Short Essay on Social Norms – The concept of ‘social norms’ is of special interest for sociology because they constitute the very foundation of the social structure. The primary task of sociology is to discover the source of ‘order’ that society exhibits. Norms here, represent such a source of social order. No society and no social group can exist without Norms.
Norms have made it possible the orderly social intercourse of people in societies. Hence, everywhere they serve the individual as guides to conduct. They are generally known as “standards of group behaviour”.
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The term ‘social norms’ is relatively a newcomer to the dictionary of sociology. M. Sherif in ‘The Psychology of Social Norms”, 1936, used the term for the first time to describe the common standards or ideas which guide members’ responses in all established groups.
Today, the word norm is very often used as a genetic term to represent folkways, mores, laws, customs, etc. If, today, some action is called a norm or normative it only emphasises that it conforms to community expectations of behaviour. The degrees of conformity may, however, vary very much.
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