In the teeth of persecution, Stalin's deputies cultivated informal norms and mutual understandings which provided the foundations for collective rule after his death.

Not necessarily laws set in writing, informal norms represent generally accepted and widely-sanctioned routines that people follow in everyday life.

But it was bound by informal norms and, more important, heavy pressure from the Finance Ministry to avoid insolvencies at all costs.

Display rules are a social group's informal norms about when, where, and how one should express emotions.

I wouldn't call it a ritual, but it's one of the most important things that people do to establish communities and maintain informal moral norms.

Much of adult socialisation is equally informal and unintentional, deriving from informal norms developed within groups.

Copynorms are simply the informal social norms that determine the social acceptability of copying works created by others.

It unfolds through formal rules and institutions but also informal norms, customs and understandings.

In an area like Cambridgeshire, courtship habits remained highly ritualised and infraction of the informal norms brought social disapproval and public shaming even into the present century.

Instead, in many localities informal norms of public order were negotiated which recognized popular sovereignties of place, in return for co-operation from 'responsible' internal agencies of social control.