Past
Towards a Computational Social Science of Social Norms: Examples from Research with Emily Post’s Etiquette
Date & Time
02/04/2025 1:15 pm – 2:45 pm
Andrea Voyer
Stockholm University
Andrea Voyer is a Professor of Sociology at Stockholm University whose research explores cultural processes of inequality, with a focus on social inclusion, exclusion, and the construction of solidaristic communities. Her work addresses core sociological issues, including intergenerational economic inequality, immigrant integration, and the roles of race, ethnicity, and class in shaping social structures. Voyer connects micro-level behaviors and judgments with larger structures of inequality, employing a range of methods, including interviews, ethnographic research, and computational text analysis.
About the Event
One of Voyer’s current research initiatives uses etiquette and manners guides as data providing evidence of social organization and social change. Normative texts, such as manners guides, play a crucial role in defining and transmitting societal expectations, thereby shaping processes of social inclusion and boundary-making. This talk will demonstrate how Voyer applies computational techniques to analyze etiquette texts as historical records of social norms—a line of inquiry that began with her U.S. National Science Foundation-funded project, “Social Norms, Social Boundaries, and Inequality.” Through computational text analysis, she examines changes in social norms over a century, focusing on how class distinction-making and immigrant integration have evolved over time. This presentation will highlight computational techniques for using normative texts to trace shifts in cultural practices related to social boundaries and inclusion, showcasing the value of etiquette texts as data sources for computational social science research.
Sign up to our seminars calendar
When you sign up, we’ll email you a link to the Data Methods Initiative Events Calendar Feed, where you can access Zoom links and stay updated on all future seminars.
You can also subscribe to our newsletter to receive detailed information, event reminders, and the latest news about our initiative directly in your inbox.
Your data is safe with us—we’ll never share it with anyone else. You can unsubscribe from our emails anytime by using the link in our emails.
For more details, check out our Privacy Notice.