ABSTRACT
Social norms are rules or expectations about how people within a given group should behave. Social psychologists have found that people generally choose to conform to the social norms of the groups to which they belong. Perrti Pelto distinguished between loose cultures, which have weaker social norms and greater tolerance for deviance, and tight cultures, which have strong norms and severe punishments for their violation. Shalom Schwartz and colleagues have conducted extensive cross-cultural research on values. The studies support the existence of seven societal-level values and ten individual-level values across cultures. Although cultures may differ in terms of the degree to which specific values are endorsed, there appears to be a consistent structure to these values. The Chinese Culture Connection, a group of researchers led by Michael Harris Bond, identified the value Confucian Work Dynamism. Several Asian nations were among the tightest of those measured and several Eastern European nations were among the loosest.
