The Secret Life of Social Norms

The online-presentation of the honorary paper of the prof. Michele Gelfand (University of Maryland) "The Secret Life of Social Norms" will take place on May, 21stat 4-6 pm (Moscow time) within Sociocultural Processes section of the XXI April International Academic Conference. The presentation is organized by Center for Sociocultural Research, Laboratory for Comparative Studies in Mass Consciousness and Laboratory for Comparative Social Research NRU HSE.

Working language - English.

Brief summary: 

Honorary lecture by prof. Michele Gelfand (University of Maryland) "The Secret Life of Social Norms"  

Chair: prof. N.M. Lebedeva (HSE)

Over the past century, we have explored the solar system, split the atom, and wired the earth, but somehow, despite all of our technical prowess, we have struggled to understand something far more important: our own cultural differences. Observing the wide variety of cultural permutations, people assumed for centuries that there were as many explanations for these permutations and rifts as there were examples of them. Michele Gelfand’s research shows that many cultural differences reflect a simple, but often invisible distinction: The strength of social norms. Tight cultures have strong social norms and little tolerance for deviance, while loose cultures have weak social norms and are highly permissive. The tightness or looseness of social norms turns out to be a Rosetta Stone for human groups. It illuminates similar patterns of difference across nations, states, organizations, social class, and households. It is also a global fault line: many of the conflicts we encounter spring from the structural stress of tight-loose tension. By unmasking culture to reveal tight-loose dynamics, we can see fresh patterns in history, illuminate some of today’s most puzzling trends and events, and see our own behavior in a new light. At a time of intense political conflict and rapid social change, this template shows us that there is indeed a method to the madness, and that moderation – not tight or loose extremes – has never been more needed.

Video stream of the report will be available for viewing on the official channel of the XXI April International Scientific Conference on the YouTube platform. Audience will have an opportunity to address questions to the speaker using chat.

If you have any questions regarding organizational and technical issues, please contact technical secretary: 

Anastasia Trifonova  (avtrifonova_1@edu.hse.ru).