this collection of essays, leading historians provide a reassessment of global history's most common analytical instruments, metaphors and conceptual foundations. Rethinking Global History prompts historians to pause and think about the methodology and premises underpinning their work. The volume reflects on the structure and direction of history, its relation to our present and the ways in which historians should best explain, contextualise and represent events and circumstances in the past. In chapters on fundamental concepts such as scale, comparison, temporality and teleology, this collection will guide readers to assess the extant literature critically and write theoretically informed global histories. Taken together, these essays provide a unique and much-needed assessment of the implications of history going global. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.
Idea, action, and outcome are identified as the three key objects of social sciences and are also explained as the key tasks of social sciences. Our failure to grasp the ontological differences between these three objects is shown and the fact that explaining them may require different epistemological stands and methodological tools has been a key cause of the sterility of many epistemological and methodological debates. Explicitly differentiating the three objects and understanding that an explanation is required for these different stands and tools therefore provides us with a better picture of the empirical challenges of social sciences and paves the way toward more scientific progress. This discussion also holds important pedagogical value.
John Searle has proposed one of the most influential contemporary accounts of social ontology. According to Searle, institutional facts are created by the collective assignment of a specific kind of function—status-function—to pre-existing objects. Thus, a piece of paper counts as money in a certain context because people collectively recognize it as money and impose a status upon it, which in turn enables that piece of paper to deliver certain functions (means of payment, etc.). The first part of this chapter presents Searle’s theory of social ontology and summarizes his views on money. The second part centers on criticisms of his views and compares his theory with its main competitors, including the theories of Tuomela, Guala, and Hindriks, and Smit, Buekens, and Duplessis. The conclusion attempts to see what may remain of Searle’s theory after careful examination.
Lynching remains a common form of collective punishment for alleged wrongdoers in Latin America, Africa, and Asia today. Unlike other kinds of collective violence, lynching is usually not carried out by standing organizations. How do lynch mobs overcome the high barriers to violent collective action? I argue that they draw on local community ties to compensate for a lack of centralized organization. Lynch mobs benefit from solidarity and peer pressure, which facilitate collective action. The study focuses on Mexico, where lynching is prevalent and often amounts to the collective beating of thieves. Based on original survey data from Mexico City and a novel lynching event dataset covering the whole of Mexico, I find that individuals with more ties in their communities participate more often in lynching, and municipalities with more highly integrated communities have higher lynching rates. As community ties and lynching may be endogenously related, I also examine the posited mechanisms and the causal direction. Findings reveal that municipalities exposed to a recent major earthquake—an event that tends to increase community ties—subsequently experienced increased levels of lynching. Importantly, I find that interpersonal trust is unrelated to lynching, thus showing that different aspects of social capital have diverging consequences for collective violence, with community ties revealing a “dark side.”
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