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EVALUATING BAD NORMS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2018

John Thrasher
John Thrasher*
Affiliation:
Philosophy, Chapman University
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Abstract:

Some norms are bad. Norms of revenge, female genital mutilation, honor killings, and other norms strike us as destructive, cruel, and wasteful. The puzzle is why so many people see these norms as authoritative and why these norms often resist change. To answer these questions, we need to look at what “bad” norms are and how we can evaluate them. Here I develop an integrative analysis of norms that aims to avoid parochialism in norm evaluation. After examining and rejecting several evaluative standards, I propose what I call a comparative-functional analysis of norms that is both operationalizable/testable and nonparochial, and that can sort better and worse norms. One conclusion of this approach is that norms are not so much “bad” and “good” as “better” and “worse.” This approach should be of interest to theorists and practitioners alike.

Keywords

bad normssocial normsharmsocial science methodology
Type
Research Article
Information
Social Philosophy and Policy , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , Summer 2018 , pp. 196 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation 2018 

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References

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