ABSTRACT
The concept of norm has been central in social psychology, serving as a rallying point for both psychological and sociological approaches to the study of group phenomena. Norms have similar functional values in many dyads in which power is evenly distributed. The enforcement of norms often involves appeals to impersonal values or suprapersonal agents, which reduce the extent to which compliance is viewed as a matter of giving in to a more powerful person and thereby reduces resistance. The developmental processes underlying the emergence of norms are likely to yield rules that have positive functional values for the relationship. The subclasses provide a basis for identifying different roles within the group. If the roles in one group serve as models for the development of roles in another, a system of ready-made norms may be imported into the latter group.
