When strangers cooperate

When Strangers Cooperate - a classic example of the humanistic sociological essay - is the first book to examine and explore the largely unconscious operation of social conventions. Management professor and former government official David W. Brown explains that conventions evolve in diverse ways, from the seemingly random and spontaneous (pedestrians crossing a busy street), to those crafted to address unfulfilled needs (self-help groups), to rules established by central authority (bans on public smoking). Brown argues that American society is stubbornly resistant to establishing permanent new conventions; the ideology of "rugged individualism" and a marked tendency to "pass the buck," he believes, damage our ability to create the sort of flexible, organic customs that could potentially mitigate a wide range of serious social problems. Since so many of these crises result from a breakdown of established conventions, Brown contends that we must make a self-conscious effort to promote and fortify voluntary social arrangements. Brown casts a wide net, giving recommendations of how unwritten conventions can reform society in myriad ways: taking back urban streets with different forms of community policing; strengthening families by modifying work arrangements - for example, encouraging telecommuting; rebuilding crumbling public education with a renewed emphasis on collaborative learning and teamwork. At a time when government seems able only to accomplish less while consuming ever more resources - with the result that public faith in government is at an all-time low - Brown provides new groundwork for addressing our most intractable social problems.