Social Norms, Social Change

2019/2020

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

4

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Департамент социологии

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

2-й курс, 1 модуль

Преподаватель

Фрёлих Кристиан

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This is a course on social norms, the rules that glue societies together. It teaches how to diagnose social norms, and how to distinguish them from other social constructs, like customs or conventions. These distinctions are crucial for effective policy interventions aimed to create new, beneficial norms or eliminate harmful ones. The course teaches how to measure social norms and the expectations that support them, and how to decide whether they cause specific behaviors. The course is a joint Penn-UNICEF project, and it includes many examples of norms that sustain behaviors like child marriage, gender violence and sanitation practices. The course is a Massive Open Online Course delivered at Coursera platform ( 2 courses https://www.coursera.org/learn/norms and https://www.coursera.org/learn/change). Students are required to finish both online courses and take an oral examination at HSE for completing the course. The examination is taken after completion of the course during examination weeks. The full syllabus is published at the course websites. (https://www.coursera.org/learn/norms and https://www.coursera.org/learn/change). The course doesn’t require special previous knowledge and competences

Learning Objectives

• Provide students the basic concepts and definitions, such as social expectations and conditional preferences.
• Provide students the methods of measure expectations and preferences

Expected Learning Outcomes

• examine social change, the tools may be used to enact change
• how to measure expectations and preferences
• understand the basic concepts and definitions, such as social expectations and conditional preferences

Course Contents

• Week 1: Interdependent & Independent Actions + Empirical Expectations
  The course aims to give you the tools to understand, measure, and change collective practices. This module focuses on two of the basic building blocks the theory of social norms is built on the distinction between interdependent and independent behavior, and empirical expectations.
• Week 3: Conditional Preferences + Social Norms
  In this module we cover two topics: conditional preferences and social norms. Conditional preferences are the final basic building block of the theory of social norms. After studying all these building blocks, we can finally assemble them to understand what it means for a collective practice to be a social norm
• Week 4: Pluralistic Ignorance + Measuring Norms
  This module covers two important topics: pluralistic ignorance and norm measurement. Sometimes individuals endorse their social norms, but sometimes they do not. Knowing when a norm is endorsed is crucial for intervention. But how do we know we are dealing with a social norm or whether it's endorsed? Measurement answers that question
• Week 5: Honors Lesson: Scripts and Schemas
  This module covers scripts and schemas, the cognitive structures in which social expectations are embedded, and their relationship with social norms.
• Week 6: Norm Creation
  Social norms arising from descriptive norms; latrine use: a case study in norm creation; social norms arising to solve a collective action problem
• Week 7: Norm Abandonment
  This module covers the essentials of norm abandonment, including the relations between personal beliefs and social expectations. It also evaluates existing intervention strategies, including legal reforms, information campaigns, economic incentives, and group deliberations
• Week 8: Trendsetters and Social Change
  This module covers trendsetters and their relations to social change. Who are trendsetters? What are their characteristics? How can we identify them? And how can we use them to bring about positive social change. This module also discusses the role of soap operas and edutainment in bringing about social change, how fictional characters and groups can act
• Week 2: Normative Expectations + Personal Normative Beliefs
  This module adds two more of the basic building blocks of the theory: normative expectations and personal normative beliefs. Although both are "normative" — that is, both have a component dealing with a "should" — there are important differences between normative expectations and personal normative beliefs.

Assessment Elements

• After attending the MOOC it is required to present the final results (certificate/another document).
• oral group exam

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (1 module)
  After attending the MOOC it is required to present the final results (certificate or another document - C). The document has to be submitted to the study office immediately after completion of the course. After successful completion of the course an examination is undertaken. Prerequisite for attending the examination is submission of the certificate to the study office. The examination grade (E) is the final grade for the course. Final control: oral group exam. The overall course grade (G) (10-point scale) is calculated as a sum of G = C*0.7+ E*0.3

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Ulrike Schuerkens. (2017). Social changes in a global world / Ulrike Schuerkens. Post-Print. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.p.hal.journl.hal.01833018
• Zolotoy, L., O’Sullivan, D., & Martin, G. P. (2018). The social context of compensation design: Social norms and the impact of equity incentives. Human Resource Management, 57(5), 1233–1250. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21897

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Elinor Ostrom. (2000). Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms. Journal of Economic Perspectives, (3), 137. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.14.3.137
• Verónica Sevillano, & Pablo Olivos. (2019). Social Behavior and Environment: The Influence of Social Norms on Environmental Behavior. Papeles Del Psicólogo, (3), 182. https://doi.org/10.23923/pap.psicol2019.2898