Agreements as the Grease (Not the Glue) of Society: A Cognitive and Social Science Perspective

Abstract

Building on the assumption that agreements are primarily useful for optimizing social interactions in view of individual interests (greasing society) rather than being meant to keep us together (gluing society), I offer a bird’s-eye view of several topics of interest in agreement theory for cognitive and social science. This brief review is far from comprehensive, and focuses instead on specific themes: a socio-cognitive analysis of the distinction between “being in agreement” and “having an agreement”, the multiple paths leading to agreement (e.g., norms, organizations, argumentation), how these phenomena both presuppose and facilitate agreements, and why a certain level of disagreement is to be desired even in the most well-ordered social system. The relevance of these considerations for the development of agreement technologies will also be explored.