Norms: An Integrated Framework

Abstract

Norms are a foundational concept in sociology. Following a period of skepticism about norms as overly deterministic and as paying too little attention to social conflict, inequalities, and agency, the past 20 years have seen a proliferation of norms research across the social sciences. Here we focus on the burgeoning research in sociology to answer questions about where norms come from, why people enforce them, and how they are applied. To do so, we rely on three key theoretical approaches in the literature—consequentialist, relational, and agentic. As we apply these approaches, we explore their implications for what are arguably the two most fundamental issues in sociology—social order and inequality. We conclude by synthesizing and building on existing norms research to produce an integrated theoretical framework that can shed light on aspects of norms that are currently not well understood—in particular, their change and erosion. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 46 is July 30, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Can Regional Gender Ideologies Account for Variation of the Gender Pay Gap? The Case of Germany

“…Gender ideologies are sets of widely taken-for-granted cultural beliefs about the essential natures and relative worth of men and women. (Chatillon et al 2018: 217) They impact behavior by providing a set of collective expectations of how to adequately present one-self and interact (Horne and Mollborn 2020). With regard to employment, traditional gender ideologies encompass expectations about the gendered division of labor, such as traditional expectations of men to be the main breadwinner and women primary care-givers or a belief of an incompatibility of motherhood and paid work (Davis and Greenstein 2009).…”

“…In such studies, contextual gender ideologies are inferred from the average of individually held beliefs (Horne and Mollborn 2020). Individuals adopt contextual norms based on exposure to norm-conforming behavior, ideological learning or because the adoption is in their interest (Davis and Greenstein 2009, Kroska and Elman 2009, Maxwell 2019.…”

“…Thereby, a probabilistic tendency (Polavieja 2015: 170) emerges that individuals share the same beliefs within any social group. This tendency ensures that the aggregate of individual beliefs aligns with the contextual norm, while still leaving room for individual-level variation within any group (Polavieja 2015, Horne andMollborn 2020). Since individuals belong to many social groups simultaneously, the adaption of beliefs is rather fragmented and increases the individual-level variation.…”

Gendered Places: The Dimensions of Local Gender Norms across the United States

“…Across a multitude of studies and methodological approaches, scholars have consistently identified the omnipresent role of local norms in shaping social life (see Chatillon, Charles, and Bradley 2018;Horne and Mollborn 2020).…”

“…As opposed to individual-level orientations, norms are the collective expectations of attitudes and behaviors associated with a particular context (Horne and Mollborn 2020;Pearse and Connell 2016). Norms convey what is appropriate to do, say, or feel within a setting.…”