Cultural Communication Norms

Abstract

Abstract Cultural communication norms are grounded in the expected practices within a community that shares a system for making sense of the world. Norms are standards or informal rules that prescribe and proscribe behaviors associated with certain types of people with certain types of relationships. Members of cultural communities use norms to create desired impressions and to make sense of the behaviors of others. Norms help a community bond and provide a means of social control. Norms are central in recognizing and developing social identities. They can function as both a source of and resource in cultural conflict. The existence of active norms within a community is marked by members' patterns of response, tendency toward negative attributions, remedial work, and identity‐based humor. Recognizing and understanding the complex nature of cultural communication norms allows researchers to develop a more nuanced understanding of cultural communication.