How Government and Business Try to Change What We Do

01:090:294:H4
Hana Shepherd
M/Th 10:20 - 11:40 AM
BRT-SEM

 

Everywhere we look, government officials and policy makers, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, philanthropists, business organizations, and social scientists are engaged in deliberate projects to change the behavior of groups and populations. As opposed to attempts to influence individuals to do something once, or initiatives that only incidentally have an impact on behavior, in this class we will examine intentional attempts to change behavior in a sustained or chronic way. These different groups of people attempting to influence behavior often employ very different assumptions about human behavior and why people change their behavior; their attempts are sometimes effective, sometimes ineffective, and sometimes they even backfire with serious consequences. This class will analyze these attempts to change behavior—both current and historical— by looking at the methods used to change behavior with respect to poverty, conflict, education, politics, health, finance, culture and more. We will pay particular attention to the ways attempts at behavior change happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will analyze how these attempts to change behavior draw on coercion and power, incentives and motivations, information and education, social norms, nudges and insights from behavioral economics, or relational approaches. Why do some interventions work better than others? When is success specific to a context and when is it replicable across contexts? We will also discuss when these attempts at behavior change are considered legitimate and when they are considered illegitimate, and how they shape, and are shaped by, our understanding of politics.