Earlier this week the Dutch queen Beatrix announced that she will soon step down in favor of her son, who will then be king. In the media storm that followed, I was struck by the outburst of support for the monarchy in general and the queen in particular. Politicians, journalists, artists, and intellectuals all sang the praises of this “remarkable” woman, who seems to have such “exceptional qualities” like being moved after witnessing a disaster, being genuinely interested in politics, or having a sense of humor.
To me, this is somewhat of a puzzle. I find it hard to believe that all these smart and highly educated people really believe that a person deserves to be highly respected (and extremely well paid) simply because she happens to have been born into a certain family that somewhat arbitrarily happened to end up as the royal family of the Netherlands. I was reminded by this AJS article by Centola, Willer and Macy, who demonstrate the conditions under which norms in which only few people truly believe can nevertheless be supported by large fractions of the population.