Definition of Emergent Norm Theory
(noun) A theory of crowds which posits that crowd participants develop standards among themselves as to group function, goals, and operation, which then guide their behavior.
Emergent Norm Theory Pronunciation
Syllabification: e·mer·gent norm the·o·ry
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /i-mUHR-juhnt nORm thEE-uhr-ree/
- British English – /i-mUHR-juhnt nAWm thIUH-ree/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈimərʤənt nɔrm ˈθiəri/
- British English – /ɪˈmɜːʤənt nɔːm ˈθɪəri/
Usage Note
- Plural: emergent norm theories
Additional Information
Related Terms
Works Consulted
Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hughes, Michael, and Carolyn J. Kroehler. 2011. Sociology: The Core. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shepard, Jon M. 2010. Sociology. 11th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Shepard, Jon M., and Robert W. Greene. 2003. Sociology and You. New York: Glencoe.
Stolley, Kathy S. 2005. The Basics of Sociology. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Emergent Norm Theory
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “emergent norm theory.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved May 29, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/emergent-norm-theory/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
emergent norm theory. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/emergent-norm-theory/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “emergent norm theory.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed May 29, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/emergent-norm-theory/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“emergent norm theory.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 29 May. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/emergent-norm-theory/>.