English to Russian Social Sciences Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. social sunctions

Source: http://solomon.tinyurl.alexanderstreet.com/cgi-bin/asp/philo...

Examination of the ways in which norms are characteristically enforced makes it clear that a common mode of sanctioning can be characterized as incremental sanctioning. This is exemplified in unions by "putting in Coventry" scabs and others who seriously violate union norms; that is, other members refuse to speak to the transgressor (Lipset, Trow, and Coleman, 1956). It is also exemplified by the development of a "reputation," which is followed by avoidance or snubbing. In incremental sanctioning the cost incurred by each sanctioner is small, and the effect of each sanctioning is small as well, but the effects are additive, giving a large total effect.

Aesop's fable "The Mice in Council," however, is a reminder that it is not always possible to sanction incrementally. To bell the cat was not an activity that could be engaged in by additive increments. It required what I will call a heroic sanction, that is, a sanction whose total effect occurs through a single actor's action. In the examples of norms and sanctions given earlier in this chapter, the sanctions were imposed by single individuals.