Earth System Dynamics • Vol 16 • No 4
Social norms and groups structure safe operating spaces in renewable resource use in a social–ecological multi-layer network model
August 2025 • Max Bechthold, Wolfram Barfuß, A. Butz, Jannes Breier, Sara M. Constantino, Jobst Heitzig, Luana Schwarz, Sanam N. Vardag, Jonathan F. Donges
Abstract. Social norms are a key socio-cultural driver of human behaviour and have been identified as a central process in potential social tipping dynamics. They play a central role in governance and thus represent a possible intervention point for collective action problems in the Anthropocene, such as natural resource management. A detailed modelling framework for social norm change is needed to capture the dynamics of human societies and their feedback interactions with the natural environment. To date, resour…