Explain What Role Do Social Norms Play In Society

Words: 910
Pages: 4
Open Document
`What role do social norms play in society?
As humans, our society has set of unwritten rules about how we should behave in different social situations and environments. Humans rely on these rules to keep them safe from any unknown threats, and provide order in society. These are called social norms, and there is an expectation of all humans to abide these laws. Those who don't are considered to be outcasts, and are normally treated differently as they pose a threat to society and defy the safe structure of the community. The role of social norms is to protect us from unknown threats, provide humans with roles, and they are essential for our survival.
Firstly, social norms provide order and safety to the community . According to Maslow's Hierarchy …show more content…
Everyone of us has many roles that we play: the role of a son, daughter, sister, father, mother, student, teacher, worker, a citizen of Adelaide etc. These roles have a certain set of expectations, and your behaviour changes to fit the role. For example: if you are a student, it is expected that you go to school and you do the tasks set; if you are a mother, you should care and love your child etc. These roles are essential to society as they let the society function and develop. A teacher must teach her students, a mother must feed her children, a citizen of Adelaide has to abide the law, a builder has to build new buildings; as each person plays a particular role in society, they have an impact on others, thus creating a string of connections and allowing for the society to bloom. It would be impossible to imagine a society without anybody playing a certain role. It is when somebody does not fulfil the expectations of others in a certain role, it is then when people start to worry and judge, as they are influencing the current structure of a safe community. An example of this may be a student skipping school and others discussing the bad effects of skipping school and judging the person; in a worst case scenario, it might be someone endangering another person's life, which causes scandals and has a huge impact on the …show more content…
Only humans have social norms, no other animal displays it. It is one of the elements of the human uniqueness. It may be responsible for why humans have developed much further than other animals. Social norms have existed in all human societies since the beginning of their existence. Humans have always had certain roles: males would go hunting, women would cook and clean, gather fruits and spices, children would learn their parents' behaviours to learn more about the role they would play in society. Thus, humans can thrive as a race due to our ability to categorise humans into groups, and direct their behaviour to benefit the
Show More

Related Documents: Explain What Role Do Social Norms Play In Society

Nab Revision Socialisation Essay

Care pg.84 What is Sociology? Sociology is the study of human behaviour it includes the way we think and behave, Sociologists use terms such as norms, values and roles. It is the systemic study of society; theories try to give an insight onto why we may act a certain way or how we think for example by looking at social trends. 1. Explain one similarity and one difference between structural and action theories. One Similarity- Both interested in explaining and making sense of the social world, we…

Words 2041 - Pages 9

Valentine And Gutierrez Analysis

There has always been a need for society to identify people based on the categories and social norms of the time. Something that is interesting about the transgender community is that even as society creates this new norm, there is still a sense of categorizing and grouping people together. David Valentine and Ramon Gutierrez both take on this idea and try to explain the importance of categorizing people based on their lived experiences rather than their outward appearance or their sexual preferences…

Words 950 - Pages 4

Essay about soci 1001

summarizing dimension What do you think of when you hear a word mother father brother sister. “lady gaga”, weird. Concepts refer to categories not action All “mothers”---- descriptive or evaluative concepts usually carry a lot of baggage. Groups Primary, conceptual focus, not individuals.(society, family, co-workers,co-habitue,friends)how, why, effects of acts of people in groups. Individual of interest only so far as s/he is part of groups Other forms of social combinations Categories(gender…

Words 1968 - Pages 8

Sociological Imagination

Family is the first agent of socialization. Mothers and fathers along with other members of the family help teach a child what they need to know in order to survive, such as relating with other people and how the world works. Many social factors affect how a family raises their children. If we apply sociological imagination we can see that individual behaviors will be affected by the time period that they live in. An example of…

Words 2074 - Pages 9

Sociology Essay

Social order requires social behaviour to be predictable and individuals to cooperate. Amongst the explanations of social order are five outlined by Hechter and Horne: (shared) ‘meaning’, ‘values and norms’, ‘power and authority’, ‘spontaneous interaction’ and ‘networks and groups’. Following Hechter and Horne, describe how at least TWO of these explanations might account for social order, and discuss the extent to which you find those explanations convincing. Social order is one of the most central…

Words 1989 - Pages 8

Ma Vie En Rose Sociology

Gendering is one of the strongest social forces that have been existing in society for a very long time, it's by definition the act of classification or stereotyping on someone or something specifically according to the biological gender that person/thing was born with. This social habit kept evolving to a higher level of complexity as a reverse reaction to the expansion of the concept of " gender " influenced by the recent collective communal movement against, which shows that gendering tends…

Words 969 - Pages 4

Essay On Action Theories

Action Theories MAX WEBER: SOCIAL ACTION THEORY: * Types of action: * Instrumentally rational action= the actor calculates the most efficient way to achieve a goal. E.g. maximise profits by lowering workers wages * Value-rational action = an action towards a goal that has no way of being calculated, e.g. praying to go to heaven * Traditional action= customary routine with no conscious thought put into it * Affectual action= action that expresses emotion e.g. weeping from grief…

Words 1083 - Pages 5

Deviant Crimes Research Paper

another. Which is the reason Americas’ view murders as evil deviants. Although death is inescapable, murder is extreme taboo and against our society’s guidelines for acceptable behavior. During the interview, most individuals stated that we mere humans do not have the right, or liberty to execute another. However, along with rape, the individuals viewed murder as the most shocking of all crimes. Further,…

Words 1140 - Pages 5

Night To His Day Gender Analysis

supposed to do and strive to be. Being manly, working hard, and being the breadwinner are the characteristics that a male is hard-pressed to be. Society has labelled these things as womanly/manly duties and has pushed them onto us since the day we were born. The minute you enter this world the doctor tells your parents what sex you are and from there it’s either pink or blue. Once your sex is determined by the doctor your gender is assumed and then you don’t have any say about the “norms” that come…

Words 766 - Pages 4

Comparing Taming Of The Shrew And Ella Wheeler's Woman

What is the result of a society that encourages women to conform to a mold in order to be considered valuable? This question is examined in Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew and Ella Wheeler’s poem, Woman. Both authors have differing views on women’s independence ultimately, Wilcox utilizes her poem to express her view that women should be self sufficient and equal. Shakespeare contrasts this through his development of the character Katherine, who must pretend to adhere to society's expectations…

Words 897 - Pages 4