Civic Education, Community Norms, and Political Indoctrination

non-legal norms mentioned by Macaulay may be interpreted as part of the of businessmen. Let me repeat the norms he cites: commitments are to be honored in almost all situations; ''one does not welsh on deal; ought to produce good product and stand behind it; a man's word or handshake . . . is the equivalent of the bindingness of These and other norms comprising the of business executives and some staff specialists may function as counter-norms, from the point of view of the legal system, as the recent price-fixing case in the electrical industry suggests. Eventually, some of these new and emerging non-legal norms may supersede the of contract. Historically, it is noteworthy that as mercantilists and early entrepreneurs came into conflict with one another they gradually developed body of in England called the law merchant. This body of private self-regulatory was eventually incorporated into the common of England and subsequently into the common of the United States. After giving rise to this elaborate system of law, the modernday successors to mercantilists and entrepreneurs-as Macaulay has discoveredoften find it convenient to disregard the labors of their predecessors in going about their daily transactions. Will some of the non-contractual norms that are evolving as part of the occupational morality of businessmen lay the groundwork for new body of for the regulation of business? We sociologists may be tempted to conclude that Macaulay's paper is merely gloss on Durkheim's well-known analysis of the non-contractual elements in contract. I think that it is more than that. This study adds to our understanding of the relationship between legal and non-legal norms in society and of the relationships among formal organizations.