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Author(s)
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Peter
Kotzian
kotzian@pg.tu-darmstadt.de
DARMSTADT, Technische Universität
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Abstract
Social norms are an important component of political culture. Among other beneficial effects, they help to solve collective dilemmas in the political and economic domain. The individual’s abidance to social norms is presumed to be based on reciprocity: individuals abide, as long as they hold the belief that the set of norms is valid, i.e. predominantly abided to in the society. Abidance is the rational thing to do in this situation. If the norm is no longer valid, abidance is the irrational thing to do. This paper tests the importance of information – in the form of public information and private experience – which allows the individual to change its beliefs about whether the norm is still valid or not. The empirical findings based on survey data from 24 countries strongly confirm the prediction that beliefs about the validity of norms in the society are a major factor in deciding to deviate from norms, comparable in its strength to the internalization of norms.
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