Social Norm

A Social Norm is a implicit guideline that applies to social agent actions.

• AKA: Social Convention.
• Context:
  • It can range from being a Followed Norm (social conformance) to being a Broken Norm (social deviance).
  • It can range from being a Weak Social Norm to being a Strong Social Norm.
  • It can be associated with Social Norm-based Reward and Social Norm-based Punishment.
  • It can range from (typically) being a Human Social Norm, to being a Chimpanzee Social Norm, or ...
  • …
• Example(s):
  • a Family Norm, or a Friendship Norm.
  • an Organizational Norm.
  • a Societal Norm.
  • a Cultural Norm (community norm, national norm).
  • Religious Norm: Such as adhering to a set of religious beliefs commonly accepted by a given society.
  • Career Norm: Such as pursuing careers in law or medicine due to societal prestige and economic benefits.
  • Marriage Norm: Such as marrying and having children as it's traditionally expected in many societies.
  • Education Norm: Such as accepting the system of standardized tests and rote learning in the educational system.
  • Role Norm: Such as conforming to societal expectations related to gender roles and behavior.
  • Consumerism Norm: Such as accumulating material possessions as a symbol of success and status in society.
  • a norm against cannibalism.
  • a Social Attire Norm, such as a female social attire norm.
  • a Conciousness Norm.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • a Personal Rule.
• See: Tradition, Substantive Norm, Institutional Role, Acceptance.

---

---

References

2023

• (Wikipedia, 2023) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_(norm) Retrieved:2023-7-17.
  • A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated, or generally accepted standards, social norms, or other criteria, often taking the form of a custom.

    In a social context, a convention may retain the character of an "unwritten law" of custom (for example, the manner in which people greet each other, such as by shaking each other's hands). Certain types of rules or customs may become law and sometimes they may be further codified to formalize or enforce the convention (for example, laws that define on which side of the road vehicles must be driven).

    In physical sciences, numerical values (such as constants, quantities, or scales of measurement) are called conventional if they do not represent a measured property of nature, but originate in a convention, for example an average of many measurements, agreed between the scientists working with these values.

2020

• (Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/norm#In_academic_disciplines Retrieved:2020-5-19.
  • Social norm, expected patterns of behavior and belief
  • …

2020

• (Wikipedia, 2020) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_norm Retrieved:2020-5-19.
  • Social norms are regarded as collective representations of acceptable group conduct as well as individual perceptions of particular group conduct. They can be viewed as cultural products (including values, customs, and traditions) which represent individuals' basic knowledge of what others do and think that they should do. From a sociological perspective, social norms are informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society. Social psychology recognizes smaller group units (such as a team or an office) may also endorse norms separately or in addition to cultural or societal expectations. ...

2016

• (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ http://wikipedia.org/wiki/third-party_punishment Retrieved:2016-2-25.
  • … altruistic punishment, refers to a phenomenon in which a person or party is punished for violation of social norms by an outside observer who is not directly affected by the violation. It can be argued that third-party punishments are the essence of social norms, as they are evolutionary stable unlike second-party punishments. ...

2015

• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/norm#Noun
  1. A rule that is enforced by members of a community.

     Not eating your children is just one of those societal norms.

2011

• (von Rohr et al., 2011) ⇒ Claudia Rudolf von Rohr, Judith M. Burkart, and Carel P. Van Schaik. (2011). “Evolutionary Precursors of Social Norms in Chimpanzees: A New Approach." Biology & Philosophy 26, no. 1
  • ABSTRACT: Moral behaviour, based on social norms, is commonly regarded as a hallmark of humans. Hitherto, humans are perceived to be the only species possessing social norms and to engage in moral behaviour. There is anecdotal evidence suggesting their presence in chimpanzees, but systematic studies are lacking. Here, we examine the evolution of human social norms and their underlying psychological mechanisms. For this, we distinguish between conventions, cultural social norms and universal social norms. We aim at exploring whether chimpanzees possess evolutionary precursors of universal social norms seen in humans. Chimpanzees exhibit important preconditions for their presence and enforcement: tolerant societies, well-developed social-cognitive skills and empathetic competence. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for recognizing different functional levels of social norms and distinguish them from mere statistical behavioural regularities. Quasi social norms are found where animals behave functionally moral without having moral emotions. In proto social norms, moral emotions might be present but cannot be collectivized due to the absence of a uniquely human psychological trait, i.e. shared intentionality. Human social norms, whether they are universal or cultural, involve moral emotions and are collectivized. We will discuss behaviours in chimpanzees that represent potential evolutionary precursors of human universal social norms, with special focus on social interactions involving infants. We argue that chimpanzee infants occupy a special status within their communities and propose that tolerance towards them might represent a proto social norm. Finally, we discuss possible ways to test this theoretical framework.

---