The Grammar of Society: The Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms

Cristina Bicchieri examines social norms, such as fairness, cooperation, and reciprocity, in an effort to understand their nature and dynamics, generated expectations and evolution and change. Drawing on intellectual traditions and methods, including those of social psychology, experimental economics and evolutionary game theory, Bicchieri provides an integrated account of how social norms emerge and why and when we follow them. Examining the existence and survival of inefficient norms, she demonstrates how norms evolve in ways that depend upon the psychological dispositions of the individual and how such dispositions may impair social efficiency.

"In The Grammar of Society: The Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms, Cristina Bicchieri presents a new interpretation of social norms that will offend psychologists, economists, and sociologists alike, and therein lies its value." PsycCritiques Joachim I. Krueger

"Grammar is...interesting for its focused attempt to articulate how one conception of social norms can be made experimentally possible...Bicchieri should be praised for pursuing this kind of investigation."
Chauncey Maher, Georgetown University, Ethics

In The Grammar of Society Cristina Bicchieri examines social norms, including fairness, cooperation, and reciprocity.

Cristina Bicchieri is professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is the Director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economic Program. The author of many articles and books, including Rationality and Coordination, The Logic of Strategy, and Knowledge, Belief and Strategic Interaction, she has received fellowships from the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, and the London School of Economics (Leverhulme Trust).

1. The rule we live by; 2. Habits of the mind; 3. A taste for fairness; 4. Covenants without sword; 5. Informational cascades and unpopular norms; 6. The evolution of a fairness norm.