Norms persist only while conformity benefits outweigh deviance rewards

Evidence

Even when conventions tend to be obviously unfair or clash against communal principles, challengers face social disapproval for choosing alternatives. While dining out one day, the radical activist Emma Goldman lit up a cigarette with her male companions in a minor act of gender equality, only to be thrown out on the street. When Goldman persisted in her promotion of unpopular anarchist ideas, the United States threw her out of the country. Goldman’s pursuit of change, despite the obvious adversities, demonstrates the economist Anthony Heath’s assertion: “The fact that there is a social norm does not … automatically entail that it will be obeyed. Everyone has his price: the benefits of conformity must be compared with the benefits to be obtained elsewhere, and there is bound to be some level of alternative benefits that will successfully tempt the individual into deviance.” — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 139

Even when conventions tend to be obviously unfair or clash against communal principles, challengers face social disapproval for choosing alternatives. While dining out one day, the radical activist Emma Goldman lit up a cigarette with her male companions in a minor act of gender equality, only to be thrown out on the street. When Goldman persisted in her promotion of unpopular anarchist ideas, the United States threw her out of the country. Goldman’s pursuit of change, despite the obvious adversities, demonstrates the economist Anthony Heath’s assertion: “The fact that there is a social norm does not … automatically entail that it will be obeyed. Everyone has his price: the benefits of conformity must be compared with the benefits to be obtained elsewhere, and there is bound to be some level of alternative benefits that will successfully tempt the individual into deviance.” — W. David Marx, Status and Culture, 140

Categorization

• CANDY: The detail that Emma Goldman was ejected from a restaurant just for lighting a cigarette with male companions is a striking, self-contained anecdote.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 139; W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 140
• XREF: connects to: Status anxiety can delay adoption of well-known useful technologies by years — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 529; Progress narratives fail to explain fast cultural changes like crazes — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 520; Gaining social approval requires conforming to arbitrary group practices, not just contributions — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 114 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Stress, threat, and lack of information increase conformity to group norms #expands (0.85) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 186
• Norm-conforming behaviour cannot generate trust; only risky deviance can. #contradicts (0.80) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 193
• Trustworthiness persists only while future gains from the relationship outweigh defection #corroborates (0.80)
• Social norms function as incentive-shifters against free-rider defection in collective action #corroborates (0.78) — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 855
• Future gains from continued interaction function as both incentive and sanction for trust. #corroborates (0.78)
• Behavioral departures from norms can be adaptive responses #contradicts (0.72) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 443