Description: Norms are a pervasive yet mysterious feature of social life. In Explaining Norms, four philosophers and social scientists team up to grapple with some of the many mysteries, offering a comprehensive account of norms: what they are; how and why they emerge, persist and change; and how they work.
Review Quotes: "Already by picking up this book, the reader knows she is in for an unusual treat... the present book represents joint work of no fewer than four philosophers, each bringing to bear their personal expertise... The outcome is an extremely rich and comprehensive study of norms, their nature, function, genealogy, and explanatory significance; it puts forward an account that is as careful in detail as it is impressive in scope... In the introduction, the authors state rather modestly the purpose of the book as producing 'a sourcebook for social scientists and philosophers of social science, offering them the tools they need to fit an account of norms into their own preferred models of social life' (p. 10). Clearly, they have achieved this goal and much more besides." --Mind