The Rewards of Punishment : A Relational Theory of Norm Enforcement

From the Publisher: The Rewards of Punishment describes a new social theory of norms to provide a compelling explanation why people punish. Identifying mechanisms that link interdependence with norm enforcement, it reveals how social relationships lead individuals to enforce norms, even when doing so makes little sense. This groundbreaking book tells the whole story, from ideas, to experiments, to real-world applications. In addition to addressing longstanding theoretical puzzles-such as why harmful behavior is not always punished, why individuals enforce norms in ways that actually hurt the group, why people enforce norms that benefit others rather than themselves, why groups punish behavior that has only trivial effects, and why atypical behaviors are sometimes punished and sometimes not-it explores the implications of the theory for substantive issues, including norms regulating sex, crime, and international human rights The problem -- Social relations : controlling disruptive colleagues -- Metanorms : even tyrants care what others think -- More on metanorms : political correctness and the excesses of control -- Metanorm expectations : if everybody's doing it does that make it right? -- Moving out of the lab : sex, crime, and human rights -- Norms, laws, and markets : implications for policy __The Rewards of Punishment__ explains why people enforce norms, describes a series of lab experiments testing the theoretical explanation, and explores the implications of the theory for important substantive questions about sex, crime, and human rights.