“We Thinking” and Its Consequences

Increasingly, economists are drawing on concepts from outside economics--such as “norms,” “esteem,” and “identity”--to model agents' social natures. A key reason for studying such social motivation is to shed light on the conditions that facilitate--or deter--collective action. It has been widely observed, for instance, that groups are more able to engage in collective action when they have a common, group identity. This paper gives one explanation for such a link. The paper develops a new concept, “we thinking”; and it also provides a deeper understanding of the concepts of norms, identity, and esteem.