Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

At its most general the idea of a norm is the idea of a pattern. There are two main ways in which this idea has been developed in social theory, where social norms have been the focus of concern. First, there is the idea of a norm as an actual pattern of behaviour, as what is normal in the sense of being regularly or standardly done by members of a population. (The labels ‘social habits’ and ‘usage’ are used of some such patterns.) Second, there is the idea of a norm as a prescribed pattern: as what is considered in a given population to be the thing to do. (The labels ‘convention’, ‘social rule’ and L aw are used of certain patterns in this category.) I shall refer to norms of this type as ‘prescriptive norms’. Social norms are often associated with expectations. Two different kinds of expectation need to be distinguished: predictive expectations about what will in fact be done by members of a population, and normative or deontic expectations. Normative expectations involve a belief that the ‘expected’ behaviour ought to occur, in some more than merely predictive sense. Actual patterns are likely to be associated with predictive expectations, prescribed patterns with normative expectations. The term ‘norm’ itself is relatively recent in standard social theory usage. The more established terms ‘custom’, ‘tradition’, ‘convention’, ‘law’ and so on tend to be used for ... log in or subscribe to read full text