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on Social Norms and Social Capital |
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Issue of 2025–04–28
six papers chosen by Fabio Sabatini, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Berlingieri, Francesco; Kovacic, Matija; Stepanova, Elena |
| Abstract: | Using a large-scale incentivized trust game experiment conducted across all 27 EU member states, we find that sexual minorities exhibit greater prosocial behaviour toward another vulnerable group but not toward an unknown counterpart, compared to heterosexual individuals. The observed effects are both relationship- and context-specific. Specifically, bisexual individuals and those identifying with a sexual orientation other than lesbian, gay, or heterosexual demonstrate higher trusting behaviour toward counterparts who frequently experience loneliness. This effect is not attributable to higher expectations of return, differences in risk preferences, or the individual's own loneliness status. Furthermore, we find evidence that this relationship-specific prosocial behaviour among sexual minorities is more pronounced in countries with lower levels of LGBTIQ+ rights protection, suggesting that it is heightened in contexts where minorities face a greater risk of exclusion or discrimination. We do not find statistically significant differences in overall trustworthiness across sexual orientations. However, the results offer some evidence that bisexual individuals are more trustworthy than heterosexual trustees when they feel a strong connection to their counterpart. |
| Keywords: | Trust game, pro-sociality, LGBTIQ+, loneliness |
| JEL: | C91 C71 D64 J15 H80 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1582 |
| By: | Columbus, Simon; Feld, Lars P.; Kasper, Matthias; Rablen, Matthew D. |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how institutional rules and fairness in enforcement affect cooperation and compliance in heterogenous groups. In a preregistered online experiment (n = 1, 254), we vary both the existence of a rule governing contributions to a public good as well as whether enforcement of the rule is biased against some players. We find that merely stating a rule has a stronger effect on behaviour than rule enforcement. Specifically, institutional rules promote cooperation by strengthening personal and social norms, which in turn sustains contributions over time. In contrast, in the absence of a rule, norms are weaker and contributions decline. Fair rule enforcement reduces free-riding and increases compliance, but it also crowds out full cooperation. Finally, we find no evidence that biased rule enforcement erodes norms, reduces cooperation, or diminishes rule compliance. Our findings highlight the crucial role of institutional rules in strengthening norms and sustaining cooperation in heterogeneous groups, even in the absence of enforcement or when rule enforcement is biased. |
| Keywords: | public goods, rule compliance, rule enforcement, social norms |
| JEL: | H41 C72 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:aluord:315749 |
| By: | Giovanna d’Adda; Jessica Gagete Miranda; Giovanni Righetto |
| Abstract: | We study how the influence of social networks on individual labor market outcomes varies across occupations, specifically between manual and cognitive jobs. Using data from over fourteen million Brazilian workers and exploiting exogenous job termination due to mass layoffs, we confirm that social networks reduce unemployment duration and increase wages in the new job, but show that these effects are heterogeneous depending on workers’ occupations at the time of displacement. Manual workers benefit more from networks in terms of job reentry but less in terms of wages compared to workers performing cognitive tasks. We argue that these different patterns are due to the fact that networks reduce the likelihood that manual workers find new jobs in the same occupation, given that occupational change is associated with reductions in wages. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, Labor Market Outcomes, Mass-Layoff, Brazil |
| JEL: | J01 J24 J62 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2025-02 |
| By: | Sulin Sardoschau; Annalí Casanueva Artís |
| Abstract: | Freedom of speech is central to democracy, but protests that amplify extremist views expose a critical trade-off between civil liberties and public safety. This paper investigates how right-wing demonstrations affect the incidence of hate crimes, focusing on Germany’s largest far-right movement since World War II. Leveraging a difference-in-differences framework with instrumental variable and event-study approaches, we find that a 20% increase in local protest attendance nearly doubles hate crime occurrences. We explore three potential mechanisms—signaling, agitation, and coordination—by examining protest dynamics, spatial diffusion, media influence, counter-mobilization, and crime characteristics. Our analysis reveals that large protests primarily act as signals of broad xenophobic support, legitimizing extremist violence. This signaling effect propagates through right-wing social media networks and is intensified by local newspaper coverage and Twitter discussions. Consequently, large protests shift local equilibria, resulting in sustained higher levels of violence primarily perpetrated by repeat offenders. Notably, these protests trigger resistance predominantly online, rather than physical counter-protests. |
| Keywords: | protest, signal, hate crime, refugees, right-wing |
| JEL: | D74 J15 D83 Z10 D72 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11745 |
| By: | Janne Tukiainen; Ilona Lahdelma; Mika Maliranta; Risto Rönkkö; Juho Saari |
| Abstract: | Young voters’ electoral behavior has been a particular target of interest because young people waver between apolitical and radical attitudes and the formally dominant main-stream parties suffer from this the most. We examine possible explanations into why this shift away from mainstream parties is happening by a conjoint survey experiment that tested for possible differences in policy preferences between young people aged 15 –29 and adults aged 30 – 79. We also survey the respondents’ media consumption habits, political sophistication, and trust in institutions. Results show that even though young people in Finland show no differences on average in policy preferences when compared to adults, they were systematically more in favor of voting for the populist extreme right. This difference is likely to stem from the young men who have less trust in institutions and less political sophistication than adults and an increased likelihood to get their political information from TikTok. |
| Keywords: | TikTok, young voters, political communication, policy preferences, political socialization |
| Date: | 2024–12–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:351 |
| By: | Rossier, Thierry; Lunding, Jacob Aagaard |
| Abstract: | In this article we delve into the elites’ evolving forms of power to study the relationship between social change and capital accumulation. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of the field of power and relying on the identification of the field’s effective agents in Switzerland, we investigate the changing relations among the most important forms of capital. We use prosopographical data spanning six historical periods from 1910 to 2015 and thanks to multiple correspondence analysis we uncover the changing structure of the field of power. We show the dominance of economic and organisational network powers throughout history. While both forms of power opposed before the Second World War, they could be accumulated together between the 1950s and the 1980s but opposed again in the recent period. The article contributes to ‘big picture’ sociology, offering historical accounts of broad social trends and provides evidence of a recent return to past inequality logics. |
| Keywords: | Switzerland; capital; elites; field of power; history; social change |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2025–03–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127653 |