Social Norms

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture on Social Norms.

What are social norms?

The rules and expectations that guide our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings within a society or social group, reflecting shared standards of acceptability.

What are folkways?

Conventional rules of everyday life that people follow almost automatically, concerning the society’s sense of right versus rude. Violations may result in social disapproval.

What are mores?

Basic moral judgments of a society, concerning the society’s sense of right versus wrong. They tend to be formalized as stated rules and laws, and violations result in negative sanctions.

What are taboos?

The society’s most serious moral beliefs; breaking a taboo offends the society’s deepest moral core, and is always negatively sanctioned.

What are feeling rules?

Social norms about emotions; they guide how we think and feel.

What is Emotion Work?

The act of trying to change an emotion or feeling to match what's expected in a given situation.

What is suppression in the context of emotion work?

Trying to hide or remove an unwanted feeling.

What is evocation in the context of emotion work?

Trying to project or manufacture a desired feeling.

What is Surface acting?

Hiding your real feelings and ensuring your outward displays of emotion match what is expected; basically faking it.

What is Deep acting?

Doing the deep inner self-work of trying to transform your feelings to match what is expected; trying to change your feelings rather than pretending.

What is the orthodox view of what social norms are for?

create cohesion by binding people together around shared norms, and help society run smoothly by providing templates of how to act and what to expect.

What is Socialisation?

The lifelong process by which individuals learn and internalize social norms.

What are Agents of Socialisation?

People, groups, organizations, and institutions that teach us what we need to know in order to function properly in society.

What is deviance?

Violating societal or group norms and expectations.

What are Social Controls?

Negative sanction or social penalty when someone violates a norm.

What are Formal social controls?

Norm enforcement which is formal and agents who have been given authority to do so force compliance, e.g., Being charged by police, or being expelled by the school principal.

What are Informal social controls?

Norm enforcement which is informal and carried out by other members of the social group, e.g., Person giving you side-eye in the quiet carriage of the train, or gossiping about you when you break a gender norm.

What is Stigma?

A mark that was literally cut or burnt into someone’s skin to show their lowly and corrupt status, and to warn others to avoid them.

What is social norms and stigma?

Occurs when someone breaks a norm that society views as important for them to embody. Involves the deviant person’s entire identity being called into question.

What is Self-Stigmatisation?

When people who are subject to stigma internalise these messages and feel shame.