Metanorms and Gender Discrimination

Social norms exist in all societies. They are specific expectations and rules that different cultures utilize to control the behaviors of theirs members. These expectations and rules are accompanied by social sanctions. They encourage or discourage certain behaviors, and are enforced through social sanctions to approve of or reward those who conform to the norms and punish those who dissent or violate them (Coleman 1990; Horne 2007). Punishments range from snubbing and verbal reprimands to incarceration, expulsion, and killing (e.g., honor crimes). Metanorms are a special class of norms. They are the norms of enforcing norm enforcement, where norms are usually accompanied with high and multiple levels rewards or punishments (Axelrod 1986; Elster 1989; Horne 2007; Prietula and Conway 2009). Not only are first-order violators (deviants) punished, but so too are the second-order violators (shirkers) who fail to punish the deviants. Metanorms typically have very high social value, such that the collective community cannot tolerate deviation from sanctioned norms. In some societies, certain norms that are elevated to metanorms can also be elevated to a rule, either informally (routinely executed without the presence of, or the need for, a written formal law or rule), or formally (sanctioned by the formal legislative and judicial institutions). Prietula and Conway (2011) emphasize the essential importance of metanorms to the survival of collectivist societies: “Without metanorms, a norm against defection cannot survive” (Section 6).