Abstract

This chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to explain norms: what they are; how and why they emerge, persist, and change; and how and indeed to what extent they themselves are capable of explaining our social behaviour, broadly conceived. It then provides a preliminary characterization of norms, followed by discussions of the types of norms; three broad explanatory strategies for explaining social behaviour; and norms and rational choice. An overview of the three parts of the book is also presented.