Social Norms in Society

Social norms, or what society expects of its citizens has changed over time becoming more tolerant or less depending on the period or political system that one lives under. Strangely the norms might vary within a society at any given time, so if I were living in an isolated Mormon community I would behave differently from those living in downtown New York but then there is a mixture of groups living in downtown New York.

So there is an overall social norm applied to a society such as killing another human being is not a good approach in any society. I won’t get into particulars about honour killing suffice it to say that within those societies where it is present, it is not a universal thought.

The norms, which involve dress, manners and appearance, may vary within a group as it may vary within a class, the class defining a cultural status or economic level within society and a group being defined by common traits and characteristics in relation to its participants. Deviance from the group or class can cause the person to be outcast, become unaccepted or rejected. He may recuperate his status, such as a person falsely accused of fraud or there me a continued stigma such as that surrounding a murderer who seeks to re-enter society but prospective neighbours wouldn’t want her to live next to their children.

Children soon learn what is appropriate behaviour in certain societies but some characteristics like standing up for an older person can be debated as a social norm when it is uncustomary for a younger person to offer a seat to old man. Within North American society it can be seen that the incidence over time in standing for an older person has changed making it harder for old people to commute long distances on public transport.

Perhaps statistics for this observation varies from culture to culture within a certain period. Impression management is the term where a certain set of behaviour patterns, learned and applied by people wishing to be accepted by their peers, influences the perceptions of other people.