Table Of ContentConformity
CONFORMIT Y
The Power of Social Influences
Cass R. Sunstein
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2019 by New York University
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sunstein, Cass R., author.
Title: Conformity : the power of social influences / Cass R. Sunstein.
Description: New York : New York University Press, 2019. |
Also available as an ebook. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018041768| ISBN 9781479867837 (cl ; alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Sociological jurisprudence. | Law—Social aspects. |
Conformity. | Social influence.
Classification: LCC K370 .S83 2019 | DDC 340/.115—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018041768
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their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
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Also available as an ebook
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Introduction: The Power of Social Influences 1
Chapter 1: How Conformity Works 11
Chapter 2: Cascades 35
Chapter 3: Group Polarization 79
Chapter 4: Law and Institutions 101
Conclusion: Conformity and Its Discontents 147
Notes 153
Index 173
About the Author 183
v
Acknowledgments
This short book has traveled a long and winding road. In
early 2003, I delivered the Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Lec-
tures at Harvard Law School, under the title “Conformity
and Dissent.” With the help of the comments I received dur-
ing and after the presentation, the lectures were reoriented,
expanded, and transformed into a book, Why Societies Need
Dissent, published by Harvard University Press in late 2003.
There is of course a significant overlap between the original
text and that book. But I retained a fondness for the original
lecture text, which was not only significantly shorter but also
more focused, less polemical, and a bit less preachy— and
also more quizzical, and in some ways (I like to think) more
enduring.
As of this writing, there is mounting worldwide attention
to the problem of conformity, and also to associated questions
about identity, extremism, cascades, polarization, and diversity.
This book is a contemporary version of the original text, with a
new preface and a variety of changes, mostly for updating and
clarity of exposition. I am acutely aware that with respect to the
underlying social science, there have been significant develop-
ments since 2003. I have done my best to summarize the lead-
ing developments and to avoid relying on controversial claims
and findings, though the field continues to progress.
vii
Acknowledgments
It took a village. For valuable discussions and comments, I
am grateful to Jacob Gersen, Reid Hastie, David Hirshleifer,
Christine Jolls, Catharine MacKinnon, Martha Nussbaum,
Susan Moller Okin, Eric Posner, Richard Posner, Lior Stra-
hilevitz, Edna Ullmann-M argalit, and Richard Zeckhauser.
Special thanks to my agent, Sarah Chalfant, for help and sup-
port, and to my editor, Clara Platter, for valuable suggestions
throughout and above all in connection with the preface.
Andrew Heinrich and Cody Westphal provided excellent re-
search assistance.
viii
Preface
Conformity is as old as humanity. In the Garden of Eden,
Adam followed Eve’s lead. The spread of the world’s great
religions is partly a product of conformity. Books remain to
be written on this topic, with special attention to Christianity,
Islam, and Judaism.1 Generosity and kindness, concern for
the vulnerable, considerateness, protection of private prop-
erty, respect for human dignity—a ll of these are fueled by
conformity, which provides a kind of social glue.2
Conformity also makes atrocities possible. The Holocaust
was many things, but it was emphatically a tribute to the im-
mense power of conformity. The rise of Communism also re-
flected that power. Contemporary terrorism is not a product
of poverty, mental illness, or a lack of education. It is a prod-
uct, in large part, of the pressure that some people put on
other people. That pressure has everything to do with con-
formity. When people of one political party march together,
develop dogmas and rages, and ridicule people of another
political party, conformity is at work. In its worst forms as
well as its best, nationalism is fueled by conformity.
As we shall see, the idea of conformity is far more interest-
ing and less simple than it seems. But two ideas capture much
of the territory. First, the actions and statements of other
people provide information about what is true and what is
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