"It won't hurt me" is the quiet killer of public health norms. 💭 Horne & Johnson show masking norms hold strong when risk is universal — but crumble into "us vs. them" once only a subgroup is vulnerable. #Norms #Pandemics #HealthBehavior #Externalities Read more at: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Does social capital fight or fuel the radical right? Yang (2026) shows bonding ties within homogeneous groups amplify support for PRRPs like UKIP, while bridging and linking ties attenuate grievance-driven support. #SocialCapital #Populism #UKIP # doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Was “the Unready” actually the smartest king in the room? 🤔 New in Rationality & Society: Brandt & Svendesn show that Ethelred’s Danegeld payments were mathematically optimal — not weakness, not appeasement. A calculated equilibrium. #GameTheory #VikingAge #RationalChoice doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Jose Kaire shows #StrongElites face a #CollectiveAction problem when resisting dictators: power sharing creates incentives to free ride, enabling autocrats to consolidate power even when elites could resist. #Authoritarianism #PowerSharing #Dictatorship Read more at: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Eszter Vit et al. show #InformalNorms and #Metanorms emerge even in transient groups: #SocialNetworks in #FestivalVolunteering shape #Sanctioning, with bridging roles favoring enforcement of violations threatening operations or causing harm #CollectiveAction Read more at: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

@ramniearh.bsky.social et al. (@squazzoni.bsky.social) show with #ABM that #money may have played a key role in the #evolution of #cooperation: #monetary exchanges enable generalized #reciprocity and resist #defection better than #reputation based strategies. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Giorgia Lucchini compares Hayek’s and Sudgen’s views on the #emergence of #SpontaneousOrder in the #market system. She highlights the hidden dimensions of Hayek’s macro-analysis, namely mutual advantage and intentionality of individuals. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

A new paper w Manzo, Birkelund & Raub is out in Rationality and Society: 1/ journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.... Taking the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the European Academy of Sociology (www.european-academy-sociology.eu), the statement assesses current challenges for the discipline ...

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Shaping the Future of european Sociology The European Academy of Sociology is a distinguished fellowship of scholars dedicated to advancing excellence in sociology. Bringing together expertise from di...

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2/ ... and proposes key principles for strengthening sociology concerning closer integration of theory and empirics, commitment to open science, and engagement with wider societal debates. ...

3/ ... The statement is accompanied by an open call for commentaries by the EiC of R&S We encourage interested colleagues to submit responses to R&S. We would be grateful if you could circulate the statement and the call for commentaries to relevant scholars and research groups.

López-Pintado & Watts show that binary #decisions under #SocialInfluence can be modeled as an ‘influence-response function’: choice depends on how many others pick each option. In some cases, general knowledge of this function is enough to determine collective outcomes. #ThrowbackThursday

Sven Banisch, @eckolb.bsky.social et al. built an #ABM where #ReinforcementLearning users choose #SocialMedia platforms based on social approval and #diversity. They show a #SocialDilemma: #EchoChambers can arise even when users prefer diversity, making everyone worse off. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Niclas Berggren develops a model that focuses on how strongly citizens believe there are #moral truths in #politics. The paper explains why this belief tends to increase the costs of #collective #organization. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

We think of the #StockMarket as unpredictable – yet for 70 years, US shares averaged a “socially acceptable price” shaped by the Great Depression. Fei Qiu and colleagues examine whether this holds beyond the US, discussing #government regulation and #CollectiveAction. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Katie Corcoran, @cjcolyer.bsky.social, and colleagues show that #religious activities can make the devout targets of crime. They view #criminal offenders as #rational predators who pick up on vulnerability signals and exploit the opportunities these activities create. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Laurent Gauthier shows with #GameTheory why humans benefited from using single names ( #anthroponyms like Socrates) and how exchanging this minimal identity information can promote #cooperation. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Karl-Dieter Opp opens a new line of research by comparing two theories of #SocialNorm emergence and showcasing a #methodology of #theory integration. #SocialScience #OpenAccess 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Artyom Jelnov studies #elections where some candidates have advantages unrelated to #competence – due to #nepotism, celebrity status, or looks. He shows that a small advantage of this sort can be amplified by rational #politicalparty leadership during #candidate selection. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Read in February’26 issue: ✒️ How to integrate theories of norm emergence 🪪 A rational case for using first names 🙏 Why criminals target the devout 📈 How government and collective action anchor share prices #BehavioralScience #GameTheory @journals.sagepub.com 🔗 journals.sagepub.com/toc/rssa/38/1

What kind of mind is needed to sustain #cooperation? 🪞 Naïve belief that others think like me — or 🧠 Complex #TheoryOfMind that helps us read their motives? Wu finds that in sequential #PrisonersDilemma, cooperation breaks down when players model each other's minds. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

João Souto-Maior shows that Black–White #educational #inequality can paradoxically emerge even when people don't discriminate by race. #ABM study of #OpportunityHoarding where #diffusion clashes with #network #segregation and #consolidation of #race and #SES: #OpenAccess 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Back & Flache ask whether #evolutionary models can explain why people stay committed to long-term partners even when they sometimes don’t cooperate. ✍️ #Reciprocity sustains #cooperation by punishing defection; #commitment -- by choosing and sticking with cooperative partners. #ThrowbackThursday

The Adaptive Rationality of Interpersonal Commitment - István Back, Andreas Flache, 2008

Why are people inclined to build friendships and maintain durable, non-reproductive relationships? Previous computational modeling work showed that it can be an...

journals.sagepub.com

Jonas Stein? Doctor Jonas Stein! R&S former Managing editor, now Dr. Jonas Stein, in the midst of brilliantly defending his thesis, supervised by R&S Editor in Chief, Prof. Andreas Flache. 🔗 Reconciling epistemic and identity diversity share.google/s9XwzsqS84CK...

If people act #rationally given their preferences, why would they be #cooperative, fair and committed when they can be selfish? Güth & Kliemt explain that social #preferences persist during #evolution when they lead to objectively better outcomes than pure self-interest. #ThrowbackThursday

THE INDIRECT EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH: - Werner Güth, Hartmut Kliemt, 1998

Besides opportunistically rational choice, emotion and commitment to norms influence human choice behavior. Traditionally economists have opted for the rational...

journals.sagepub.com

The quality and integrity of Rationality and Society rely on the time, care, and expertise of our volunteer reviewers. Their thoughtful evaluations help ensure contributions are rigorous, clear, and engaging. The Editorial Team warmly thanks our referees for their invaluable reviews in 2024/2025 ⤵️

As the R&S managing editor has to work from home while snowfalls lock up the Dutch transportation system, she finds herself pondering how #snowmobile trails are organized ❄️ Cue a #ThrowbackThursday read by Anttila & Stern on how local #SelfOrganization solves this #CommonPool resource problem

The Voluntary Provision of Snowmobile Trails on Private Land in Sweden - Sten Anttila, Charlotta Stern, 2005

A snowmobile trail canalizes snow-covered land to create a path of snowmobile travel. This form of communication infrastructure yields two kinds...

journals.sagepub.com

Is #morality "rational"? Even "broad" #RationalChoice theory doesn't fully resolve a paradox: Cheating can be seen as rational, but following a "Never lie" norm can’t 🤔 Palacio-Vera offers a way out: Reconsidering what’s rational and combining theoretical frameworks. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Do #prosocial people sustain #cooperation? Bouman & Dijkstra @rug.nl ran an #experiment with repeated #SocialDilemma where enough resourceful players needed to invest in #PublicGood. Takeaway: When others don’t contribute, altruists quickly learn to free-ride. #OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Modern hunter-gatherers live by “to each according to need” rule, even though it’s not enforced by leaders or police. Why? Is #fairness ⚖️ a ‘natural duty’? Binmore traces the #evolution of this #SocialNorm back to prehistoric times, when care and resources were shared among kin. #ThrowbackThursday

THE EVOLUTION OF FAIRNESS NORMS - Ken G. Binmore, 1998

The evidence is strong that modern hunter-gatherer societies approximate the Marxian ideal in which each contributes according to ability and receives according...

journals.sagepub.com

Academic housekeeper (she/her) With #EqualPay and no #GenderInequality in workload, is #labor #discrimination in #academia overcome? No, say Yabut & Arapoc. Low-promotable academic housework – committee, community, admin – falls more on the shoulders of married women. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...