'Norm Violation' as Analytic Construct: A Lesson from the Field

Author:

• David Boromisza-Habashi (University of Colorado, Boulder)

Abstract:

In the light of the author's recent ethnographic investigation of the cultural meaningfulness of the term 'hate speech' (gyűlöletbeszéd) in Hungary, this paper investigates the implications of the use of the concept of norm violation as analytic construct. After revisiting the concept of norm within the discursive force thesis, the paper argues that the violation of a well-established norm may point to the coexistence of competing discursive communities within the same larger discursive community.