Evolution Of Norms Research Articles

Maturation reaction norm evolution under varying conditions of eco-evolutionary change

Probabilistic maturation reaction norms (PMRNs) are commonly used to infer evolution of maturation age and size in wild fish stocks, but how well estimates from phenotypic data actually reflect underlying genotypes is debated. We used an eco-genetic model of a commercially harvested freshwater fish to simulate populations undergoing various levels of fisheries-induced evolution and density-dependent feedback and evaluated effects on the estimation of PMRNs. We estimated PMRNs from phenotypic data sampled from simulated populations (age, length, and maturation status of individuals), as is done for wild stocks, and compared estimates with the known maturation genotypes of individuals in the simulated population. PMRN estimates were robust to changes in the strength of density-dependent growth and high levels of fisheries-induced evolution. However, our ability to detect slower rates of evolution was limited, especially when individuals matured within a narrow range of ages. Furthermore, low numbers of immature or mature individuals within a given age class limited our ability to robustly estimate midpoints for more than one or two ages, despite our large sample sizes (n = 200 randomly sampled individuals of each age per year), highlighting a challenge with this approach. Nonetheless, this study suggests that the widely applied method of estimating PMRNs from readily available phenotypic data to detect underlying evolution of maturation schedule is robust to some key factors that vary in wild populations.

The evolution of norms within a society of captives

How do norms evolve when people have no choice to opt out of social interactions? One example of such a setting is prison. Past research usually relies on ethnographic work to understand the emergence and maintenance of norms among prisoners. We instead use this rich qualitative literature to inform an agent-based model to demonstrate how norms evolve in response to demographic changes in prison. In the model, agents play a one-shot, though possibly repeated, prisoner’s dilemma with other agents. Agents lack the ability to decline to play with their selected opponent. We consider tag-mediated play and norm enforcement as mechanisms to facilitate prisoner cooperation and to examine the effects of increasing prison populations and increasing ethnic heterogeneity on the maintenance of cooperative norms. We also calibrate the model with empirical data from the California prison system. Parameters of the model correspond to demographic changes between 1951 and 2016, where the size of the prison population increased 14-fold and ethnic heterogeneity by 30%. Simulation results show that such changes dramatically decrease levels of cooperation and compliance. These results are consistent with the actual observed breakdown of the cooperative norms in California prisons.

Conversation Analysis and the Study of Sociohistorical Change

ABSTRACT We reflect on the affordances and challenges of interactional data in the analysis of long-term institutional change. To this end we draw on our studies of direct encounters between journalists and politicians in news interviews and presidential news conferences and in particular the use of question design as a window into the evolution of journalistic norms and press-state relations over time and the causal antecedents of such change. All analyses that incorporate a concern with environing contexts of interactional change impose certain burdens of empirical demonstration on the researcher. Here we consider three analytic issues that arise in the kind of historical-institutional analysis we have been pursuing: (a) controlling for the situational context, (b) pinpointing the locus of change, and (c) validating indicators of change. Data are in English.

What a ‘Boo’ Can Do: Adam Goodes, Discrimination, and Norm (R)evolution

ABSTRACT In this commentary I evaluate what McGowan’s project would conclude with respect to the treatment of professional Australian Football League player Adam Goodes, who was incessantly ‘booed’ by crowds for the final two years of his career. Analysing Goodes’ case in light of McGowan’s argument leads me to two observations. First, McGowan’s norm-enactment approach is incredibly useful because it explains how words like ‘boo’ (with unstable meaning) can constitute actionable discrimination. Second, however, I wonder if a narrow focus on whether such speech is legally actionable might encourage an overestimation of the power of laws to shepherd new g-norms into social practices.

The status of women in Neolithic & pre-Imperial China: How bioarchaeological evidence informs ongoing debate

ABSTRACT Where do Chinese gender norms come from and how did they culturally evolve through time? This question receives ample debate in the context of Warring States, pre-Imperial, and Imperial China. Many archaeologists and interdisciplinary scholars contend that earliest China treated its women relatively well. This paper’s interdisciplinary examination of bioarchaeological evidence from Neolithic and pre-Imperial sources synthesizes new information to enrich this debate. Discussed are studies of sex-linked DNA drawn from human remains, sex ratio data from burials, and indicators of diet quality including isotopic studies of nitrogen and carbon as well as dental pathologies. The paper focuses on data drawn from polities within the phylocultural cultural trunk leading to Imperial China. Evidence indicates that women in pre-Imperial China were treated less well than in other early societies. Comparative lessons about the cultural evolution of Chinese gender norms in the context of norms in other early civilizations are drawn.

The history of the medicalisation of rapid ejaculation—A reflection of the rising importance of female pleasure in a phallocentric world

ABSTRACT Early ejaculation is a male dysfunction that became a subject of medical and psychological interest concurrently with the growing recognition of the importance of female sexual needs. Psychoanalytical ideas, psychosomatic approaches, behavioural concepts, and, in recent decades, rampant pharmacologization based on biological reductionism have been used to explain the condition and to propose various treatments. The history of the medicalisation of rapid ejaculation reflects the evolution of sexual norms and expectations regarding the desired length of intercourse, accepted ways of achieving orgasm, and ideal sexual scripts for both men and women.

The evolution of developmental thresholds and reaction norms for age and size at maturity

Developing organisms typically mature earlier and at larger sizes in favorable growth conditions, while in rarer cases, maturity is delayed. The rarer reaction norm is easily accommodated by general life history models, whereas the common pattern is not. Theory suggests that a solution to this paradox lies in the existence of critical size thresholds at which maturation or metamorphosis can commence, and in the evolution of these threshold sizes in response to environmental variation. For example, ephemeral environments might favor the evolution of smaller thresholds, enabling earlier maturation. The threshold model makes two unique and untested predictions. First, reaction norms for age and size should steepen, and even change sign, with decreases in threshold size; second, food reductions at sizes below the threshold should delay maturation, while those occurring after the threshold should accelerate maturation. We test these predictions through food manipulations in five damselfly species that theory suggests should differ in threshold size. The results provide strong support for the threshold model's predictions. In all species, early food reductions delayed maturation, while late reductions accelerated maturation. Reaction norms were steeper, and the effect of food reductions changed from decelerating to accelerating at a much smaller size in species from ephemeral habitats. These results support the view that developmental thresholds can account for the widespread observation of negative correlations between age and size at maturity. Moreover, evolution of the threshold appears to be both predictable and central to the observed diversity of reaction norms for age and size at maturity.

Институциональные реформы как фактор транзита власти в авторитарных режимах на примере Китая, Ирана и постсоветских стран

How can institutional reforms ensure the transit of power in nondemocratic regimes? Having studied five cases in and around the Post-Soviet space, the authors offer three models of such transit: establishment of new institutions (Kazakhstan), parallel evolution of formal institutions and informal norms (China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), legalization of transit effected through informal norms (Iran). In the first model, the leader of the nation had his role perpetuated, received lifelong privileges and retained control over the security council with enhanced powers, some of the powers of the president being transferred to parliament. The second model observes the transit of power in three stages: the achievement of intra-elite consensus on new leadership, the occupation of key positions by the accepted individuals, and legitimation of the outcome through formal procedures. The third model is the result of an institutional reform that was not completed by the time of transit: the transfer of power looked legitimate to those who made an informal decision by imitating the formal procedure, but was illegal – legal provisions for such transit were adopted two months later. All the studied cases share three features: 1) the government conducts institutional reforms to ensure the transit of power, 2) elections are held, but instead of shaping new government they legitimize the agreements of the elites, 3) informal agreements are no less important than the institutional structure, the latter often being amended to match the former.

The Legal Framework for Waste Management in Cameroon by International Environmental Law

The rules of international law find their authority in the provisions of Article 38 (1°) of the Statutes of the International Court of Justice, in four sources, namely: treaties, international custom, general principles of law, and secondary sources (court decisions, tribunals and doctrine). However, beyond these sources of "hard law", which impose binding obligations, there are also "soft law" rules whose obligations are not binding. However, it should be noted that new customary rules appear quite quickly, as does the speed with which global environmental issues take hold of the political calendar, tending to highlight the evolution of legal norms and to relegate customary law to the background, after conventions or treaties. Although some fundamental principles, such as the equitable use of resources can be attributed to decisions based on customary law, treaties are undoubtedly the main basis used by the international community to regulate activities threatening the environment. In this perspective, the legal framework for waste management in Cameroon by international environmental law is palpable through the ratification of treaties, international agreements because Cameroon is a signatory of conventions, codes, protocols, and international agreements which reinforce the existing legal instruments at the national level and especially which lend credibility to the environmental protection policy in general, and the efficient and environmentally sound management of waste in particular, with international partners.

Experiencing Booms and Busts in the Welfare State and Support for Redistribution

We analyze how the exposure to adverse macroeconomic conditions during the impressionable years (i.e., between the age of 18 and 25), in interaction with welfare state institutions, forms political attitudes in adulthood. Based on a large panel dataset of European countries, we find that individuals who experienced high unemployment under a regime of low unemployment benefits are more in favor of redistribution later in life and state an orientation more oriented towards the left. However, negative economic shocks in an environment with a very generous unemployment insurance are related to less support of redistribution and a more rightist political attitude later on. The development of the welfare state thus seems crucial for how economic shocks affect the evolution of preferences and norms in society and thus finally feedback on institutional change.

«Азбучні» полеміки в Україні впродовж ХІХ – початку ХХІ ст.

After numerous discussions, the 2019 «Ukrainian Orthographic Norms» took effect. The innovations proposed in it necessitated turning the pages of the history of Ukrainian graphics and spelling for understanding why «alphabetic wars» in Ukraine continue today and the consequences of such scholarly battles. The purpose of the paper is to give a brief overview of the «spelling wars» in Ukraine in the 19th ‒ early 21st centuries, to expose the causes and consequences of the lingering struggle for the affirmation of specific language norms. In the first half of the 19th century the struggle between the phonetic and etymological traditions of writing was evidenced by O. Pavlovsky’s orthography of the Ukrainian language grammar (1818), the works of M. Maksymovych (1827), and the almanac Rusalka Dnistrova (The Mermaid of the Dniester) in 1837. In the second half of the 19th century new orthographic norms appeared: «kulishivka», «drahomanivka», «zhelekhivka», etc. The early 20th century was crowned by the appearance of «grinchenkivka», the academic publication «The principal rules of the Ukrainian spelling» in 1920, and the «skrypnykivka» spelling in 1928. The reasons of the tragic fate of «skrypnykivka» and the appearance of the Ukrainian spelling systems of the Soviet period in Ukraine in 1933, 1946, and 1960 were found. The attempts to restore the lost national features of the Ukrainian graphics and spelling after the proclamation of Ukraine as an independent state (Orthographic norms of 1989, the drafts of its new editions of 1999 and 2003) proved to be unsuccessful. In the conditions of constant disputes and confrontations the current orthographic code was approved only with some surface changes. There is not a single country in the world with a spelling system the «fate» of which would literally be shot, whose development would be blocked, which would experience political intrusions, and suffer the extermination of national language features. The author of the paper emphasizes that for a long historical period these «alphabetic wars» involved Ukrainians in a negative program of the perception and understanding of spelling rules: one aggression gave rise to a number of others and the internal revolt (primarily – with the introduction of certain features of «skrypnykivka»). According to the author of the article, the norms in the «Ukrainian Orthographic Norms» of 2019 are far from the real life, some formulations are too complicated for an average speaker. 1. We would recommend reducing the number of capitalization rules by listing the concepts that should be written in capital letters. We propose to set some capitalization rules (see §§ 45–48) along with the material on the punctuation of sentences with quotations, remarks, appeals, rubrics, etc. 2. In the media we would like to hear more information about the evolution of language norms and the history of their appearance. Only the wide popularization of the history of spelling and the peaceful solution of spelling problems will help to return to the Ukrainians the distinctive features of orthography. 3. In the search for new grammatical forms, it is important not to push the content into the background. To prevent this from happening, the Ukrainians must learn to think differently, make decisions without fuss, avoid any manifestations of aggression and negative involvement in problems, and seek compromises. In the following scientific investigations, we plan to analyze the punctuation rules of the mother tongue, presented in the current orthographic norms of 2019.

Biological Markets, Cooperation, and the Evolution of Morality

Biological market theory has in recent years become an important part of the social evolutionist’s toolkit. This article discusses the explanatory potential and pitfalls of biological market theory in the context of big picture accounts of the evolution of human cooperation and morality. I begin by assessing an influential account that presents biological market dynamics as a key driver of the evolution of fairness norms in humans. I argue that this account is problematic for theoretical, empirical, and conceptual reasons. After mapping the evidential and explanatory limits of biological market theory, I suggest that it can nevertheless fill a lacuna in an alternative account of hominin evolution. Trade on a biological marketplace can help explain why norm-based cooperation did not break down when our Late Pleistocene ancestors entered new, challenging social and economic environments.

Transgenerational Plasticity and Bet-Hedging: A Framework for Reaction Norm Evolution

Decision-making under uncertain conditions favors bet-hedging (avoidance of fitness variance), whereas predictable environments favor phenotypic plasticity. However, entirely predictable or entirely unpredictable conditions are rarely found in nature. Intermediate strategies are required when the time lag between information sensing and phenotype induction is large (e.g., transgenerational plasticity) and when cues are only partially predictive of future conditions. Nevertheless, current theory regards plasticity and bet-hedging as distinct entities. We here develop a unifying framework: based on traits with binary outcomes like seed germination or diapause incidence we clarify that diversified bet-hedging (risk-spreading among one’s offspring) and transgenerational plasticity are mutually exclusive strategies, arising from opposing changes in reaction norms (allocating phenotypic variance among or within environments). We further explain the relationship of this continuum with arithmetic mean maximization vs. conservative bet-hedging (a risk-avoidance strategy), and canalization vs. phenotypic variance in a three-dimensional continuum of reaction norm evolution. We discuss under which scenarios costs and limits may constrain the evolution of reaction norm shapes.

Growth, stress, and acclimation responses to fluctuating temperatures in field and domesticated populations of Manduca sexta.

Diurnal fluctuations in temperature are ubiquitous in terrestrial environments, and insects and other ectotherms have evolved to tolerate or acclimate to such fluctuations. Few studies have examined whether ectotherms acclimate to diurnal temperature fluctuations, or how natural and domesticated populations differ in their responses to diurnal fluctuations. We examine how diurnally fluctuating temperatures during development affect growth, acclimation, and stress responses for two populations of Manduca sexta: a field population that typically experiences wide variation in mean and fluctuations in temperature, and a laboratory population that has been domesticated in nearly constant temperatures for more than 300 generations. Laboratory experiments showed that diurnal fluctuations throughout larval development reduced pupal mass for the laboratory but not the field population. The differing effects of diurnal fluctuations were greatest at higher mean temperature (30°C): Here diurnal fluctuations reduced pupal mass and increased pupal development time for the laboratory population, but had little effect for the field population. We also evaluated how mean and fluctuations in temperature during early larval development affected growth rate during the final larval instar as a function of test temperature. At an intermediate (25°C) mean temperature, both the laboratory and field population showed a positive acclimation response to diurnal fluctuations, in which subsequent growth rate was significantly higher at most test temperatures. In contrast at higher mean temperature (30°C), diurnal fluctuations significantly reduced subsequent growth rate at most test temperatures for the laboratory population, but not for the field population. These results suggest that during domestication in constant temperatures, the laboratory population has lost the capacity to tolerate or acclimate to high and fluctuating temperatures. Population differences in acclimation capacity in response to temperature fluctuations have not been previously demonstrated, but they may be important for understanding the evolution of reaction norms and performance curves.

Optimal decay for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations without additional smallness assumptions

This work is concerned with the large time behavior of solutions to the barotropic compressible Navier-Stokes equations in Rd(d≥2). A pure energy argument (independent of spectral analysis) has been developed in more general Lp framework, which enables us not only to obtain the optimal time-decay rates but also to remove the smallness of low frequencies of initial data that has been required in previous studies on this problem. The crucial part of the proof lies in the evolution of negative Besov norms at low frequencies, which mainly depends on non standardLp product estimates and some elaborate use of Sobolev embeddings and interpolations. Our results could also hold true in case of large highly oscillating initial velocities in comparison with classical efforts.

Особливості розвитку норми літературної німецької мови. Фонетичні аспекти

Linguists emphasize the importance of a structural-systematic approach to language learning, which helps to increase interest in solving the problem of language normativeness. The term “norm”, like many other terms in linguistics, is polysemous. At the same time, an important and still insufficiently disclosed aspect of the study of language norms is the definition of its essence in nationally heterogeneous languages, in particular in German standard language, which actualizes the study of autonomous norms of national variants of German, their identical and nationally specific features. Understanding the uniqueness of the codification of phonetic realities in the German language is relevant in the context of the traditions of Western European lexicography and the process of globalization and increasingly affects the linguistic spheres. The article is dedicated to the study of the notion of German orthoepic norm, the problem of its definition and mechanisms of its formation. The notion of the norm is rather ambiguous and its different aspects are usually highlighted by scientists when giving its definition. Generally they mark out two principal dimensions in the notion of the norm: the objective norm and the subjective norm. In conditions of community development, continuous linguistic and social changes, interdependent and interacting, the norm is a fundamental regulator of speech activity. It is clear that normative speech is the obligatory sign of well-educated, cultured person and the culture of sounding speech is an important aspect of national culture such as the culture of written word, communication or social life in general. The orthoepic German norm has been evolved in the process of Germanlanguage development. It is absolutely related to historical, social and culture processes. The norms are not invented by philologists, they reflect a certain stage of literary language development. In the article the role of the norm and its place in the language is defined and norm evolution in the process of language establishment and development is considered

A Review of the Origin and Evolution of FSR Norms to Propose New Indices for Green Buildings

Construction technology has transformed into hyper technological mode due to convergence of science of building materials, AI simulations and IOT tools of building management. However, the regulators evaluation of the built up space remains static for decades since the emergence of mega cities since the end of the World War II. There is a gap in the domain of building evaluation corresponding to the converging technologies. This paper reviews the origin of FSR (floor space ratio) and proposes suggestions for introducing new norms that are similar and comprehensive when compared to FSR norms. It would be a key policy measure to scientifically ensure sustainable development in the construction industry to stimulate resilient building designs and construction practices.

From Medical to Human-Rights Norms: Examining the Evolution of Trans Norms in the Netherlands

Examining the dynamics underpinning the evolution of trans norms in the Netherlands, from their emergence there in 1952 up until 2019, this article traces their development through four historical phases, each marked by notable milestones and supported by different sets of frames, actors, and norm-change mechanisms. My analysis shows that the normative profile of trans issues in the Netherlands has long been ruled by medical frames, but the last decades have also witnessed the emergence and establishment of a new set of frames rooted in human-rights discourses. By tracing the trajectory of trans norms in the Netherlands and examining the mechanisms underlying the emergence and changes of frames, this article contributes to the theoretical body of studies on norm diffusion by introducing the role of hybrid entrepreneurs, the dynamic co-assembling of medical and legal domains and the self-lead trans emancipation as a social entrepreneurial strategy.

Headwinds and tailwinds to the rights-based approach to development: A regime theory perspective

The rights-based approach (RBA) to development is now accepted practice among experts in the United Nations (UN) development machinery, as well as key bilateral aid agencies and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). That development should be informed by rights represents a new human rights norm in world affairs, and the machinery around it forms a regime. However, RBA remains contested, and implementation has been stuttering and incomplete. This article examines the forces working against, and for, the implementation of RBA. It argues, in particular, that although RBA is a norm well institutionalized as a regime, it is not nearly as accepted by states themselves, and thus remains only imperfectly implemented. This, in turn, shows us how various factors affecting norm acceptance—state interests, transnational NGOs, and multilateral actors, among others—interact in norm evolution. The gap between a strong regime and a weak norm helps give insight into the future of RBA: It seems robust due to its institutionalization, but it is much more tenuous than it appears. This can also have implications in other similar situations, such as responsibility to protect or climate change, in which strong regimes belie the weakness of the underlying norm.

Surfing the complex interaction between new technology and norms: A resistance or resilience issue? Insights by the Viable System Approach (VSA)

The paper investigates the complex interaction between technological innovation and norms: a crucial dynamic to facing the severe challenges of the Anthropocene.On the one hand, the sedimentation of norms acts as the genetic memory of a society. Allowing a reduction in the uncertainty of human condition and ensuring greater predictability of human interaction, the set of norms tend to activate a system of constraints that normalize and legitimate technological innovations.On the other hand, technological innovation is one of the most unpredictable and non-linear sources of change. It demands legitimization for what in the past were excluded or prohibited a priori (e.g. behaviors, ethics): this may trigger a “decoupling” process from the extant set of norms. Nevertheless, what decoupling should be legitimized? A wicked problem arises, and forking paths emerge in the socio-economic landscape.Leading the tension between new technology (source of unpredictability) and the taken-for-granted norms (source of predictability) is crucial if the aim is to linking effectiveness and efficiency to viable sustainability. While the (still dominant) cartesian approach considers norms and new technology as separate elements of the social system, system thinking enlightens the interaction between them. This helps to unveil hidden options/feedbacks in the decoupling-recoupling process between technological innovation and the evolution of norms enriching the information variety of the decision-makers (policy makers, citizens, urban planners, etc.).The dynamics that govern this dyad, however, are not linear: norms, in fact, do not have the same reactivity to absorb (recouple) the change triggered by new technologies (decoupling from the extant set of norms).Although the relevance of the issue, it has been often neglected, or at least not taken in the right consideration. Therefore, aiming to investigate this dyadic relationship, the paper focuses on the ambiguous role technology plays in enabling resilience: sometimes it acts as a resilience amplifier; sometimes it is a resilience inhibitor (and even a steel cage); sometimes it provokes an undesirable deviation from the taken-for-granted codified rules.In particular, aiming to contribute in filling this gap, and rooting in the Viable System Approach (VSA), the paper investigates why and how in some cases the interaction between technological innovation and norms leads to resistance towards change or acts as a resilience amplifier in other cases.The paper is structured as follows: after an Introduction underlying the need to understanding the increasing tension between new technology and norms, Section 2 deals with the contribution of the VSA in understanding the social systems; then, rooting in the VSA and moving from the concept of information variety, Section 3 frames the complex interplay between new technology and taken-for-granted norms as one of the most dramatic “resistance-resilience” issue of the Anthropocene era; Section 4 proposes a more comprehensive framework discussing the range “resilience-resistance-vulnerability” and presents final reflections.