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Against the libertarian view, this essay argues that coercion aimed at bringing about a more equal distribution across persons can be morally acceptable. Informal social norms might lead toward equality (or another social justice goal) without coercion. If coercion were unnecessary, it would be morally undesirable. A consequentialist integration of social norms and principles of social justice is proposed. The proposal is provided with a preliminary defense against the non-consequentialist egalitarianism of G.A. Cohen and against liberal criticisms directed against the common ground that Cohen and the proposed consequentialist egalitarianism occupy.

Abstract
In Morality and Socially Constructed Norms, Valentini searches for a unifying principle that underlies whatever genuine obligations we might have to obey the norms of any and all social practices, ranging from line queueing norms, through offsides rules in soccer, to obligations not to break the law. I argue that this search is driven, and distorted, by a commitment to what Bernard Williams labeled the 'morality system'. Once we see this, we should question the value of the unifying project. Most social norms can be considered on their own terms, as part of a rich and variegated ethical life, without subsuming them under the question of whether others' moral rights are at stake. Similarly, political obligation needs to be understood in relation to the practical activity of politics, not as an abstract moral quandary.

Abstract:Our primary aim in this paper is to sketch a cognitive evolutionary approach for developing explanations of social change that is anchored in the psychological mechanisms underlying normative cognition and the transmission of social norms. We throw the relevant features of this approach into relief by comparing it with the self-fulfilling social expectations account developed by Bicchieri and colleagues. After describing both accounts, we argue that the two approaches are largely compatible, but that the cognitive evolutionary approach is well suited to encompass much of the social expectations view, whose focus on a narrow range of norms comes at the expense of the breadth the cognitive evolutionary approach can provide.

The standard neoclassical economics model of utility maximization & its derived demand functions are used as a basis to examine the decision process involved in deciding family size. Emphasis is placed on a sociopsychological variable: the sociopsychological cost of restricting the number of children experienced through social disapproval, suspected infertility (for which social sanctions may exist), & questioning of deviance from the established norm. The hypothesis predicts that 'in a `backward' village society, parents will continue to bear children throughout the child-rearing span (observing only the controls within societal customs); but they will consider terminating or delaying if the costs of rearing another child are perceived to be prohibitive.' A developing country & its society provide the context for analysis. The decision process is expressed as disutility function to be minimized, (D= D[K,M]). The disutility from K includes the net SE costs of children, & disutility from M comprises a sociopsychological cost of restricting fertility. Relationships between the variables are illustrated in a four sector diagram. The effects of a society in or out of equilibrium are delineated. A dynamic theory is offered within which change in fertility rates is examined. Hypotheses are offered which may be used to analyze the change in fertility rate. Problems for empirical testing are discussed. 2 Figures. N. Jahnke.

We adopt a recently introduced incentivized method to elicit widely shared beliefs concerning (a) social norms, (b) environmental effect, and (c) difficulty of a wide range of environmental behaviors. We establish that these characteristics, as reflected in elicited beliefs recorded in one sample, predict (out-of-sample) environmental behaviors in a second separate sample. Pro-environmental behaviors perceived to be more socially appropriate and easier to perform, in particular, are more likely to be chosen. We show that subjective social norms mediate the effect of "global" (widely shared) social norms on behavior, which improves our understanding of the normative processes underlying pro-environmental action. Our use of an incentivized elicitation method might moreover mitigate problems associated with conventional surveys, such as social desirability bias, consistency bias, and inattentive responding, as discussed in the article.

A student essay for the Special Student Issue of the Journal of Extreme Anthropology accompanying the art exhibition 'Artist's Waste, Wasted Artists', which opened in Vienna on the 19th of September 2017 and was curated by the students of social anthropology at the University of Vienna. This essay focuses on the role of performance art in challenging established social norms and the work of the Austrian artist Michael René Sell.

Using time-diary data from 25 countries, we demonstrate that there is a negative relationship between real GDP per capita and the female-male difference in total work time per day -- the sum of work for pay and work at home. In rich northern countries on four continents, including the United States, there is no difference -- men and women do the same amount of total work. This latter fact has been presented before by several sociologists for a few rich countries; but our survey results show that labor economists, macroeconomists, the general public and sociologists are unaware of it and instead believe that women perform more total work. The facts do not arise from gender differences in the price of time (as measured by market wages), as women's total work is further below men's where their relative wages are lower. Additional tests using U.S. and German data show that they do not arise from differences in marital bargaining, as gender equality is not associated with marital status; nor do they stem from family norms, since most of the variance in the gender total work difference is due to within-couple differences. We offer a theory of social norms to explain the facts. The social-norm explanation is better able to account for within-education group and within-region gender differences in total work being smaller than inter-group differences. It is consistent with evidence using the World Values Surveys that female total work is relatively greater than men's where both men and women believe that scarce jobs should be offered to men first.

We live in an era in which women are more prominent. We can see what womenwant. We can see them evolving and establishing a viewpoint for themselves and the world.Although, more significantly, we can see them fighting for justice, and equality andknocking down the barriers of the past, indeed breaking the social norms. In any case,these barriers are significantly more challenging to overcome for women who come frommarginalised societies or from a segment of society that is already struggling to achieveequality; being brought into the world locally confronting segregation from society and apatriarchal mindset is still a topic for debate. The struggle to raise their voice and seekjustice is another part of their struggle. This paper adds to the current research by focusingon the South Asian context. As this article will expound on the concept of populist culture,a large segment of the population supports the dissatisfaction of the targeted group,making the issue more widespread in scope. In addition to addressing populist culture, thisarticle examines populist occurrences amongst the marginalised women that arose in theprevious decades.

AbstractThe paper studies tax evasion in an evolutionary setting. In addition to standard variables such as the fine individuals may have to pay if found guilty or the probability of being audited, agents' inclination to engage in tax evasion may also be affected by social interactions. Moreover, expected payoffs may include reputational costs or rewards awarded by society after an individual is audited. The paper shows how (i) social norms may play a very important role in defining the long‐run evolution of tax evasion and, consequently, that (ii) policymakers should consider reforms that would increase social awareness and information rather than more (financially and politically) expensive traditional auditing instruments; in addition, (iii) fiscal/auditing policies should be carefully tailored to the particular economic and social setting in place in a country.

Rulers seek to develop legitimacy. Legitimacy is a murky concept, however, and just how rulers might attain it is not well understood. This article explores the implications of conceptualizing legitimacy as a social norm that encourages people to support the ruler. This conceptualization points to the importance of social relations as well as characteristics of the ruler and his or her behavior. These factors together are argued to affect the extent to which norms supporting the ruler are enforced and, in turn, the extent to which people obey and respond to calls to action by the ruler. On this view, a ruler seeking legitimacy should consider (a) the messages he or she sends to citizens about himself or herself and (b) the ways in which his or her policies affect ties between citizens.