C Horne
Biographic Data
| ID | 101892 |
|---|---|
| NAME | C Horne |
| GIVEN NAMES | C |
| FAMILY NAME | Horne |
| SIGNATURE | HORNE C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Washington State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5318-6978 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 340 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Externalities and norms in the context of a novel virus
Pandemics create social dilemmas. Everyone benefits from health behaviors that reduce the transmission of damaging infectious diseases. But people may not want to bear the costs of engaging in health behaviors themselves. Research suggests that if an action (like failing to engage in a health behavior) has consequences for others (i.e., produces externalities), those others will disapprove of the behavior and expect others to also disapprove. In …
Yes, parents, it reflects on you
ObjectiveExamine normative expectations of teens and parents related to teen behaviors in multiple domains.BackgroundParenting expectations have strengthened in an increasingly evaluative context. Existing literature does not address whether parents are evaluated based on their teens' actions. We argue that understanding the pressures parents face is facilitated by an understanding of norms, which regulate behavior, and metanorms, which regulate …
The DEI Penalty
This article investigates perceptions of university quality and status threat among White and non-White Democrats and Republicans in response to a curriculum emphasizing diversity. We hypothesize that Americans in general will perceive a university with a diversity-focused curriculum as low quality and that White Americans (particularly Republicans) will perceive the university as posing a status threat. We test our hypotheses with data from a su…
California Consumers’ Beliefs and Trust in Electric Utilities
The authors use survey and interview data from California homeowners to understand customers’ trust in their utility company. The authors find that customers’ beliefs about the reliability of electricity do not predict trust. Instead, what matters are beliefs that the utility company does a bad job managing customer service, costs, and wildfires. Distrust among survey respondents aligns with interview participants’ descriptions of utility compani…
Rationales and Support for Norms in the Context of Covid-19
This study empirically tests whether people invoke moral and prudential rationales when evaluating behavior in a novel context—the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States—and whether those rationales are associated with their support for a norm. We use data from two online vignette experiments that describe key health behaviors—staying home and masking—and find substantial support. Given the politicization of these behaviors in…
Technology use and norm change in online privacy
We suggest that explaining privacy behaviors requires understanding not only individual attitudes, but also norms and trust. We propose: (1) the popularity of a potentially privacy-violating technology leads individuals to expect that others approve of privacy violations and simultaneously increases their trust in the technology provider; (2) the frequency of privacy violations by other similar providers leads individuals to expect that a specifi…
Understanding the rebound
Renewable energy may have smaller environmental benefits than expected because reductions in carbon emissions may be offset by increased consumption. We conduct an online vignette experiment with United States (US) residents to examine how people evaluate household electricity use. We show that participants negatively evaluate households that use a lot of electricity, but that evaluations vary depending on the source of the electricity and the po…
Rooftop solar in the United States
Norms, Norm Sets, and Reference Groups
Household adoption of rooftop solar panels and battery storage can potentially reduce the negative environmental impacts of the electric grid. We argue that the number of socially close (friends and family) and geographically close (neighbors) others who have rooftop solar panels will affect norm expectations regarding how much others approve of solar panels and battery storage and expectations about how personally beneficial those technologies a…
Testing an Integrated Theory
We draw on norms theory to develop hypotheses about norms regulating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. We identify two theoretical approaches-the consequentialist and social cues approach-and argue that understanding norms will be enhanced by integrating these two approaches. We apply these general theoretical approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic to suggest concrete hypotheses regarding distancing norms. We test our hypotheses using …
How Can Consumer Trust in Energy Utilities be Increased? The Effectiveness of Prosocial, Proenvironmental, and Service-Oriented Investments as Signals of Trustworthiness
The transformation of the electricity infrastructure into the smart grid requires energy utilities to increase consumer involvement. However, in the United States, consumers’ trust in utilities is low, which impedes consumer involvement. Drawing on the literature on corporate social responsibility and signaling theory, we examine possible strategies for increasing trust. We hypothesize that utility prosocial, proenvironmental, and service-oriente…
Accidental environmentalist or ethical elite? The moral dimensions of environmental impact
Norms
Norms are a foundational concept in sociology. Following a period of skepticism about norms as overly deterministic and as paying too little attention to social conflict, inequalities, and agency, the past 20 years have seen a proliferation of norms research across the social sciences. Here we focus on the burgeoning research in sociology to answer questions about where norms come from, why people enforce them, and how they are applied. To do so,…
Explaining support for renewable energy
Across the political spectrum, people favour renewable energy. For political liberals, this support has been attributed to concern for the environment; in contrast, the bases of conservatives’ support are less clear. Derived from interviews with a diverse sample of households in Washington State, USA, and a vignette experiment with a representative sample of American households, results show that Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservative…
Do Green Behaviors Earn Social Status
Do green behaviors earn social status among liberals and conservatives? Although evidence shows that high-status consumers incorporate ecological concerns into their consumption choices, politically polarized views on environmentalism in the United States complicate the relationship between green behaviors and status. A vignette experiment shows that across political ideology, people grant status to green consumption. Results from semistructured …
The Conditionality of Norms
Social norms are rules that prescribe and proscribe behavior. The application of norms is conditional. But scholars have little systematic understanding of the factors that affect conditionality. The authors argue that understanding norms requires assessing the costs and benefits of focal and nonfocal behaviors for norm targets, beneficiaries, and enforcers. The authors develop hypotheses about two combinations of these factors; they hypothesize …
Behavioral Regularities and Norm Stickiness
We find that behavioral regularities affect normative expectations, which in turn are associated with decisions consistent with existing behaviors. People use descriptive norms to infer what others actually approve. This dynamic can lead to contradictions between implicit and explicit norms, and can both impede and foster norm change
Toward a Sociology of Privacy
What are, and what should be, the boundaries between self and society, individuals and groups? To address these questions, we synthesize research on privacy that is relevant for two foundational sociological issues: social order and inequality. By synthesizing work on a narrow yet fundamental set of issues, we aim to improve our understanding of privacy as well as provide a foundation for understanding contemporary privacy issues associated with …
In the shade of a forest status, reputation, and ambiguity in an online microcredit market
The Legitimacy of Alien Rulers
In the modern world, alien rulers are generally perceived to lack legitimacy. Political legitimacy is important because it is thought to be the principal alternative to coercive institutions. Little empirical evidence supports these claims, however. We devise a laboratory experiment that isolates alienness from other ruler characteristics. The experiment tests whether alien rulers have less legitimacy than native rulers, and whether the ability t…
Privacy, technology, and norms
Lab experiments in demographic fieldwork
Anthropological literature has long linked bridewealth payments to decision-making about fertility. Recent research underscores the significance of menâ s preferences regarding womenâ s reproductive behavior, and suggests that bridewealth payments place cons
The Shadow of Indebtedness
Bridewealth is fundamental to marriage in Africa. Anthropological research provides substantial information regarding characteristics of the bridewealth transaction, but scholars and policymakers know little about its consequences for women in contemporary Africa. We argue that the payment of bridewealth strengthens normative constraints on women's autonomy in the reproductive domain. We test and find support for our argument using a unique vigne…
A normative explanation of antisocial punishment
Dependence Networks and the International Criminal Court1
This article explores why governments commit to human rights enforcement by joining the International Criminal Court (ICC). Compared with other international institutions, the ICC has substantial authority and autonomy. Since governments traditionally guard their sovereignty carefully, it is puzzling that the ICC was not only established, but established so rapidly. Looking beyond traditional explanations for joining international institutions, t…
Norms
Norms are a foundational concept in sociology. Following a period of skepticism about norms as overly deterministic and as paying too little attention to social conflict, inequalities, and agency, the past 20 years have seen a proliferation of norms research across the social sciences. Here we focus on the burgeoning research in sociology to answer questions about where norms come from, why people enforce them, and how they are applied. To do so,…
The Shadow of Indebtedness
Bridewealth is fundamental to marriage in Africa. Anthropological research provides substantial information regarding characteristics of the bridewealth transaction, but scholars and policymakers know little about its consequences for women in contemporary Africa. We argue that the payment of bridewealth strengthens normative constraints on women's autonomy in the reproductive domain. We test and find support for our argument using a unique vigne…
The Enforcement of Norms
Group cohesion is generally thought to contribute to social order. One explanation for this correlation suggests that it can be attributed to higher rates of sanctioning found in solidary communities. In the present paper I suggest a mechanism that may be at least partially responsible for the relationship between group cohesion and sanctioning. I argue that ties among potential sanctioners and other nondeviant group members are key. The strength…
Collective Benefits, Exchange Interests, and Norm Enforcement
Under what conditions are norms likely to be enforced? What processes lead to the punishment of deviant behavior? While social relations are thought to be a key part of the answer, their role is not well understood. In this article I develop one approach to explaining how exchange interests contribute to norm production. I argue that when the benefits resulting from enforcement enhance the ability of individuals to engage in profitable exchange, …
Dependence Networks and the International Criminal Court1
This article explores why governments commit to human rights enforcement by joining the International Criminal Court (ICC). Compared with other international institutions, the ICC has substantial authority and autonomy. Since governments traditionally guard their sovereignty carefully, it is puzzling that the ICC was not only established, but established so rapidly. Looking beyond traditional explanations for joining international institutions, t…
Toward a Sociology of Privacy
What are, and what should be, the boundaries between self and society, individuals and groups? To address these questions, we synthesize research on privacy that is relevant for two foundational sociological issues: social order and inequality. By synthesizing work on a narrow yet fundamental set of issues, we aim to improve our understanding of privacy as well as provide a foundation for understanding contemporary privacy issues associated with …
The Internal Enforcement of Norms
Journal Article The Internal Enforcement of Norms Get access Christine Horne Christine Horne Department of Sociology, 800 SWKT, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. email: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar European Sociological Review, Volume 19, Issue 4, 1 September 2003, Pages 335–343, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/19.4.335 Published: 01 September 2003 Article history Received:…
Explaining Norm Enforcement
This article presents a theory of norm enforcement. Dominant accounts explain norms by referring to their consequences. On this view, norms are enforced when doing so increases the welfare of group members. While useful, such approaches do not explain much of what we observe. The theory developed here argues that while sanctioning consequences are part of the explanation, characteristics of social relations - in particular, interdependence - have…
Sanctioning Costs and Norm Enforcement
This article focuses on the relationship between the costs of norm enforcement and the extent to which such enforcement actually occurs. We predict that as costs increase, sanctioning of deviant behavior is less likely. In addition, however, costs have a positive effect on the strength of meta-norms that encourage sanctioning. These meta-norms, in turn, lead to more frequent enforcement. Hypotheses are tested using experimental methods and, for t…
A normative explanation of antisocial punishment
Accidental environmentalist or ethical elite? The moral dimensions of environmental impact
The Conditionality of Norms
Social norms are rules that prescribe and proscribe behavior. The application of norms is conditional. But scholars have little systematic understanding of the factors that affect conditionality. The authors argue that understanding norms requires assessing the costs and benefits of focal and nonfocal behaviors for norm targets, beneficiaries, and enforcers. The authors develop hypotheses about two combinations of these factors; they hypothesize …
Privacy, technology, and norms
A Social Norms Approach to Legitimacy
Rulers seek to develop legitimacy. Legitimacy is a murky concept, however, and just how rulers might attain it is not well understood. This article explores the implications of conceptualizing legitimacy as a social norm that encourages people to support the ruler. This conceptualization points to the importance of social relations as well as characteristics of the ruler and his or her behavior. These factors together are argued to affect the ext…
Values and Evolutionary Psychology
Scholars suggest that evolutionary psychology may provide a foundation for assumptions regarding human values. I explore this suggestion by developing two arguments regarding the permissiveness of norms regulating male and female sexual activity. The first relies on the standard rational choice assumption that people value resources, and the second relies on an assumption suggested by evolutionary psychology that actors value seeing their childre…
Gender and Cooperation
Does gender affect cooperation? In this paper we analyze the effects of gender and group gender composition on prosocial behavior. We make two competing predictions: one based on literature suggesting that women are more cooperative than men, the other building on research regarding the effect of expectations on behavior. Using data drawn from micro-credit borrowing groups, we find that gender composition, not gender per se, is correlated with th…
Community and the State The Relationship between Normative and Legal Controls
This paper examines the relationship between legal and normative controls. Law and community are conceptualized as two institutions with alternative control structures. Legal sanctions are imposed by the state—whose expenses are paid for through taxes—at the request of group members. Informal normative sanctions are imposed by community members at their own expense. The argument suggests that varying the strengths of law and community affects the…
Explaining support for renewable energy
Across the political spectrum, people favour renewable energy. For political liberals, this support has been attributed to concern for the environment; in contrast, the bases of conservatives’ support are less clear. Derived from interviews with a diverse sample of households in Washington State, USA, and a vignette experiment with a representative sample of American households, results show that Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservative…
Do Green Behaviors Earn Social Status
Do green behaviors earn social status among liberals and conservatives? Although evidence shows that high-status consumers incorporate ecological concerns into their consumption choices, politically polarized views on environmentalism in the United States complicate the relationship between green behaviors and status. A vignette experiment shows that across political ideology, people grant status to green consumption. Results from semistructured …
Behavioral Regularities and Norm Stickiness
We find that behavioral regularities affect normative expectations, which in turn are associated with decisions consistent with existing behaviors. People use descriptive norms to infer what others actually approve. This dynamic can lead to contradictions between implicit and explicit norms, and can both impede and foster norm change
Rooftop solar in the United States
Norms, Norm Sets, and Reference Groups
Household adoption of rooftop solar panels and battery storage can potentially reduce the negative environmental impacts of the electric grid. We argue that the number of socially close (friends and family) and geographically close (neighbors) others who have rooftop solar panels will affect norm expectations regarding how much others approve of solar panels and battery storage and expectations about how personally beneficial those technologies a…
Testing an Integrated Theory
We draw on norms theory to develop hypotheses about norms regulating social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. We identify two theoretical approaches-the consequentialist and social cues approach-and argue that understanding norms will be enhanced by integrating these two approaches. We apply these general theoretical approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic to suggest concrete hypotheses regarding distancing norms. We test our hypotheses using …
The DEI Penalty
This article investigates perceptions of university quality and status threat among White and non-White Democrats and Republicans in response to a curriculum emphasizing diversity. We hypothesize that Americans in general will perceive a university with a diversity-focused curriculum as low quality and that White Americans (particularly Republicans) will perceive the university as posing a status threat. We test our hypotheses with data from a su…
Rationales and Support for Norms in the Context of Covid-19
This study empirically tests whether people invoke moral and prudential rationales when evaluating behavior in a novel context—the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States—and whether those rationales are associated with their support for a norm. We use data from two online vignette experiments that describe key health behaviors—staying home and masking—and find substantial support. Given the politicization of these behaviors in…
Making Elite Lawyers
Community and the State The Relationship between Normative and Legal Controls
This paper examines the relationship between legal and normative controls. Law and community are conceptualized as two institutions with alternative control structures. Legal sanctions are imposed by the state—whose expenses are paid for through taxes—at the request of group members. Informal normative sanctions are imposed by community members at their own expense. The argument suggests that varying the strengths of law and community affects the…
The Enforcement of Norms
Group cohesion is generally thought to contribute to social order. One explanation for this correlation suggests that it can be attributed to higher rates of sanctioning found in solidary communities. In the present paper I suggest a mechanism that may be at least partially responsible for the relationship between group cohesion and sanctioning. I argue that ties among potential sanctioners and other nondeviant group members are key. The strength…
Sanctioning Costs and Norm Enforcement
This article focuses on the relationship between the costs of norm enforcement and the extent to which such enforcement actually occurs. We predict that as costs increase, sanctioning of deviant behavior is less likely. In addition, however, costs have a positive effect on the strength of meta-norms that encourage sanctioning. These meta-norms, in turn, lead to more frequent enforcement. Hypotheses are tested using experimental methods and, for t…
Gender and Cooperation
Does gender affect cooperation? In this paper we analyze the effects of gender and group gender composition on prosocial behavior. We make two competing predictions: one based on literature suggesting that women are more cooperative than men, the other building on research regarding the effect of expectations on behavior. Using data drawn from micro-credit borrowing groups, we find that gender composition, not gender per se, is correlated with th…
The Internal Enforcement of Norms
Journal Article The Internal Enforcement of Norms Get access Christine Horne Christine Horne Department of Sociology, 800 SWKT, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602. email: [email protected]. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar European Sociological Review, Volume 19, Issue 4, 1 September 2003, Pages 335–343, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/19.4.335 Published: 01 September 2003 Article history Received:…
Collective Benefits, Exchange Interests, and Norm Enforcement
Under what conditions are norms likely to be enforced? What processes lead to the punishment of deviant behavior? While social relations are thought to be a key part of the answer, their role is not well understood. In this article I develop one approach to explaining how exchange interests contribute to norm production. I argue that when the benefits resulting from enforcement enhance the ability of individuals to engage in profitable exchange, …
Values and Evolutionary Psychology
Scholars suggest that evolutionary psychology may provide a foundation for assumptions regarding human values. I explore this suggestion by developing two arguments regarding the permissiveness of norms regulating male and female sexual activity. The first relies on the standard rational choice assumption that people value resources, and the second relies on an assumption suggested by evolutionary psychology that actors value seeing their childre…
Explaining Norm Enforcement
This article presents a theory of norm enforcement. Dominant accounts explain norms by referring to their consequences. On this view, norms are enforced when doing so increases the welfare of group members. While useful, such approaches do not explain much of what we observe. The theory developed here argues that while sanctioning consequences are part of the explanation, characteristics of social relations - in particular, interdependence - have…
Norm Enforcement in Heterogeneous Groups
Research shows that two factors are important for norm enforcement in homogeneous groups - the consequences of an individual's behavior for group members and the interdependence of those members. I extend existing theory to make predictions about norm enforcement in heterogeneous groups. Predictions for both homogeneous and heterogeneous groups are tested using experimental methods. The findings show that, in homogeneous groups, the two causal fa…
A Social Norms Approach to Legitimacy
Rulers seek to develop legitimacy. Legitimacy is a murky concept, however, and just how rulers might attain it is not well understood. This article explores the implications of conceptualizing legitimacy as a social norm that encourages people to support the ruler. This conceptualization points to the importance of social relations as well as characteristics of the ruler and his or her behavior. These factors together are argued to affect the ext…
Dependence Networks and the International Criminal Court1
This article explores why governments commit to human rights enforcement by joining the International Criminal Court (ICC). Compared with other international institutions, the ICC has substantial authority and autonomy. Since governments traditionally guard their sovereignty carefully, it is puzzling that the ICC was not only established, but established so rapidly. Looking beyond traditional explanations for joining international institutions, t…
The Shadow of Indebtedness
Bridewealth is fundamental to marriage in Africa. Anthropological research provides substantial information regarding characteristics of the bridewealth transaction, but scholars and policymakers know little about its consequences for women in contemporary Africa. We argue that the payment of bridewealth strengthens normative constraints on women's autonomy in the reproductive domain. We test and find support for our argument using a unique vigne…
A normative explanation of antisocial punishment
Lab experiments in demographic fieldwork
Anthropological literature has long linked bridewealth payments to decision-making about fertility. Recent research underscores the significance of menâ s preferences regarding womenâ s reproductive behavior, and suggests that bridewealth payments place cons
Privacy, technology, and norms
The Legitimacy of Alien Rulers
In the modern world, alien rulers are generally perceived to lack legitimacy. Political legitimacy is important because it is thought to be the principal alternative to coercive institutions. Little empirical evidence supports these claims, however. We devise a laboratory experiment that isolates alienness from other ruler characteristics. The experiment tests whether alien rulers have less legitimacy than native rulers, and whether the ability t…
Toward a Sociology of Privacy
What are, and what should be, the boundaries between self and society, individuals and groups? To address these questions, we synthesize research on privacy that is relevant for two foundational sociological issues: social order and inequality. By synthesizing work on a narrow yet fundamental set of issues, we aim to improve our understanding of privacy as well as provide a foundation for understanding contemporary privacy issues associated with …
In the shade of a forest status, reputation, and ambiguity in an online microcredit market
The Conditionality of Norms
Social norms are rules that prescribe and proscribe behavior. The application of norms is conditional. But scholars have little systematic understanding of the factors that affect conditionality. The authors argue that understanding norms requires assessing the costs and benefits of focal and nonfocal behaviors for norm targets, beneficiaries, and enforcers. The authors develop hypotheses about two combinations of these factors; they hypothesize …
Behavioral Regularities and Norm Stickiness
We find that behavioral regularities affect normative expectations, which in turn are associated with decisions consistent with existing behaviors. People use descriptive norms to infer what others actually approve. This dynamic can lead to contradictions between implicit and explicit norms, and can both impede and foster norm change
Explaining support for renewable energy
Across the political spectrum, people favour renewable energy. For political liberals, this support has been attributed to concern for the environment; in contrast, the bases of conservatives’ support are less clear. Derived from interviews with a diverse sample of households in Washington State, USA, and a vignette experiment with a representative sample of American households, results show that Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservative…
Do Green Behaviors Earn Social Status
Do green behaviors earn social status among liberals and conservatives? Although evidence shows that high-status consumers incorporate ecological concerns into their consumption choices, politically polarized views on environmentalism in the United States complicate the relationship between green behaviors and status. A vignette experiment shows that across political ideology, people grant status to green consumption. Results from semistructured …
How Can Consumer Trust in Energy Utilities be Increased? The Effectiveness of Prosocial, Proenvironmental, and Service-Oriented Investments as Signals of Trustworthiness
The transformation of the electricity infrastructure into the smart grid requires energy utilities to increase consumer involvement. However, in the United States, consumers’ trust in utilities is low, which impedes consumer involvement. Drawing on the literature on corporate social responsibility and signaling theory, we examine possible strategies for increasing trust. We hypothesize that utility prosocial, proenvironmental, and service-oriente…
Accidental environmentalist or ethical elite? The moral dimensions of environmental impact
Psychology (25 works) · Political science (24 works) · Social Psychology (22 works) · Law (20 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Economics (13 works) · Vignette (12 works) · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies (11 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Business (9 works)