A certain resistance to social norms may be due to the existence of a culture of nonobservance, a deep-rooted habit of circumventing the law, considered a source of unnecessary costs and restrictions. This culture – or counterculture – is alleged to exist in Portugal, as well as in several other European countries. It is due, in particular, to the weakness of industrial and trade union traditions, combined with the slow development of a democratic civilisation (Monteiro, 2006). Elsewhere, as in Argentina, emphasis was placed on the weakness of social culture, leading to sudden reversals in social policies, changing from interventionist to non-interventionist, more government to less government, and centralisation to decentralisation, without distinguishing between ideologyand possible practical solutions (Goldin, 2006).