Bringing norms back in: a theoretical and empirical discussion of their importance for understanding demographic behaviour

Although the life-course perspective emphasizes the importance of the concept of social norms for understanding demographic choices, the usefulness of this concept is heavily debated. In particular, it has been questioned whether social norms are still important in post-modern societies, and whether societal expectations can really be called norms if no sanctions are attached to them. In this article, we review the theoretical and empirical literature, highlight the potential usefulness of the concept, and illustrate its importance by presenting empirical data on the existence of norms concerning demographic choices in The Netherlands, one of the most individualized countries in the world. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  J. Modell.  What Do Life-Course Norms Mean? , 1997 .

[2]  R. Lesthaeghe.  On the Social Control of Human Reproduction , 1980 .

[3]  R. Berk,et al.  Varieties of Normative Consensus , 1985 .

[4]  Christine Horne,et al.  The Internal Enforcement of Norms , 2003 .

[5]  N. Astone,et al.  Transition to Adulthood , 2016 .

[6]  F. Billari,et al.  Should i stay or should i go? The impact of age norms on leaving home , 2007, Demography.

[7]  Wolfgang Lutz,et al.  The emergence of Sub-Replacement Family Size Ideals in Europe , 2003 .

[8]  J. W. Moore,et al.  Age Norms, Age Constraints, and Adult Socialization , 1965, American Journal of Sociology.

[9]  James M. White.  The Normative Interpretation of Life Course Event Histories , 1998 .

[10]  C. Wouters.  CHANGING PATTERNS OF SOCIAL CONTROLS AND SELF-CONTROLS On the Rise of Crime since the 1950s and the Sociogenesis of a 'Third Nature' , 1999 .

[11]  Guillermina Jasso,et al.  Probing the character of norms : A factorial survey analysis of the norms of political action , 1997 .

[12]  Hans-Peter Blossfeld,et al.  Human Capital Investments or Norms of Role Transition? How Women's Schooling and Career Affect the Process of Family Formation , 1991, American Journal of Sociology.

[13]  J. Elster,et al.  The Cement Of Society , 1989 .

[14]  N. Crook.  On social norms and fertility decline , 1978 .

[15]  F. Deutsch,et al.  The Double Standard of Praise and Criticism for Mothers and Fathers , 1998 .

[16]  R. Settersten,et al.  What's the latest? Cultural age deadlines for family transitions. , 1996, The Gerontologist.

[17]  M. Macy,et al.  The Emperor’s Dilemma: A Computational Model of Self‐Enforcing Norms1 , 2005, American Journal of Sociology.

[18]  R. Settersten,et al.  What's the latest? II. Cultural age deadlines for educational and work transitions. , 1996, The Gerontologist.

[19]  Karl Ulrich Mayer,et al.  The Measurement of Age, Age Structuring, and the Life Course , 1997 .

[20]  J. Dirk,et al.  Europe's second demographic transition , 1987 .

[21]  M. Marini.  Age and Sequencing Norms in the Transition to Adulthood , 1984 .

[22]  M. W. Riley,et al.  On the Significance of Age in Sociology , 1987 .

[23]  U. Fischbacher,et al.  Social norms and human cooperation , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[24]  A. Thornton,et al.  Four Decades of Trends in Attitudes Toward Family Issues in the United States: The 1960s Through the 1990s , 2001 .

[25]  R. Settersten.  The Salience of Age in the Life Course , 1997 .

[26]  Richard A. Posner,et al.  Creating and Enforcing Norms, With Special Reference to Sanctions , 1999 .

[27]  Thomas K. Burch,et al.  Icons, Straw Men and Precision: Reflections on Demographic Theories of Fertility Decline , 1995 .

[28]  Giovanni Dosi,et al.  Norms as emergent properties of adaptive learning: The case of economic routines , 1999 .

[29]  R. Settersten.  Age Structuring and the Rhythm of the Life Course , 2003 .

[30]  R. Lesthaeghe,et al.  The Second Demographic Transition in the United States: Exception or Textbook Example? , 2006 .