Abstract

This chapter responds to a range of questions posed by sociologist Annette Schnabel with respect to the author’s joint commitment account of group belief along with other aspects of group life. Some questions concern the contrast between joint commitment and personal commitment, the contexts in which joint commitments are likely to develop, and how they can facilitate human interaction in the case of problematic structures of inclinations such as a “prisoner’s dilemma.” Other questions concern the mechanisms that lead people to conform to their joint commitments, and the relationship between the beliefs and preferences of groups to those of individuals.