LEES Winter School

Institutional influences (mediated by cognitions) on sustainable development AND inequality reduction

In the first lecture, we will discuss the basic tenets of a social rationality approach to human behavior and social phenomena. This approach highlights the coevolution of human rationality (i.e. the ability for purposive behavior) and human sociality (i.e. the ability to function in social relations and groups). One important implication of this approach is the view that sustainability of the link between rationality and sociality requires constant support, most strongly supplied by participating in joint production (joint projects, realizing joint purposes). A related implication is that exchange relations, rather than being the most fundamental kind of relationships, are seen as depending on the dynamics of social rationality as they unfold across group boundaries. Taking exchange relations, by contrast, as fundamental in all sorts of human interactions, may be a potent contributor to social inequality, as well as to environmentally detrimental outcomes.
In the second lecture, we will focus on the sustainability issues related to joint production and to exchange relations, as well as their consequences for inequality. Institutions play a crucial role in affecting these sustainability issues, and we will also discuss this important role.

• S. Lindenberg (2022). Social Rationality and Economic Sociology. To appear 2022 in The Routledge International Handbook of Economic Sociology, edited by Milan Zafirovski. London: Routledge
• Birkinshaw, J., Foss, N., and Lindenberg, S. (2014). Combining purpose with profits: How to make your pro-social goals pay. MIT Sloan Management Review 55, 49–56.
• Lindenberg, S. (2017). The Dependence of Human Cognitive and Motivational Processes on Institutional Systems. In Ben Jann & Wojtek Przepiorka (eds.), Social Dilemmas, Institutions and the Evolution of Cooperation. Festschrift for Andreas Diekmann (pp.85-106), Berlin: De Gruyter