Norms

Norms can be defined as sets of relations that define forms of communicating, feeling, act- ing, and thinking. They define what is allowed and what is not allowed to be said, felt, done, or thought. They are situational and relationally negotiated. Usually described in terms of their functions (descriptive, constitutive, prescrip- tive), the term commonly designates prescrip- tive guides. Norms can be more or less explicit, more or less prescriptive, and be more or less opposed and resisted. Authors mostly agree on the fundamental character of norms for human life. Operating at a collective and a psycholog- ical level, they guide and constrain human lives. And although sometimes viewed as lim- iting possibilities rather than creating them, they can be seen as producing a certain set of possibilities and transformed through our engagement with them in our relations to others.