Social norms persist because group members have interests in sanctioning violators

Evidence

Many social and moral norms are primarily manifestations of interest, as trust commonly is. For example, my adherence to norms of exclusion is motivated by my group’s sanction and even exclusion of me if I violate the norms (Hardin 1995, chapter 4). Because this is so, we can count on others enough even to take an optimistic view of them. It might be difficult to explain the rise of Vronsky’s aristocratic class norms; but we might readily explain their maintenance once they have arisen as straightforwardly dependent on the interests of Russian aristocrats to abide by them—in particular, their interests in sanctioning violators of them. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 270

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Hardin’s own core account of trust as encapsulated interest, and to the exclusionary norms of the sighted wife’s group in Saramago. — connects to: Social norms operate through common-knowledge approval and disapproval rather than enforcement. — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 1288; Status groups originate and preserve the conventions that become social norms — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 129; Unwanted imitation by outsiders drives groups to abandon contaminated conventions — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 132 (+1 more)