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Social norms are the explicit or implicit rules specifying what behaviors are acceptable within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been further defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. They have also been described as the "customary rules of behavior that coordinate our interactions with others."[1] Social norms are rules that define the behaviour that is expected or acceptable in particular circumstances.
Social norms are neither static nor universal; they change with respect to time and vary with respect to culture, social classes, and social groups. What is deemed to be acceptable dress, speech or behavior in one social group may not be acceptable in another.
Deference to social norms maintains one's acceptance and popularity within a particular group. Social norms can be enforced formally (e.g., through sanctions) or informally (e.g., through body language and non-verbal communication cues). By ignoring or breaking social norms, one risks becoming unpopular or an outcast.
As social beings, individuals learn when and where it is appropriate to say certain things, to use certain words, to discuss certain topics or wear certain clothes, and when it is not. Thus, knowledge about cultural norms is important for impression management,[2] which is an individual's regulation of their nonverbal behaviour. One also comes to know through experience what types of people he/she can and cannot discuss certain topics with or wear certain types of dress around. Typically, this knowledge is derived through experience (i.e. social norms are learned through social interaction).
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Social norms can be viewed as statements (both implied and explicitly stated) that regulate behavior and act as social controls. They are usually based upon some degree of consensus within a group and are maintained through social sanctions. Three models explain normative rule content:
Groups may adopt norms in two different ways. One form of norm adoption is the formal method, where norms are written down and formally adopted (e.g., laws, legislation, club rules). However, social norms are much more likely to be informal, and emerge gradually (e.g., not wearing socks with sandals).
Norms can exist as both formal and informal rules of behaviour. Informal norms can be divided into two distinct groups:
Individuals who fail to comply with formally- or informally-sanctioned social norms are reprimanded in a number of ways. For example, noncompliant individuals may be criticized by others [3], denied food, or any number of other negative sanctions.
Groups internalize norms by accepting them as reasonable and proper standards for behaviour within the group. Once firmly established, a norm becomes a social fact, and thus, a part of the group's operational structure, and is difficult to change. With that being said, newcomers to a group can change a group's norms. However, it is much more likely that the new individual entering the group will adopt the group's norms, values, and perspectives, rather than the other way around.
Also, norms that are counter to the behaviours of the overarching society or culture may be transmitted and maintained within small subgroups of society. For example, Crandall (1988) noted that certain social groups (e.g., cheerleading squads, dance troupes, sports teams, sororities) have a rate of bulimia that is much higher than society as a whole.
A descriptive norm refers to people's perceptions of what is commonly done in specific situations. An injunctive norm refers to people's perceptions of what is commonly approved or disapproved of within a particular culture.[4]
Prescriptive norms are unwritten rules that are understood and followed by society. Everyone does these every day without thinking about them.
Proscriptive norms are unwritten rules that are known by society that one shouldn't do, or follow. These norms can vary from culture to culture.
Deviance is "nonconformity to a set of norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society (Appelbaum, 173)." In simple terms it is behavior that goes against norms.
The 'looking glass-self' is how one sees themselves by interacting with others, how others perceive oneself, what others expect, and how one should behave.
Norms affect the way one behaves in public. When one enters an elevator, it is expected that one turns around to face the doors. An example of a social norm violation would be to enter the elevator and remain facing the rest of the people.
A general formal framework that can be used to represent the essential elements of the social situation surrounding a norm is the repeated game of game theory.
A norm gives a person a rule of thumb for how they should behave. However, a rational person only acts according to the rule if it is optimal for them. The situation can be described as follows. A norm gives an expectation of how other people act in a given situation (macro). A person acts optimally given the expectation (micro). For a norm to be stable, people's actions must reconstitute the expectation without change (micro-macro feedback loop). A set of such correct stable expectations is known as a Nash equilibrium. Thus, a stable norm must constitute a Nash equilibrium.[5]
From a game theoretical point of view, there are two explanations for the vast variety of norms that exist throughout the world. One is the difference in games. Different parts of the world may give different environmental contexts and different people may have different values, which may result in a difference in games. The other is equilibrium selection not explicable by the game itself. Equilibrium selection is closely related to coordination. For a simple example, driving is common throughout the world, but in some countries people drive on the right and in other countries people drive on the left (see coordination game). A framework called comparative institutional analysis is proposed to deal with the game theoretical structural understanding of the variety of social norms.