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

In The Grammar of Society, Cristina Bicchieri examines social norms, such as fairness, cooperation, and reciprocity, in an effort to understand their nature and dynamics, the expectations that they generate, and how they evolve and change. Drawing on several 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, why and when we follow them, and the situations in which we are most likely to focus on relevant norms.
Examining the existence and survival of inefficient norms, she demonstrates how norms evolve in ways that depend on the psychological dispositions of the individual and how such dispositions may impair collective welfare. By contrast, she also shows how certain psychological propensities may naturally lead individuals to evolve fairness norms that closely resemble those we follow in modern societies.