Abstract

This chapter has three parts. Section 1 reviews the concept of social norms developed by Bicchieri (2006, 2017). I argue that this theory offers an operational definition of social norms which allows for the possibility of their empirical investigation. Section 2 proposes a Dennettian account of the Intentional Stance (IS) as the best philosophical framework for the intentional concepts applied in CB’s conceptual analysis of social norms. I also argue that Revealed Preference Theory (RPT) from economics is an application of the IS. Hence, I synthesize the IS and RPT, and argue that adopting the IS and applying RPT to empirical data can allow for operationalization of Bicchieri’s conceptual analysis of social norms. To align with the understanding provided in section 1 and section 2, section 3, on the basis of concerns about limitations arising from experimental work operating Bicchieri’s theory, it explains the Quadratic Scoring Rule (QSR) for eliciting subjective belief distributions. Three reasons will be provided to explain why the QSR is the best tool supporting the operationalization of Bicchieri’s conceptual analysis of social norms.