If we wish to break the hold of such norms as those that reinforce the exclusionary status of some group such as the aristocrats, a forceful way to do so would be to offer contrary incentives. That is what the modern industrial economy has inadvertently done to many aristocratic norms, such as the dueling norm (Hardin 1995, 91–100). Some of Vronsky's class norms might, however, seem generally good, so that we might wish to keep them. Unfortunately, if they are merely universalistic norms, so that following them is not motivated by the exclusionary sanctions of the status group, they will most likely have far less force. No one other than the victims of violations will have incentive to sanction violations of them. Universalistic norms that are not enforced dyadically, as the norm of promise keeping or that of truth telling typically is, are generally weak norms (Hardin 1995, chapter 5).

XREF: Connects to Russell Hardin's work on norms and to the Anna Karenina example of dueling norms undermined by industrial economy.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 271