Glossary
Norm cascades
What are norm cascades?
Norm cascades are rapid shifts in a social norm as changes in visible support or behavior encourage further change. The term describes a possible pattern of social change, not a fixed timetable.
Theoretical basis
In Social Norms and Social Roles, Sunstein explains how public conformity can hide private opposition. If the social costs of dissent fall, more people may express that opposition, which can reduce those costs further.
An example of a norm cascade
Imagine a team where many people privately dislike after-hours messages but answer because everyone else does. A few members openly stop replying, and others follow as that choice becomes acceptable. The example illustrates a possible cascade; it does not establish a universal threshold or explain a particular historical change.
Limits
This mechanism does not establish that all rapid social change has the same cause. To explain a particular historical change, we still need to examine what happened, when it happened, and what else changed. Nor does the concept supply one threshold that guarantees change.
Norm entrepreneurship concerns efforts to promote a norm change; those efforts do not always produce a cascade.