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Norm (Communication)
A rule that is enforced by society. Norms affect human behavior. For example, norms function as a way to teach people to conform to a set of rules. Norms vary from culture to culture. They regulate human behavior and act as social controls. Christine Horn (2001) in Social Norms, edited by Michael Hechter and Karl-Dieter Opp, stated that “new norms are thought to emerge when costs of compliance with existing norms become too high relative to the rewards.” Many people conform to norms because they do not want to become “outsiders.” Violations of norms are punished with sanctions, possibly enforced by the law. Violators of norms are considered deviant by society. The existence of social norms is related to the enforce ment of such ...