ABSTRACT
A social norm is that kind of guide for action which is supported by social sanctions, negative ones providing penalties for infraction, positive ones providing rewards for exemplary compliance. This chapter argues that the remedial activity is a constant feature of ordinary interaction and that, indeed, through ritually closed interchanges, it provides the organizational framework for encounters. Ritual interchanges, especially remedial ones, articulate behavior, resulting in functionally unified cuts in the behavioral stream. The function of remedial work is to change the meaning that otherwise might be given to an act, transforming what could be seen as offensive into what can be seen as acceptable. A remedial interchange, then, includes all the moves taken in regard to a virtual offense, and these usually, but not inevitably, will leave the participants in a position to act as if the issue can be dropped.
