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NORMS
Department of Sociology
GCG-11, Chandigarh
MEANING
• Social norms are the behavioral expectations and cues within
a society or group. This sociological term has been defined as
"the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate
values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be
explicit or implicit. Failure to follow the rules can result in
severe punishments, including exclusion from the group."
They have also been described as the "customary rules of
behavior that coordinate our interactions with others. The
social norms indicate the established and approved ways of
doing things, of dress, of speech and of appearance. These
vary and evolve not only through time but also vary from one
age group to another and between social classes and social
groups.
TYPES OF NORMS
• Injunctive Norms are behaviors which are perceived as being approved of
by other people.
• Descriptive Norms are perceptions of how other people are actually
behaving, whether or not these are approved of.
• Explicit Norms are written or spoken openly.
• Implicit Norms are not openly stated (but you find out when you
transgress them).
• Subjective Norms: Expectations that valued others have about how we
will behave.
• Personal Norms: Standards we have about our own actions.
• Prescriptive Norms are unwritten rules that are understood and followed
by society. We do these every day without thinking about them.
• Proscriptive Norms are unwritten rules that are known by society that you
shouldn't do, or follow. These norms can vary from culture to culture.
CHARACTERISTICS
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Norms vary in nature
Norms are situational
Norms vary in intensity
Norms serve as a frame of reference
Norms are learnt
Norms are enduring
Norms are diverse
Norms incorporate value judgements
Norms are related to factual world
FUNCTIONS
• Make possible for human organism to survive.
• Needs of the members of the society can be fulfilled
only if members cooperate and adhere to the
normative pattern of the society.
• Much of the individual behaviour becomes
automatic through social norms.
• Norms give us identity and sense of belonging to a
particular group.
• Norms govern our emotions and perceptions.
• Social punishments and rewards that promote
adherence to norms are known as Sanctions.
SANCTIONS
• Norms are enforced within a culture by
sanctions. Sanctions are society’s motivation
to ensure conformity to norms by specifying
the consequences of an individual’s
behaviour.There are two types of sanctions:
• Positive: Rewards are positive sanctions.
• Negative: Punishments are negative sanctions.
FOLKWAYS
• The concept has been developed by W. G.
Sumner in his book “Folkways” in 1906.
Folkways are norms to which we conform
because it is customary to do so in our society.
They are not being considered extremely
important & may be violated without severe
punishment.
MORES
• The term has been used by W. G. Sumner in
his book “Folkways”. Mores are norms that are
looked on by the members of the society as
being extremely important & the violation of
which results in severe punishments.
LAWS
• Laws may be defined as the system of rules of
behaviour that are formally sanctioned by the
state. Laws are enacted by legislatures,
interpreted & applied by courts and enforced
by the police. Laws are written down.
Unwritten laws refer to mores.
IMPORTANCE
• A normless society is an impossibility.
• Norms give cohesion to society.
• Norms influence individual’s attitudes.
CONCLUSION
• No social group can exist without norms. It is
the norms that make possible the orderly
social intercourse of people in societies. They
serve the individual as guides to conduct.
These constitute one of the basic components
of the social structure.
THANKS !!!