The Whys of Social Exclusion : Insights from Behavioral Economics
All over the world, people are prevented from participating fully in society through mechanisms that go beyond the structural and institutional barriers identified by rational choice theory (poverty, exclusion by law or force, taste-based and stati...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/637511513001943873/The-whys-of-social-exclusion-insights-from-behavioral-economics http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29003 |
| Summary: | All over the world, people are prevented
from participating fully in society through mechanisms that
go beyond the structural and institutional barriers
identified by rational choice theory (poverty, exclusion by
law or force, taste-based and statistical discrimination,
and externalities from social networks). This essay
discusses four additional mechanisms that bounded
rationality can explain: (i) implicit discrimination, (ii)
self-stereotyping and self-censorship, (iii) “fast thinking”
adapted to underclass neighborhoods, and (iv) "adaptive
preferences" in which an oppressed group views its
oppression as natural or even preferred. Stable institutions
have cognitive foundations -- concepts, categories, social
identities, and worldviews -- that function like lenses
through which individuals see themselves and the world.
Abolishing or reforming a discriminatory institution may
have little effect on these lenses. Groups previously
discriminated against by law or policy may remain excluded
through habits of the mind. Behavioral economics recognizes
forces of social exclusion left out of rational choice
theory, and identifies ways to overcome them. Some
interventions have had very consequential impact. |
|---|