Culture Change: A Practical Method with a Theoretical Basis

A culture of peace can be defined, and has been defined in United Nations Resolution A/RES/52/13, as a set of values, attitudes, modes of behavior, and ways of life. It follows that to move toward a culture of peace, or to strengthen those elements of a culture of peace that already exist, it is necessary to change human behavior, cognition, and emotion. This requires us to change social norms. A norm can be thought of as having three aspects: an observed regularity in human behavior, a standard humans use to think about and guide their behavior, and a standard humans use in criticizing one another's behavior. Norm violation frequently carries with it some form or other of embarrassment, shame, guilt, or punishment. “Norm” is thus a broad term, sometimes overlapping with or replacing “custom,” “rule,” or “convention.” Sometimes it is the umbrella term embracing all three, and usually it also embraces “law” (in the sense in which a legal norm is a kind of social norm, not in the sense of a law of physics or chemistry). Some social scientists prefer terminologies that feature a logic of discursive and nondiscursive practices, relations, performances, codes, frames, routines, symbolic structures, or [in the case of Pierre Bourdieu (1972) and his followers] habitus.

Transformations from warlike and violent cultures to cultures that “reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation” (as the same UN definition of “culture of peace” continues) can be conceived as norm change. Examples can be drawn from the eight aspects of a culture of peace:

• 1. When people come to see themselves as peaceful people who resolve conflicts by dialogue, negotiation, and nonviolence, they change their norms by adopting or strengthening peaceful practices.

• 2. A culture of peace moves away from the norms of patriarchy and toward those of gender equality and nurturance.

• 3. It moves away from social disintegration toward norms that prescribe solidarity and the inclusion of all individuals and groups.

• 4. Democratic participation and respect for the right to advocate freely one's views become norms; they become regular, expected, and approved.

• 5. Where corruption and press control were the norm, norms change so that transparency, accountability, and open communication become the rule rather than the exception.

• 6. Respect for human rights becomes the normal practice. The government rules with and by legitimate authority—that is, with and by authority derived from the cultural strength of the norms, as distinct from exercising power based on the physical strength of the instruments of violence.

• 7. The government increasingly supports and participates in the international observance of juridical norms rather than competing for military power.

• 8. Norms change so that development is driven and measured less by narrow accounting norms of financial efficiency and more by norms of social efficiency that value equity and environmental sustainability.