Norms

Every value we hold has a number of associated ideas called norms (short for "normative " or "normal"). Norms are expected, socially-acceptable, ways of behaving in any given social situation and, like the values to which they are closely related, they differ from individual to individual and society to society. In our society, for example:

A norm associated with the value of natural parenthood might be that the parents of a child are expected by others to be the people to raise that child.

It is acceptable (normal) for people over the age of 18 to drink alcohol in a pub. In Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, the drinking of alcohol is legally banned for everyone.

Norms, therefore, are very specific rules that govern our behaviour in particular situations. As Thio ("Sociology") puts it:

"While norms are specific rules dictating how people should act in a particular situation, values are general ideas that support the norm".

Although we use the term loosely, there are three types of norm we can distinguish:

• Folkways:

These are fairly weak kinds of norm. For example, when you meet someone you know in the street you probably say "hello" and expect them to respond in kind. If they ignore you, they have broken a friendship norm and this might lead you to reassess your relationship with them.

Another good example of a folkway is the tradition in our society of sending people Birthday and Christmas cards. If you forget to send someone a Christmas card, the worst thing that is likely to happen to you is that they stop sending you a card each year…

• Mores (pronounced "more-rays"):

These are much stronger norms and a failure to conform to them will result in a much stronger social response from the person or people who resent your failure to behave appropriately. An example of a more in our society might be telling a teacher to "Bugger off" when they tell you to stop talking in class.

• Laws (legal norms):

A law is an expression of a very strong moral norm that exists to explicitly control people's behaviour. Punishment for the infraction of legal norms will depend on the norm that has been broken and the culture in which the legal norm develops.

From the above, we can see that norms can be both written (formal, official and legal norms) and unwritten (informal or unofficial norms).