Alle Publikationen
2019
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(2019): The benefits of and barriers to using a social robot PARO in care settings: a scoping review. In: BMC geriatrics 19 (1). DOI: 10.1186/s12877-019-1244-6
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31443636 Abstract: BACKGROUND Given the complexity of providing dementia care in hospitals, integrating technology into practice is a high challenge and an important opportunity. Although there are a growing demand and interest in using social robots in a variety of care settings to support dementia care, little is known about the impacts of the robotics and their application in care settings, i.e., what worked, in which situations, and how. METHODS Scientific databases and Google Scholar were searched to identify publications published since 2000. The inclusion criteria consisted of older people with dementia, care setting, and social robot PARO. RESULTS A total of 29 papers were included in the review. Content analysis identified 3 key benefits of and 3 barriers to the use of PARO. Main benefits include: reducing negative emotion and behavioral symptoms, improving social engagement, and promoting positive mood and quality of care experience. Key barriers are: cost and workload, infection concerns, and stigma and ethical issues. This review reveals 3 research gaps: (a) the users' needs and experiences remain unexplored, (b) few studies investigate the process of how to use the robot effectively to meet clinical needs, and (c) theory should be used to guide implementation. CONCLUSIONS Most interventions conducted have been primarily researcher-focused. Future research should pay more attention to the clinical needs of the patient population and develop strategies to overcome barriers to the adoption of PARO in order to maximize patient benefits.
Keywords: 80 and over, Affect, Aged, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Delivery of Health Care, Dementia, economics, Humans, Methods, physiology, PSYCHOLOGY, Robotics, Therapy, Trends 2018
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(2018): On the social appropriateness of discrimination
Abstract: We experimentally investigate the relationship between discriminatory behaviour and the perceived social appropriateness of discrimination. We test the framework of Akerlof and Kranton (2000,2005), which suggests discrimination will be stronger when social norms favour it. Our results support this prediction. Using a Krupka-Weber social norm elicitation task, we find participants perceive it to be more socially appropriate to discriminate on the basis of social identities artificially induced, using a trivial minimal group technique, than on the basis of nationality. Correspondingly, we find that participants discriminate more in the artificial identity setting. Our results suggest norms and the preference to comply with them affect discriminatory decisions and that the social inappropriateness of discrimination can be a moderator of discriminatory behaviour.
Keywords: Appropriateness, Bewertung von sozialem Verhalten (/sozialer Angemessenheit), CEDEX, Diskrimination, Diskriminatives Verhalten, Diskriminierung, economics, Entscheidungsforschung, Gruppenverhalten, Gruppenverhalten / Joint Action, Identität, Identitätsstiftung, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Norm, wahrgenommene Angemessenheit von Diskrimination 2017
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(2017): Sources of deviant behavior. Contrasting alternative explanations in the laboratory. In: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 71, S. 31-44. DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2017.07.003
Abstract: We explore the driving factors behind deviant behavior by contrasting three theoretical frameworks: stable preference for deviant behavior, impact from social history on pro-social behaviors, and contingent cooperation with social norms. Subjects in our experiment first play a repeated Trust Game to create social histories in the laboratory, before engaging in a Common Resource Game, to measure deviant behavior. The results suggest that social history is an important determinant. Those who experienced deterioration in the evolution of play were more likely to extract large amounts from the common resource. We also document that anticipated social norms in the Trust Game explain extraction in the Common Resource Game, independently from the observed outcomes and the anticipated norms of deviance. This suggests an under-adjustment in behavior to changes in norms. The findings do not support a stable preference for deviant behavior. Thus, our results suggest policy, intended to counteract social history and influence social norms, may be more effective than sanctions in combating deviant behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2017): Politeness and Compassion Differentially Predict Adherence to Fairness Norms and Interventions to Norm Violations in Economic Games. In: Scientific reports 7 (1). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-02952-1
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28611410 Abstract: Adherence to norms and interventions to norm violations are two important forms of social behaviour modelled in economic games. While both appear to serve a prosocial function, they may represent separate mechanisms corresponding with distinct emotional and psychological antecedents, and thus may be predicted by different personality traits. In this study, we compared adherence to fairness norms in the dictator game with responses to violations of the same norms in third-party punishment and recompensation games with respect to prosocial traits from the Big Five and HEXACO models of personality. The results revealed a pattern of differential relations between prosocial traits and game behaviours. While norm adherence in the dictator game was driven by traits reflecting good manners and non-aggression (the politeness aspect of Big Five agreeableness and HEXACO honesty-humility), third-party recompensation of victims-and to a lesser extent, punishment of offenders-was uniquely driven by traits reflecting emotional concern for others (the compassion aspect of Big Five agreeableness). These findings demonstrate the discriminant validity between similar prosocial constructs and highlight the different prosocial motivations underlying economic game behaviours.
2016
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(2016): Good manners. Signaling social preferences. In: Theory and Decision 81 (1), S. 73-88. DOI: 10.1007/s11238-015-9527-7
Abstract: Certain messages, even when not directly payoff relevant, can be a credible form of communication in light of natural social preferences. Social image concerns and other-regarding preferences interact to create incentives to communicate about how one feels about other people. Recognizing the prevalence of the incentive to communicate about one's social preferences suggests that many social and economic phenomena-from norms of etiquette to cooperation to gift exchange-should be seen, in part, as forms of signaling. These behaviors may be surprisingly robust to material costs, yet sensitive to context.
Keywords: altruistische Handlungen, Disziplin, economics, Favoriten, Good manners, Kosten-Nutzen, manners, Modelle/Theorien, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Preferences, Signaling social preferences/ Social signal processing, Soziale Angemessenheit, Umgangsformen -
(2016): Social norms, costly punishment and the evolution of cooperation. In: Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination 11 (2), S. 313-343. DOI: 10.1007/s11403-015-0146-8
Abstract: Both laboratory and field evidence suggest that people tend to voluntarily incur costs to punish non-cooperators. While costly punishment typically reduces the average payoff as well as promotes cooperation. Why does the costly punishment evolve? We study the role of punishment in cooperation promotion within a two-level evolution framework of individual strategies and social norms. In a population with certain social norm, players update their strategies according to the payoff differences among different strategies. In a longer horizon, the evolution of social norm may be driven by the average payoffs of of all members of the society. Norms differ in whether they allow or do not allow for the punishment action as part of strategies, and, for the former, they further differ in whether they encourage or do not encourage the punishment action. The strategy dynamics are articulated under different social norms. It is found that costly punishment does contribute to the evolution toward cooperation. Not only does the attraction basin of cooperative evolutionary stable state (CESS) become larger, but also the convergence speed to CESS is faster. These two properties are further enhanced if the punishment action is encouraged by the social norm. This model can be used to explain the widespread existence of costly punishment in human society.
Keywords: Bestrafung, Disziplin, economics, Favoriten, Genese von Normen, Good manners, Kooperation, Modelle/Theorien, Natur & Genese von Normen, Normen, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Ökonomische Theorie sozialer Normen, Soziale Angemessenheit, Soziale Normen, Voraussetzungen für sozial angemessenes Verhalten, Wandel von Normen 2015
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(2015): Trust me (or not). Regret and disappointment in experimental economic games. In: Decision 2 (2), S. 118-126. DOI: 10.1037/dec0000025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/dec0000025 Abstract: Emotional states exert an influence on trust and the reciprocation of trust. The current research found that regret and disappointment, though both negatively valenced, have distinct effects on trust (and trustworthiness). Three experiments showed that regret decreased trust and trustworthiness, whereas disappointment increased them. Regret elicited both lower initial transfers and returns in a trust game. Conversely, disappointment gave rise to both higher initial transfers and returns in the same game. The implications of our results are discussed. The findings once again demonstrate that emotions play a crucial role on decision-making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) zitiert von 19
2014
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(2014): Tracking managerial conflict adaptivity. Introducing a dynamic measure of adaptive conflict management in organizations. In: Journal of Organizational Behavior 35 (7), S. 945-968. DOI: 10.1002/job.1935
Abstract: Since Darwin, adaptation to change has been associated with survival and fit. Yet, despite this, leaders and managers often get stuck in dominating approaches to conflict, and few scholars have examined the role of adaptation in managing conflicts effectively over time and across changing situations. The goal of this paper is threefold. First, we develop a new measure for assessing conflict adaptivity of managers [the Managerial Conflict Adaptivity Assessment (MCAA)], based on a situated model of conflict in social relations. We define conflict adaptivity as the capacity to respond to different conflict situations in accordance with the demands specified by the situation. The measure consists of 15 distinct work-conflict scenarios and provides five behavioral response options, which represent five primary strategies employed in conflict. Individuals who tend to respond to the conflicts in a manner consistent with the situations provided are considered to be more adaptive. Second, we test and find that managerial conflict adaptivity is related to higher levels of satisfaction with conflict processes at work as well as higher levels of well-being at work. Third, we test the MCAA's construct validity and provide evidence that the MCAA is positively related to behavioral flexibility and self-efficacy.
Keywords: adaptation, adaptivity, Anpassung, BEHAVIOR, complexity, CONSEQUENCES, CONSTRUCT-VALIDITY, economics, Leadership, MCAA (Management Conflict Adaptivity Assessment) AP Skala (Adaptive Performance) - Anpassungsfähigkeit als Kriterium sozial angemessenen Handelns, model, NEGOTIATION, POWER, SELF-EFFICACY -
(2014): The Psychology of Human Leadership. How To Develop Charisma and Authority. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Imprint, Springer
Abstract: The book seamlessly links fundamental insights and practical approaches to address the most important leadership problems and challenges. Each of the 11 chapters takes a close look at a specific leadership aspect and explains how to develop personal leadership qualities, such as charisma, the ability to motivate others, assertiveness, and how to overcome crises and conflicts to create new structures. Ethical questions and possible negative developments in connection with leadership and power are also examined. Unlike conventional leadership manuals, this book on leadership goes beyond the standard 'recipes' and models by providing clear trains of thought as well as a psychological and philosophical basis, and by focusing on major achievements in terms of leadership, it creates a more profound understanding and holistic view of the subject of leadership, while promoting a genuine fascination for it.
2012
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(2012): Decision making and equilibria. In: Synthese 187 (1), S. 293-304. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-011-0029-z
Abstract: In economics and in the social sciences, the study of decision making of the single individual is an important preliminary step to provide a sound foundation for the analysis of equilibria in economic and social systems. Neuroeconomic analysis of the process has been a recent fruitful development in this direction. In the more recent past a new direction of research has emerged, studying the interplay of the decision making of the single individual with the economic and social environment that surrounds him. We review some of the results in this field, both theoretical and experimental, and suggest that a closer development of these two methods of research will be necessary in the future.
2011
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(2011): Respektvolle Führung. Wie sie geht, was sie fördert und warum sie sinnvoll ist. Zugl.: Lüneburg, Univ., Diss., 2011. 1. Aufl.. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag / Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH Wiesbaden (Entscheidungs- und Organisationstheorie)
Abstract: Respektvolle Führung beschreibt einen Umgang von Führungskräften mit ihren Mitarbeitern, der sich unter anderem durch Vertrauen, Anerkennung, Höflichkeit und Fairness auszeichnet. Basierend auf einer umfangreichen empirischen Studie zeigt Jan Borkowski, dass der Grad respektvoller Führung deutlich mit der Organisationskultur und der Persönlichkeit der Führungskraft zusammenhängt und sich positiv auf Arbeitszufriedenheit und Mitarbeiterleistung auswirkt. Dabei schätzen Führungskräfte den eigenen Grad respektvoller Führung unabhängig davon ein, wie sie von ihren Mitarbeitern gesehen werden. Der Autor fasst seine Ergebnisse in einem Modell zusammen und entwickelt praktische Empfehlungen zur Förderung respektvoller Führung. Jan Borkowski
2010
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(2010): Propheten der Finanzmärkte. In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie 20 (2), S. 179-201. DOI: 10.1007/s11609-010-0125-9
Abstract: Financial markets are marked by considerable uncertainty. Actors in financial markets are nevertheless constantly forced to make decisions. This article pursues the question of how they cope with this problem of decision-making. Based on a critical discussion of the concept of "expectations of expectations", Max Weber's concept of charisma is introduced to gain a better understanding of the influence of "stock market prophets" on investment decisions and to explain such influence as a social process.
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(2010): The cost of a lack of decorum, integrity and transparency in service entrepreneurial contexts. In: SERVICE BUSINESS 4 (2), S. 167-176
Abstract: This article shows the results of a study whose objective is to identify aspects considered as explanatory variables, which evolve alongside levels of corruption and to analyse the direction of the variation with each explained variable, through the use of multiple regression methodology. Once these variables and the statistical significance of their variations have been identified the cost of, the lack of decorum, integrity and transparency, corruption is deduced. The variables are grouped into those where growth is associated with greater or lower levels of corruption, which will warn of the effect the services sector has on the GDP (GDP in%).
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(2010): Disgust selectively modulates reciprocal fairness in economic interactions. In: Emotion (Washington, D.C.) 10 (2), S. 169-180. DOI: 10.1037/a0017826
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20364893 Abstract: We report two studies aimed at investigating the effects of distinct negative emotions on pairwise economic interactions. In the ultimatum game, a proposer offers a division of a sum of money to a responder who decides whether to accept the split, or reject and leave both players with nothing. In Experiment 1, we investigated whether induced disgust, as compared to sadness and neutral emotion, specifically influences responders' decisions to reject unfair proposals. In Experiment 2, we assessed whether the effects of disgust were selectively related to social contexts by contrasting interactions with a human partner with those involving a computer. Results showed that relative to being in a sad or neutral mood, induced feelings of disgust significantly increased rejection rates of unfair offers. Moreover, we found that when the partner was not responsible for the fairness violation, such as in the computer-offer condition, the disgust induction failed to affect participants' choices. We conclude by focusing on the hypothesis that disgust and social norm violations may share common computational components, both at a psychological and a neural level.
2009
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(2009) : Fairness. In: Peil, Jan; Van Staveren, Irene (Hg.): Handbook of economics and ethics.: Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing, S. 152-158
Abstract: 'Fair' is something we ask others to be. It is an injunction to act in a particular way. Before we proceed to describe the particularity of this, it is important to acknowledge that the use of fairness arguments in our conversation with others already presupposes a more complicated reading of human behavior than the homo economicus model would suggest. People do not merely maximize utility given fixed preferences and a set of constraints; others can make them do otherwise. If not, there would be no point in trying to convince a person to do something. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
2006
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(2006): Nurturing the Whole Person. The Ethics of Workplace Spirituality in a Society of Organizations. In: Journal of Business Ethics 66 (4), S. 357-375. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-0014-5
Abstract: In a world which can be increasingly described as a "society of organizations," it is incumbent upon organizational researchers to account for the role of organizations in determining the well-being of societies and the individuals that comprise them. Workplace spirituality is a young area of inquiry with potentially strong relevance to the well-being of individuals, organizations, and societies. Previous literature has not examined ethical dilemmas related to workplace spirituality that organizations might expect based upon the co-existence of multiple ethical work climates, nor has previous literature accounted for the relevance of the cosmopolitan (external, societal) source of moral reasoning in the ethical treatment of workplace spirituality. The purpose of this paper is to address these gaps by articulating two such ethical dilemmas related to workplace spirituality: the "quiet desperation" dilemma and the instrumentality dilemma. Moreover, I propose two theoretical contexts that foster "both-and" rather than "either-or" thinking, thereby mitigating (moderating) the relationships between climate combinations and conflictual aspects of the ethical dilemmas. For the "quiet desperation" dilemma, I propose a person-organization fit perspective to emphasize diversity of individual preferences instead of a managerially prescribed uniformity of spirituality. For the instrumentality dilemma, I propose a multiparadigm approach to workplace spirituality research to avoid the privileging of one research interest over another (e.g., instrumentality, individual fulfillment, societal good). I conclude with suggestions for future research.
2005
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(2005): Maximizing Human Potential. Capabilities Theory and the Professional Work Environment. In: Journal of Business Ethics 58 (1-3), S. 111-123. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-005-1423-6
Abstract: Human capabilities theory has emerged as an important framework for measuring whether various social systems promote human flourishing. The premise of this theory is that human beings share some nearly universal capabilities; what makes a human life fulfilling is the opportunity to exercise these capabilities. This essay proposes that the use of human capabilities theory can be expanded to assess whether a company has organized the work environment in such a way that allows workers to develop a variety of human capabilities. This mode of analysis is put forward as a complement to the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has suggested that the key to promoting human well-being in the workplace is the maximization of flow experiences.
Keywords: Aristotelian ethics, business ethics, Disziplin, economics, Ethik, flourishing, flow, Gesellschaftsprofit, human capabilities, Human capabilities theory, Interaktion, Martha Nussbaum, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Philosophie, purpose of business, social systems, ethics, soziale Umwelt, Sozialverhalten, workplace environment 2004
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(2004): Business ethics is a matter of good conduct and of good conscience?. In: Journal of Business Ethics 53 (1-2), S. 9-16
Abstract: The myth of an economy where nobody could have a predominant position, has lost its credibility. The presentiment of a high risk of social explosion makes companies undertake tentative moral legitimation. Thus, a new paradigm develops according to which the firm has to care for the satisfaction of public interest if “it wants to try to win forgiveness” for misbehavior towards the decorum rules of the atomicity of competition. Thus, there is a wave of “business ethics industry” building up. However, the stock exchange performances considered as ethical, are not different from others! The market does not seem to be able to say why it might be interesting to invest in stock considered as ethical. Moreover, opinion polls reveal a very significant discrepancy between the characterization of “the responsible company” as defined by itself or by notation agencies and, on the other hand, the hierarchy of criteria according to the answers of polled people. When companies and agencies favor sustainable development and good governance, rejecting child labor and so on, polled people consider that the paramount criterion of ethical conduct is personnel management. The problem is right here. Such is the view of a positively critical economist, situated at the point where macroeconomics meets corporate management.
2003
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Bergemann, Niels; Sourisseaux, Andreas L. J. (Hg.) (2003): Interkulturelles Management. 3., vollständig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer
Abstract: Das Buch gibt einen Überblick über relevante Aspekte interkulturellen Managements. Werte, Führungsverhalten, Kommunikation, Motivation und Entscheidungsfindung werden unter interkulturellem Aspekt im ersten Teil des Bandes dargestellt, wobei auch auf die organisatorischen Bedingungen interkulturellen Managements eingegangen wird. Im zweiten Teil werden Handlungsfelder interkulturellen Managements, wie Personalauswahl im internationalen Kontext, Training interkultureller Kompetenzen, Organisations- und Personalentwicklung, Reintegration und länderbezogene Aspekte diskutiert. Ferner wird auch auf besondere Anwendungsbereiche in der öffentlichen Verwaltung oder bei internationalen Forschungs- und Entwicklungsvorhaben eingegangen und Fragen der Ausbildung internationaler Managementkompetenz erörtert. Die Kapitel der Vorauflage wurden vollständig überarbeitet und aktualisiert sowie unter Berücksichtigung der neuesten Literatur erweitert. Sieben neue Kapitel berücksichtigen aktuelle Entwicklungen des Themenbereichs
2000
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(2000): Collective Action and the Evolution of Social Norms. In: Journal of Economic Perspectives 14 (3), S. 137-158. DOI: 10.1257/jep.14.3.137
Abstract: I assume multiple types of players--"rational egoists," as well as "conditional cooperators" and "willing punishers"--in models of nonmarket behavior. I use an indirect evolutionary approach to explain how multiple types of players could survive and flourish in social dilemma situations. Contextual variables that enhance knowledge about past behavior assist in explaining the origin of collective action. Among the important contextual variables are types of goods, types of groups, and rules that groups use to provide and allocate goods. Finally, I reexamine a series of design principles that were derived earlier from an examination of extensive case materials.
1998
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(1998): From control to values-based management and accountability. In: Journal of Business Ethics 17 (13), S. 1379-1394. DOI: 10.1023/A:1006079110633
Abstract: In recent years a series of developments in apparently loosely coupled domains have contributed to the development of new and vital perspectives on how to manage complex social systems such as corporations. These developments include improved communications technologies, increased awareness by constituencies of their potentials for influencing corporate behaviour, increased complexity and reduced transparency in large, heterogeneous organisations, a corresponding reduction in the capacity of traditional accounting and reporting systems to reflect organisational performance, new demands from employees as to their work environments, from customers as to ecological and ethical sensitivity, from civil society and governments as to social and environmental accountability etc. A result is a major shift in the way organisations are choosing to observe themselves and to describe, measure, evaluate and report on their performance. From a focus on efficiency and control to a values-based perspective on management, corporate identity and success. And from a focus on legal compliance and financial performance to a focus on corporate social and ethical responsibility and accountability. The introduction provides a background for this transformation while the body of the paper motivates the on-going shift from control to values-based management. The article concludes with reflections on corporate accountability and the emerging practices of social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting.
1994
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(1994): Zahlung und Achtung. Die Interpenetration von Okonomie und Moral. In: Zeitschrift fur Soziologie 23 (5), S. 388-411
Abstract: Okonomische Vorgange der Zahlung und moralische Zuteilungen von Achtung und Missachtung gelten nach N. Luhmanns Theorie der funktionalen Differenzierung der modernen Gesellschaft in autopoietisch operierende Teilsysteme als fur immer geschieden. Die Kluft zwischen ihnen ist unuberbruckbar. Diese These wird einer kritischen Prufung unterzogen. Als Alternative wird die Interpenetration von Zahlung und Achtung als Bauprinzip der Moderne herausgearbeitet. Dabei werden die individualistische Berufsethik und der okonomische Liberalismus, die Wohlfahrtsmoral und die Wohlfahrtsokonomie sowie die Umweltmoral und die Umweltokonomie als drei Stufen der gegenseitigen Durchdringung von Okonomie und Moral interpretiert. Weder Luhmanns Theorie der funktionalen Differenzierung der Gesellschaft in autopoietisch operierende Teilsysteme noch die Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns von J. Habermas nehmen diese Eigenart moderner Gesellschaften systematisch in ihren Blick. Sie konnen deshalb keine Losungen fur ihre daraus resultierenden Integrationsprobleme anbieten. Diese sind weder im Diskurs noch in der strukturellen Kopplung autopoietischer Funktionssysteme, sondern in institutionell geregelten Verfahren der Vermittlung von Okonomie und Moral zu suchen. Die okologische Krise der Gegenwart ist weder in der Unzuganglichkeit der Wirtschaft fur moralische Steuerung noch in einem zu geringen Hineingreifen der Moral in die Wirtschaft verwurzelt, sondern in der Moral der Wohlfahrtsokonomie und in ihrer korrespondierenden Leitidee von okonomischer Rationalitat. Ihre Bewaltigung verlangt einen Strukturwandel der herrschenden Moral und der herrschenden Definition von okonomischer Rationalitat zugleich. zitiert von: 87
1992
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(1992): The Young Economist's Guide to Professional Etiquette. In: Journal of Economic Perspectives 6 (1), S. 169-179. DOI: 10.1257/jep.6.1.169
Abstract: Nearly all advanced graduate students and new assistant professors demonstrate naivety in their nonsubstantive professional dealings. Graduate programs in economics offer courses that lead to written drafts of important research; they teach little about how to refine those drafts and, more generally, about the personal interactions that cut and polish intellectual diamonds in the rough. I provide here a short course aimed at removing that naivety and helping young economists to avoid faux pas that might reduce their success in the profession.
1989
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(1989): Social Norms and Economic Theory. In: Journal of Economic Perspectives 3 (4), S. 99-117. DOI: 10.1257/jep.3.4.99
Abstract: Elster contrasts two distinct and frequently opposing social science traditions. One was fostered by Adam Smith and is carried forward today by neoclassical economists and rational-choice theorists in political science. It views humans as “economic men,” that is, as motivated by egoistic material concerns. The other tradition has its roots in the work of the French sociologist Emile Durkheim, provides the basis for much contemporary sociology and has adherents among political scientists, particularly political culture theorists such as Eckstein (1988). It views humans as social creatures, having duty-based and other obligations to their fellows. “Sociological man’s” activity is thus constrained by shared social (cultural) norms. Elster is skeptical that these cultural norms generally realize individual self-interest as this is understood in the rational-choice tradition. Indeed, elsewhere he distinguishes “economic man” rationality and “nonra-tional” cultural norms even more sharply than he does in this chapter (Elster 1989b). Overall, Elster holds that, for the most part, cultural norms neither arise from rationality, as neoclassical economists understand it, nor do they serve it.
1988
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(1988): Anomalies. Cooperation. In: Journal of Economic Perspectives 2 (3), S. 187-197. DOI: 10.1257/jep.2.3.187
Abstract: Economics can be distinguished from other social sciences by the belief that most (all?) behavior can be explained by assuming that agents have stable, well-defined preferences and make rational choices consistent with those preferences in markets that (eventually) clear. An empirical result qualifies as an anomaly if it is difficult to "rationalize", or if implausible assumptions are neccessary to explain it within the paradigm. This column will present a series of such anomalies
Keywords: Anomalien, economics, Good manners, Interaktion, Kooperation, Preferences, Soziale Angemessenheit