Social norms can rebalance incentives and enforce cooperation against individual self-interest.

Evidence

Social norms remain one of the most powerful tools we have for fighting against the forces that want to further carve out the blank space. Humans have always used norms to rebalance social rewards and punishments, ensuring that self-interest doesn’t erode the collective good. This means we can use norms to reward invention and discourage cynical, exploitative uses of culture. Consider the Mafia’s omertà—a code of silence designed to prevent snitching. By threatening dishonor (and worse) to anyone who squeals, the omertà shifts the incentives of the classic prisoner’s dilemma, ensuring nobody talks. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 855

Categorization

• DEFINE: The omertà is offered as a concrete mechanism example of how norms shift prisoner’s-dilemma incentives — clarifies the abstract claim by way of a stark analogy.
• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s law-merchant work on how reputational norms and private enforcement sustain cooperation without centralized authority.