ERODING SOCIAL NORMS

Dan Ariely is Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University - and seems to know what he's talking about. 

In his book, Predictably Irrational, Ariely devotes a chapter to an idea that is worth chewing on. 

That chapter has the provocative title "The Cost of Social Norms: Why We Are Happy to Do Things, but Not When We Are Paid to Do Them". 

Ariely explains that we all intuitively understand two very different sets of rules guiding our lives: social norms and market norms. 

Rules governing the role of money play very differently in the two circles of our lives. Payment is expected in the marketplace - and it had better be commensurate with time, skill, and effort. 

In social situations, on the other hand, a payment would be insulting and counterproductive. A gift is the furthest you can go without being insulting. 

Ariely imagines a Thanksgiving dinner where a son-in-law stands up at the conclusion of the meal, praises the host and says, "Mom, for all the love you've put into this, how much do I owe you? Do you think three hundred dollars will do it?" 

The celebration would come to a hasty and awkward conclusion and the man would not be invited back next year.  

Ariely goes on to explain that there are quite a few careers - such as law enforcement, military service, and education - where workers are motivated by more than the salary. "It's the social norms - pride in their profession and a sense of duty - that will motivate them." 

This makes sense of a distressing trend I observed as a teacher: a growing job dissatisfaction. 

I feel like America is relationally poor ... and growing poorer. As our material wealth has grown, our relational wealth has decreased. 

In those careers that have traditionally depended on workers performing for the greater good of society, if the social motivation is eroded and all the focus goes to market motivation, you end up with unhappy workers. Or lazy workers. 

Because how much do you have to pay teachers to make it worth their time - in purely marketplace terms - to spend all day every day instructing junior high students, for example? 

What role might this play in "The Great Resignation" that is taking place across the American workplace even beyond our schools?