Elections can change social norms

Elections can change people’s perception of what is ethically right and wrong, according to new research by the University of Cologne.

The study, conducted by Arno Apffelstaedt and Christoph Oslislo together with Jana Freundt from the University of Fribourg, investigated whether and how social norms can change as a result of election outcomes.

They found that majority-elected rules can shift a person’s moral compass, and can cause actions that were once judged as ‘socially inappropriate’ to be considered socially acceptable.

As a consequence, elections can not only alter existing norms and erode previous consensus about what is considered appropriate, but they can also lead people to adapt their actual behaviour.

Interestingly, these effects can even be observed after a flawed election in which voters were offered bribes, asked to pay a “poll tax” or excluded from the election.

Voting

The researchers say one example could be the aftermath of the Brexit vote in 2016, when the number of hate crimes rose sharply across the UK. In line with the study’s findings, many observers attribute this to a Brexit-induced increase in the social acceptability of xenophobic views and actions.

As a result of the Brexit referendum, “anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner rhetoric had become ‘normalised’ ”, making Britain effectively “a more racist country”, the United Nations, for instance, claim. Similar claims were made after the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States that same year.

In the experiment, the researchers asked participants to estimate the degree of social approval of different actions in different hypothetical situations.

Participants were incentivised to provide a rating that is identical with the most common rating among the other participants. With this, the researchers could directly measure changes in social norms as a result of election outcomes.

“Our experimental design allows us to directly elicit social norms and thus examine the immediate response of norms to elections. Using a well-established norm elicitation method, we highlight the role of shifts in the social appropriateness of actions in bringing about behavioural change. To our knowledge, our paper is the first to directly measure changes in social norms in response to the election of a behavioural rule.” says Christoph Oslislo.

The researchers emphasise the importance of democratic procedures in general, and elections in particular, for the effect they have on social norms.

The research was published in the Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organization.

The post Elections can change social norms appeared first on Sunshine Slate.



source https://www.sunshineslate.com/in-focus/elections-can-change-social-norms/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How can Energy Audits inform your Net Zero Strategy?

Image
Many organisations are already in the habit of undertaking energy audits to highlight where energy and water efficiencies can be made, save on utility costs, and reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately, the sad reality of many energy audits and surveys (especially ones that are completed for compliance with ESOS), is that once they are completed, the report is often tucked away into a ‘virtual’ drawer, never to be seen again. But what if there was another use for that forgotten energy audit? Did you know that it could actually be a really useful business tool to help get you started on your net zero journey? To help you harness that data in a practical way, Energy Services Analyst, Rhiannon Farquhar explains what makes energy audits so essential to carbon management and how they can be used to get your business on the path to net zero. So, what are energy audits? To put it simply, an energy audit is an assessment of the energy needs and efficiency of a building (or process), which
Read more

Garden Offices | The Ultimate Work from Home Solution for 2021

Image
The Pros and Cons of Working from Home Working from home was not so long ago considered a perk of the job, however, the much-longed-for 30-second commute, for many of us, has finally become a realisation. Prior to the global pandemic, we would have spent 492 days of our lives commuting to and from work and inevitably, Covid-19 has brought about a catalyst of change. Businesses are now seeing the benefits of reducing costs by giving up office spaces, and with commuting now significantly reduced, one of the biggest winners out of this situation is the environment. With this in mind, there’s no doubt that the “new normal” of home working is, quite clearly, here to stay. The general consensus is that working from home is wholly positive and can provide a better work-life balance. Whilst this is true, there is evidence to suggest that this can be quite the opposite, with staff working later than usual as they battle to “switch-off” when their working day is over. So, what’s the solutio
Read more

Forgiveness Plan Would Remove One-Third of Students’ Loan Debt

Image
About one in three Idahoans who have federal student-loan debt would see it erased entirely if the Biden administration goes forward with a $10,000 forgiveness plan. That’s according to analysis from the website Student Loan Hero . President Joe Biden is considering eliminating the debt through executive order. Andrew Pentis, a senior writer and certified student loan counselor at Student Loan Hero, said the average monthly loan repayment in Idaho is $274. “Whether you have more or less than $10,000 worth of student loans left to repay, this dose of forgiveness would be hugely helpful, in either getting rid of your debt or shrinking it considerably,” said Pentis. “So certainly, if you’re a borrower in Idaho, you’d be rooting for something like this to happen.” The Trump administration paused federal student loan repayments in March 2020 during the pandemic. Biden extended the pause on his first day in office through at least October 1. Some Democrats want the Biden administration
Read more