Conformity: The Power of Social Influences by Cass R. Sunstein (review)

The purpose of this short book is to analyze social influence and its consequences. Sunstein begins with some well-known processes of social influence, drawing primarily on studies that have been done on small groups. The most elementary of these processes is that people will frequently agree or pretend to agree with what seems to be the general opinion of a group.

Group interaction often persuades them that the other members of the group are correct, but even if they are not convinced, they may go along out of fear that openly disagreeing would have a negative effect, at the very least on their status, or what he calls their "reputation."

Sunstein then turns to "cascades," by which he means social influences that can lead to conformity as a result of the beliefs or actions of a few early movers. Whereas the social conformity that he had examined in the preceding chapter is most useful for understanding social stability, the idea of cascades helps us explain social and legal movements. Fashions can be analyzed as cascades, but the most serious are "informational cascades," where a decision or a judgment of fact becomes widely accepted because it is advanced by influential early proponents.

The following chapter is about "polarization," which refers to the processes by which like-minded people become more extreme in their thinking as a result of greater interaction with one another than with those of different views or sources of knowledge. Social segmentation, closed networks, differentiation, class divisions et cetera will generate polarization to the extent that they create relatively like-minded groups in society. Whereas cascades can occur without any direct interaction among those who join the cascade, group deliberation is the fundamental mechanism of polarization.

In these chapters, Sunstein expresses much concern over the dysfunctional consequences of social conformity, especially extremism and the suppression of information, as a result of which bad decisions and errors are made, and misconceptions become entrenched. However, he also stresses that social conformity is not always a bad thing, most obviously if solidarity and harmony are major objectives of a group. And he does not believe that dysfunctional social conformity is unavoidable. He suggests a number of sensible recommendations for reducing it, such as encouraging diversity, instituting checks and balances, and providing incentives for dissent and disclosures of contrary opinions and information.

His final step is to take the social conformity processes that he has outlined and consider how they operate in law and other institutions. Sunstein first reviews the "expressive" function of law, that is, the role that laws and regulations can play in promoting notions of right and wrong over and above the official enforcement of these laws and regulations. He also has a section on the American Constitution. In his view, the separation of powers instituted by its framers has given us a model for preventing polarization and extremism. In a similar vein, he raises the problem of social conformity in the judiciary, arguing that it is better to appoint judges of different political persuasions to judicial panels. And finally, with some qualifications, he defends affirmative action in the admission of students into educational institutions, siding with those who justify it on the grounds that it introduces diversity in experiences and perspectives, and thus impedes social conformity to a particular cultural or ideological view.

The objective of this book is certainly a good one. Few readers of this journal would reject what he is trying to do. It is another question whether this is a good book. Could he or someone else have written a better book to advance his objective? One would have to answer in the affirmative.

First, the book is heavily padded with repetition. Some of this is necessary in so far as Sunstein uses processes that he has developed in earlier parts of the book to explain different phenomena that he discusses in later parts. But the repetition greatly exceeds what is required for that purpose. Usually, he...