A community with strong and effective norms about young persons' behavior can keep them from "having a good time." Norms that make it possible to walk alone at night also constrain the activities of criminals (and in some cases of noncriminals as well). Even prescriptive norms that reward certain actions, like the norm in a community that says that a boy who is a good athlete should go out for football, are in effect directing energy away from other activities. Effective norms in an area can reduce innovativeness in an area, not only deviant actions that harm others but also deviant actions that can benefit everyone.

QUESTION: How do communities balance the safety benefits of strong norms against their cost in reduced innovation and beneficial deviance? XREF: Connects to the classic tension between social order and creative disruption — echoes work on tight versus loose cultures and innovation.

Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, loc. 110