The esprit de corps of social units persists via self-reinforcing convergent expectations.

Evidence

The individual character of one of these units seems to be largely a matter of convergent expectations—everyone’s expectation of what everyone expects of everyone—with the new arrivals’ expectations being molded in time to help mold the expectations of subsequent arrivals. There is a sense of “social contract,” the particular terms of which are sensed and accepted by each incoming generation. I am told that this persistence of a tradition in a social entity is one of the reasons why the legal identity of an army division or regiment—its name and number and history—is often deliberately preserved when its strength has fallen to where abolition might seem indicated: the tradition that goes with the legal identity of the group is an asset worth preserving for a future buildup. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 223

Categorization

• XREF: Reading-list suggestion: Ernest Gellner on nationalism as convergent convention, or Benedict Anderson’s imagined communities. — connects to: Institutions and traditions persist because they are conspicuous coordination solutions. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 222; Social possibility rests on well-founded expectations about others’ conduct; Trust necessarily stays moored in expectations and interests (+5 more)

Related

• Institutions and traditions persist because they are conspicuous coordination solutions. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Bargaining outcomes rest on convergent reflexive expectations, not on force or merit #corroborates (0.85) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 177
• Social possibility rests on well-founded expectations about others’ conduct #corroborates (0.80)
• Distrust is a self-reinforcing, self-fulfilling social dynamic. #corroborates (0.80)
• A social equilibrium persists when agents lack incentives to change it #expands (0.80)
• Trust necessarily stays moored in expectations and interests #corroborates (0.75)
• Simple discrete salient limits enable coordinated expectations. #expands (0.75) — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 602
• Social norms make people present stable identities that others can trust #expands (0.75)