Uke 25
Normkollisjon: Sosial mot kommers
Jeg leser i boka "Predictably Irrational" av Dan Ariely:
"What's going on here? Why does an offer for direct payment put such a damper on the party?
As Margaret Clark, Judson Mills, and Alan Fiske suggested a long time ago, the answer is that we live simultaneously in two different worlds — one where social norms prevail, and the other where market norms make the rules.
The social norms include the friendly requests that people make of one another. Could you help me move his coach? Could you help me change this tire? Social norms are wrapped up in our social nature and our need for community. They are usually warm and fuzzy. Instant paybacks are not required: you may help move your neighbor's coach, but his doesn't mean he has to come right over and move yours. It's like opening a door for someone: it provides pleasure for both of you, and reciprocity is not immediately required.
The second world, the one governed by market norms, is very different. There's nothing warm and fuzzy about it. The exchanges are sharp-edged: wages, prices, rents, interest, and cost-benefits. Such market-relationships are not necessarily evil or mean — but they do imply comparable benefits and prompt payments.
When you are in the domain of market norms, you get what you pay for — that's just the way it is.
When we keep social norms and market norms on their separate paths, life hums pretty well. Take sex, for instance. We may have it free in the social context, where it is, we hope, warm and emotionally nourishing. But here's also market sex, sex that is on demand and that costs money. That seems pretty straightforward. We don't hav husbands (or wives) coming home asking for a $50 trick; nor do we have prostitutes hoping for everlasting love.
When social and market norms collide, trouble sets in.…"
(Chapter 4: The Cost of Social Norms, pages 68-69)
Og:
"Open-source software shows the potential of social noms. In the case of Linux and other collaborative projects, you can post a problem about a bug on one of the bulletin boards and see how fast someone, or many people, will react to your request and fixt the software—using their own leisure time. Could you pay for this level of service? Most likely. But if you had to hire people of the same caliber they would cost you an arm and a leg. Rather, people in these communities are happy to give their time to society at large (for which they get the same social benefits we all get from helping a friend paint a room). What can we learn from this that is applicable to the business world? There are social rewards that strongly motivte behavior—and one of the least used in corporate life is the encouragement of social rewards and reputation."
(Chapter 4: The Cost of Social Norms, page 81)
"We live in two worlds: one characterized by social exchanges and the other characterized by market exchanges. And we apply different norms to these two kinds of relationships. Moreover, introducing market norms into social exchanges, as we have seen, violates the social norms and hurts the relationships."
"When social norms and market norms collide, trouble sets in."
"Wouldn't economics make a lot more sense if it were based on how people actually behave, instead of how they should behave?"
—Dan Ariely
"We don't really understand the role expectations play in the way we experience and evaluate art, literature, drama, architecture, food, wine — anything, really."
—Dan Ariely
"We are caring social animals, but when the rules of the game involve money, this tendency is muted."
—Dan Ariely
"Life with fewer market norms and more social norms would be more satisfying, creative, fulfilling, and fun."
—Dan Ariely
"When a social norm collides with a market norm, the social norm goes away for a long time."
—Dan Ariely