Social Norms: A Sociological Analysis

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In a world where crime is always at the forefront of our view and terrorism is always that presenting itself to us, it would appear difficult to say that any society has solidarity. This paper will discuss how this is not a fact of the matter. Social solidarity arises from our “collective conscience” (Durkheim et al.,1984) of values and norms.

It is important first to define values and norms in the context of society and the importance they uphold. “The specification of desirable behavior together with sanction rules in a community may be regarded as a social norm.” (Kandri,1992) One does not presume that people follow a social norm for its own sake, but rather how such a rule is sustained by self-interested community members. For a social …show more content…
Travis Hirsch (2001, p 31) states that “we are all animals and thus naturally capable of committing criminal acts” In fact, conformity is a man-made creation and Hirschi (2001) explains it via his social control theory. He recognizes conformity as a process achieved through socialization. The social bonds that connect people to their society are attachment, commitment, involvement and belief. Attachment involves the conforming of oneself to their society’s norms in order to gain approval from their connections to the people within their society. Commitments refers to one’s investments within a community and what one has to lose from breaking the law such as communal ties. Involvement is the participation within one’s own society such as attending school, joining clubs and having jobs. The more involved a person is within their community, the lesser the chance of said person to become deviant. The final bond which is belief is simply put; an agreement on values within one’s society. If a person comes to mistake social values for beliefs, they are more likely to conform to them. Control theory states that social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and deviants arise as a result from the disconnection from one’s society. However, it should be noted that social bonds are almost enforced on people by institutions as soon as they are born and it would be very difficult to …show more content…
One might suggest that crime within a society indicates the partition of said society but Durkheim notes that the collective resistance of the threat that crime poses deeply signifies the social solidarity within a society. In opposing such criminal acts, a society also establishes its unity and upholds its values through the disgust of the breaking of such norms. As Durkheim (1984, p 102) states, "crime brings together upright consciences and concentrates them." Durkheim also differentiates between the two types of solidarity- mechanical and organic. Mechanical solidarity binds the individual to the society and is based on likeness to one another. This solidarity is characterized by sanctions and evoking such a sanction is a crime. Therefore, because it is in everyone’s best interest to avoid these sanctions, people conform together to oppose the rule-breakers within their society. Organic solidarity tends to appear in more modernized societies in which values and “norms are envisioned in the rules of the society.” (1984, p
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