Breaking the Norm

Norms can explained as attitudes and behaviors familiar to members of a specific group, or what they believe is “normal”. Your choice of words, your tone, and your body language are all norm-based. Nearly everything in human society is governed by norms of some kind. It is feels so strange to go to a very different culture, where their norms are so different to what we are use to – but it is normal to them.   Norms usually are the rules and regulations that groups live by. Perhaps because the words, rules and regulations, call to mind some kind of formal listing, we might refer to norms as the standards of behavior of a group. For while some of the correct standards of behavior in most societies written down, many of them are not that formal. Many learned, informally, in interaction with other people and passed "that way from generation to generation.   Social norms cover almost every possible situation, and they vary from standards where almost complete conformity demanded to those where there is great freedom of choice. Norms also vary in the kinds of sanctions that attached to violation of the norms. Since norms derive from values, and since complex societies have multiple and conflicting value systems, it follows that norms frequently are in conflict also.
A culture's values are its ideas about what is good, right, fair, and just. Sociologists disagree, however, on how to conceptualize values. Conflict theory focuses on how values differ between groups within a culture, while functionalism focuses on the shared values within a culture.   Basically, our values are what is important to us. All of us constantly exhibit our values every day. The way we dress tells a lot about your values. If you are sarcastic in your comments, you might value humor in your social relationships, but a person who is always polite may place a higher priority on respect. Values concentrate on different areas: some may be general life values, but we also have family values, cultural... [continues]

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