Social norms

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In sociology, a norm, or social norm, is a rule that is socially enforced. Social sanctioning is what distinguishes norms from other cultural products or social constructions such as meaning and values. Norms and normlessness are thought to affect a wide variety of human behavior.

Justification and origins

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Levels of enforcement

Levels of enforcement, in decreasing order:

• Violations of norms are punished with sanctions, possibly enforced by law.
• Violators of norms are considered eccentric or even deviant and are stigmatized.
• Alternatives are not presented as equal, the "normal" situation is assumed (e.g. somebody's lover is assumed to be of the opposite sex, a president is assumed to be a man, a not-so-young adult is assumed to be married or to have been married, a couple is assumed to have or want children)

Types of norms

Some sociologists identify two types of norms:

Mores

Moral norms that define in every culture what is wrong and right, what is allowed and not allowed, what is wanted and not wanted. Breaking those norms is usually considered by the society as a threat to social organization and are sanctioned harshly. Example: murder, robbery.

Folkways

Norms that define in every culture the rituals, beliefs, traditions and routines. Breaking them is not usually considered a threat to social organization and are sanctioned less severely than mores. Example: In the U.S., before eating Thanksgiving dinner, saying grace. See Faux pas

Example (gift exchange)

The Norm of Reciprocity:

In the western world, it is a custom to exchange gifts in the holiday seasons. It is so deeply ingrained in the minds of people that many do not think of acting otherwise.

Now, suppose you become fed up with exchanging gifts. It is not necessarily easy to change your actions. Unilaterally changing your actions to stop giving gifts may give others the impression that you are a selfish person, and that impression is probably not in your interest.

Notice, however, that the fact that your friends follow the custom may not necessarily imply that they actually want to do so. They may be following the norm for the same reasons as you. The situation resembles that in the short story of The Gift of the Magi. All the friends have to coordinate to change the custom.

See also

• Deindividuation
• Counterculture
• Conformity
• Normalization (sociology)
• Normality (behavior)
• Normative
• Norm (philosophy)
• Peer pressure
• Relational transgression
• Sex roles
• Social values
• Taboo

Further reading

• Kenrick, D. T., Li, N. P., & Butner, J. (2003). Dynamical evolutionary psychology: Individual decision rules and emergent social norms. Psychological Review, 110, 3-28. Full text

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