The dynamics between personal attitudes and social norms, a determinant of behavior change. The case of conversion to organic farming

Résumé 0

The obstacles to farmers’ conversion to organic farming were examined from a theoretical standpoint derived from social psychology and sociology. Attitudes and social norms are key social and psychological concepts that have often been considered as independent determinants of human behavior. However, questions about the interplay between the two are somewhat of a blind spot in the social sciences, especially in social psychology. By adopting an interdisciplinary theoretical approach, we suggest that where a major change in norms is involved such as that of conversion to organic farming, behaviors are shaped by a discrepancy between personal attitudes and the perceived group norm, i.e., perception of the attitudes of other group members. This proposal was tested and supported by qualitative semi-directed enquiries involving sixteen farmers in the French region “Auvergne Rhône-Alpes”. The dynamic interaction was shown to play an important role when it comes to explaining individual intentions to change one’s mode of farming. These findings, applied to the field of agriculture, are discussed from the standpoint of the influence that a robust and active minority might play in initiating social changes in the farming world.