Key takeaways and triggers from Rational Choice Theory:

1. Social norms are unwritten rules that govern behaviour in a particular social context. They are shaped by cultural and social factors and can vary across different groups and societies.
2. Norms can be descriptive, meaning they reflect how people actually behave in a particular situation, or prescriptive, meaning they reflect how people ought to behave.
3. Social norms can influence behaviour, shaping individual actions, attitudes, and beliefs.
4. Social norms can be enforced through social sanctions, such as disapproval, ridicule, or punishment, which can encourage conformity to the norm.
5. Social norms can be changed through various mechanisms, including persuasion, social influence, and social marketing campaigns.
6. The strength of a social norm depends on several factors, including the degree of consensus around the norm, the degree of perceived social control, and the level of commitment and internalization of the norm by individuals.
7. Social norms are not static and can evolve over time as cultural and social factors change.

Key theorists:

1. Emile Durkheim: Durkheim's work on social solidarity and the role of social norms in maintaining social order laid the groundwork for later social norm theories.
2. George Herbert Mead: Mead's theory of symbolic interactionism emphasized the importance of social interaction and the development of self through the internalization of social norms.
3. Talcott Parsons: Parsons' structural functionalism theory emphasized the role of social norms in maintaining social order and argued that individuals are socialized to conform to these norms.
4. Harold Garfinkel: Garfinkel's work on ethnomethodology and the study of everyday social practices emphasized the role of social norms in shaping behavior and argued that individuals actively produce and reproduce social norms through their actions.

An example:

The “Free the Nipple” movement is an interesting example of the application of social norms theory to contemporary social movements. The #freethenipple social movement and online campaign challenges prevailing norms about women's bodies and clothing, and the patriarchal and sexualised ideal of the female breast.

Among other actions, women are sharing images of their bare breasts on social media platforms to reclaim their bodies from objectification and sexualisation in patriarchal societies, to promote greater gender equality and challenge the double standards that exist around male and female nudity. By using offline and online protests to draw attention to the social construction of gender and the way it influences our attitudes and behaviour, the “Free the Nipple” movement aims to create a more inclusive and just society. The campaign blurs the boundaries between normative female identities of motherhood and sexual objectification by focusing on the nipple. It also challenges essentialised notions of gender and creates a symbiotic relationship between online and offline activities to transcend the virtual realm.

The #freethenipple campaign may pose risks of misinterpretation, the commodification and consumption of feminist movements, and the question of the efficacy of the online world in creating spaces for transgressive feminist thought. It is important to analyse the impact of campaigns like #freethenipple on gender relations and patriarchy.