A common function for all varieties of social norms. Social norms: types, functions, role in human life

There are at least three functions of social norms.

1. Regulatory. These norms establish the rules of behavior in society, regulate social interaction. By regulating the life of society, they ensure the stability of its functioning, the maintenance of social processes in the required state, and the orderliness of social relations. In a word, social norms support a certain systemic nature of society, the conditions for its existence as a single organism.

2. Estimated. Social norms act in public practice as criteria for attitudes towards certain actions, the basis for assessing the socially significant behavior of specific subjects (moral - immoral, lawful - unlawful).

3. Translational. It can be said that the achievements of mankind in the organization of social life, the culture of relations created by generations, the experience (including negative) of the social structure are concentrated in social norms. In the form of social norms, this experience, culture is not only preserved, but also “transmitted” into the future, passed on to the next generations (through education, upbringing, enlightenment, etc.).

Functions of social norms

integration of individuals into groups, and groups into society;

regulation of the general course of socialization;

controlling deviant behavior;

formation of models, standards of behavior.

Achieving this with the help of social norms occurs as follows:

Social norms are the duties of one person in relation to another or other people.

Social norms are the expectations of a small group, a large group, society as a whole. From each person who observes social norms, others expect a certain behavior. Consequently, social norms determine the formation of a system of social interaction, which includes motives, goals, orientation of the subjects of action, action, expectation, evaluation and means.

Social norms perform their own functions depending on the quality in which they manifest themselves:

as standards of conduct (rules, requirements, duties);

as expectations of behavior (stereotypes, reactions of other people).

Social norms are universal. The social norm, fixing any rule of behavior, affects not a specific individual, but all people in similar situations. Social norms are characterized by:

uncertainty of the addressee (to someone who is in a specific capacity, in specific conditions provided for by social norms);

universality of application (in acts of social relations, production, exchange, interaction of individuals);

repeated repetition (a criterion of the historical process, denoting the pattern of development).

The social norm fixes the act of activity, which in practice has become established in life. Therefore, committed actions become an unspoken rule. The social norm determines the formation of the purposeful activity of each individual, which is determined by objective factors. These factors give social norms the so-called "objective power".

Social norms also presuppose the relative freedom of human behavior, which each person feels when he acts in accordance with social rules, although he could neglect them. At the same time, when a person violates the rules of conduct, he must be prepared to undergo a certain kind of sanctions, by applying which the society ensures that individuals respect the social rules.

With the help of social norms, society seeks to ensure the implementation of certain social functions. The exercise of these functions is of public interest. This public interest is not necessarily, in the full sense of the word, the interest of the predominant part of society. However, it is social in the sense that, with the help of social norms, it ensures the coordination and coordination of the actions of individuals in order to successfully unfold, first of all, the process of social production that ensures the existence of society at a given stage of its development.

Norms are developed in all spheres of public life. Some norms are legally enshrined and exist as laws, while most of the norms are not of a legal nature, however, their non-compliance, making interaction difficult, entails the application of social sanctions. Social norms perform a number of important social functions:

Socialization - norms are a means of introducing people to a certain social and cultural experience.

The transmission of culture is the transmission of it from generation to generation.

Social control - norms regulate the behavior of individuals.

Social integration - with the help of norms, social and intra-group cohesion is maintained.

Sacralization - norms consecrate various social relations and objects, both real and fictional. Norms are not visible until they are violated. Violation of social norms can be a sign of anemia in society.

In the most general sense, social regulation is understood as a process immanent in society and determining the social order. Social norms are those basic forms and means by which the regulation of behavior and social relations of individuals and their groups is carried out. They express in a concentrated form the objective need of any society for the ordering of actions and the relationship of its members. Social norms undoubtedly act as a powerful factor in the conscious and purposeful impact of the social community on the image, method and forms of people's life.

A specific social order is established as a result of the action of a variety of factors. Among them are the following.

1. The so-called "spontaneous" regulators as a direct manifestation of the natural laws of nature and society. The factors of spontaneous regulation are of a natural nature and can be expressed in the form of specific events of a general social scale, economic phenomena, phenomena of mass behavior, etc. These are, for example, an increase in life expectancy, massive seasonal diseases, demographic processes, population migration, inflationary expectations and etc. In their quest for order, society and the state strive to take these factors under their control, but this is far from always possible. Sometimes their influence is not reflected at all by the public consciousness or is reflected inadequately.

2. Social norms as regulators associated with the will and consciousness of people.

3. Acts of individual regulation, acting as a targeted, targeted impact of subjects on each other.

These factors can play both a stabilizing and a destabilizing role in society. True, it is generally accepted in the legal literature that the stabilization and streamlining of social relations are ensured by the action of social norms and acts of individual regulation, and the action of spontaneous regulators acts as a factor of destabilizing influence. However, if the criterion of sustainable functioning of society is taken as the basis for the assessment, then all regulatory factors can have both a positive and a negative impact. At the same time, the functional characteristic of stabilization, streamlining of social relations should be attributed primarily to social norms.

The range of approaches to the problem of social regulation in the humanities literature is quite wide. It is possible to distinguish the most ancient religious and esoteric ideas, class concepts more familiar in Soviet legal thought, cybernetic and synergetic approaches that were not previously used in most domestic sources, etc.

For example, religious performances on social regulation range from assertions that everything in human behavior is predetermined by God's will (fate, fate or the will of ancestors, etc.), to the recognition that a person, although created by a divine principle, is nevertheless endowed with free will and he chooses his own paths, is responsible for his actions and deeds (A. Augustine).

essence class approach is that social regulation is based on class interests. The dominant will is the will of the ruling class. Within the framework of this approach, the corresponding ideas are formed: everything that is useful, beneficial for the construction of a communist society is justified. This utilitarian approach was actively promoted in the 1920s. "founding fathers" of the world's first socialist state (V.I. Lenin, L.D. Trotsky, I.V. Stalin, etc.). Such a position, of course, was at odds with the understanding of the value of law, morality, customs and traditions as social regulators that consolidated the thousand-year-old universal human experience.

As part of cybernetic approach social regulation is defined as the impact on social relations and social processes of a system that gives the object of regulation the specified characteristics or parameters. The cybernetic approach becomes very useful for understanding the regulatory role of law. For example, a specific legal rule that establishes legal liability for violation of labor discipline in production is intended to give stability, a certain character, a certain state to the system of labor relations. If it turns out that the corresponding order of the head of the enterprise or the established rules of internal labor regulations do not achieve the goal and violations of labor discipline continue, then it becomes necessary either to strengthen legal responsibility, or to find out whether it is possible to strengthen labor discipline in this situation by legal measures or other measures should be considered. reasons (for example, low wages, poor transport, etc.).

In recent years, there has been a very active development synergistic vision problems of social regulation. First of all, within its framework, we are talking about a self-organizing system, within which all its elements are in a state determined by this system. Synergistic methods of regulation, most often, include the so-called small impacts, which brings the system to the desired state. A.B. Vengerov gives the following example: “In the educational process, it is enough for a lecturer-professor to inform the students that it is he, the lecturer, who will take exams for the entire course, in order to dramatically increase the attendance of his lectures.”

The study of social regulation leads to the need to understand why one type of social relations regulates law, and the other - morality, why, under the influence of law, one type of social relations regulates the law, and the other - a decree, decree, instruction. On the other hand, no less relevant is the problem of normative pluralism. The well-known modern jurist I.Yu. Kozlikhin rightly noted that “the normative systems existing in society can be both complementary and competitive. But, as a rule, if society is not in a state of anomie and chaos, one of them is the leading one that ensures social solidarity, i.e. performs an integrative function. This can be not only a legal normative system, but also a traditional, moral, religious, ideological, etc.” .

In general, in order to understand the nature of the norms, grounds and rules of social regulation operating in society, it is necessary to distinguish between two meanings of the term "norm". Firstly, the norm is the natural state of some object (process, relationship, system, etc.), constituted by its nature - the natural norm. Secondly, the norm is a guiding principle, a rule of conduct associated with the consciousness and will of people, arising in the process of cultural development and social organization of society - a social norm.

The norms that really operate in people's lives cannot be unambiguously attributed to natural or social norms. So, natural norms can be translated into a system of technical rules (rules for working with technical or natural objects), become the basis for social regulation (for example, setting a period for recognizing paternity after the death of a spouse), and social norms can form the nature of an object, its qualitative state. Thus, depending on the ratio of natural normativity and social regulation, at least four groups of normative regulators operating in society can be distinguished.

1. Natural norms that exist in the form of formulated knowledge about the normal, natural state of an object, determined by its nature. Such norms are formed, for example, by science.

2. Rules for working with technical and natural objects developed on the basis of knowledge of natural norms. Such rules are called technical norms.

3. Rules of conduct based on natural norms or emerging in connection with their action. This includes most social norms.

4. Rules of conduct, the content of which is determined not so much by natural normativity as by the goals and objectives facing society, or by the needs of its particular sphere. These are some legal procedural rules, rituals, etc.

Historical development and the change of various forms of social life were inevitably accompanied by significant changes in the system of social regulation. Some types of social norms died off and other types of social norms arose, the ratio, interconnections and forms of interaction of social norms (moral, religious, legal, political, etc.) changed. An important role in the system of social regulation since its inception began to play right. For all its relative independence, law, like other types of social norms, carries out its regulatory and protective functions in a single complex and in close interaction with other social regulators.

When discussing the role of law in the system of social normative regulation, the norms of the third and fourth groups are important; in the literature, it is customary to qualify them as social norms. They do not just exist and operate in society, but regulate social relations, people's behavior, normalize the life of society.

Social norms are characterized by the following features.

1. Sociality. The foregoing means that social norms establish the rules of behavior in society, that is, they determine what the behavior of subjects can or should be from the point of view of the interests of society. They regulate social spheres, which include: a) people, b) public relations, c) people's behavior.

2. Objectivity. Society as a complex social organism objectively needs regulation. Social norms are formed historically, naturally, under the pressure of social necessity. Their emergence, of course, is associated with the volitional and conscious activity of people. Nevertheless, some social norms are created in the process of targeted activity, others arise in repeatedly repeated acts of behavior, are not separated from the behavior itself and act as its samples and stereotypes, others are formed in the form of principles that are fixed in the public consciousness, etc. In other words, the analyzed norms correlate in different ways with the will and consciousness of people, but always arise in connection with them. Thus, one should take into account the value subjective factor in the development of social norms. They cannot arise without passing through, without being refracted through the public consciousness: the need for certain social norms must be recognized by society.

3. Normativity. Social norms are of a general nature, they act as standard regulators of behavior. Their addressees are identified not by name, but by pointing to their typical characteristics (age, sanity, etc.). Normativity is also manifested in the repeated action of social norms: a social norm comes into play whenever a typical situation arises, provided as a condition for its entry into the regulation process. Social norms are always defined in terms of content, but as a general model of behavior.

4. Social norms exist a measure of an individual's freedom that set the limits of his behavioral activity. Ways to meet interests and needs.

5. cultural conditioning. These norms correspond to the type of culture and the nature of the social organization of society. According to M. Weber, it is culture that allows people to give meaning to the world, to create a basis for judging the interaction of people. Culture is expressed primarily in the content of social norms. From this point of view, it is not difficult to notice the differences in social norms in societies belonging to different cultural traditions, for example, European and Asian.

6. Mandatory. Social norms as normative expressions of social necessity are always obligatory in one way or another, have a prescriptive character.

7. Consistency inherent in both individual norms and their array on the scale of society. Society should strive to form such a system of social regulation, to establish interaction between different types of social norms.

Thus, social norms are general rules related to the will and consciousness of people for regulating the form of their social interaction that arise in the process of historical development and the functioning of society, corresponding to the type of culture and the nature of its organization.

From the above definition, it can be seen that in the legal literature, social norms are mainly considered as regulators of social relations. But more generally, their role is not limited to this function. Based on the foregoing, at least three functions of social norms can be named:

- regulatory. These norms establish the rules of behavior in society, regulate social interaction. By regulating the life of society, they ensure the stability of its functioning, the maintenance of social processes in the required state, and the orderliness of social relations. In a word, social norms support a certain systemic nature of society, the conditions for its existence as a single organism;

- estimated. Social norms act in public practice as criteria for attitudes towards certain actions, the basis for assessing the socially significant behavior of specific subjects (moral - immoral, lawful - unlawful);

- translational. It can be said that the achievements of mankind in the organization of social life, the culture of relations created by generations, the experience (including negative) of the social structure are concentrated in social norms. In the form of social norms, this experience, culture is not only preserved, but also “transmitted” into the future, passed on to the next generations (through education, upbringing, enlightenment, etc.).

The analyzed norms have different content, depending on the nature of the relations they regulate. In addition, different social norms can arise in different ways and on different basis. Some norms, being initially directly included in activity, are not distinguished from behavior and are its element. The patterns of such behavior that have been established in practice, receiving public awareness and assessment, can be transformed into formulated rules, or they can be preserved in the form of habits and stereotypes. Other norms are formed on the basis of ideas dominating in the public mind about the foundations and principles of social organization. The third are formed as the most expedient, optimal rules for a given society (for example, procedural rules). In this regard, both for theory and practice, the classification of social norms is important.

It is possible to classify social norms according to various criteria, but the most common is their systematization on the basis of the scope and mechanism (regulatory features).

According to the spheres of action, economic, political, religious, environmental, etc. norms are distinguished. The boundaries between them are drawn depending on the sphere of society in which they operate, on the nature of social relations, that is, the subject of regulation.

According to the mechanism (regulatory features), it is customary to single out morality, law, customs and corporate norms. When talking about the mechanism, the regulatory specifics of the norms, they use the following main comparison criteria:

The process of forming norms;

Forms of fixation (existence);

The nature of the regulatory impact;

Ways and methods of providing.

With this approach, the specificity of the norms manifests itself quite clearly. This is achieved by the systematic use of criteria: some norms may not differ clearly enough according to one or two criteria, but they are always unambiguously separated by the sum of all four characteristics.

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social norms- general rules and patterns of behavior that have developed in society as a result of long-term practical activities of people, during which optimal standards and models of correct behavior have been developed.

Each society has its own specific system of norms, values, standards, etc. Moreover, the norms regulate not only the behavior and duties of members of this society, but also determine and set the goals of existence - both for individuals and for the whole society. The system of norms depends on the level of socio-economic, political, spiritual development of a given society, as well as on industrial and social relations. Social norms are inevitably formed as a result of communication and cooperation of people; they are an inherent and fundamental component of any form of human socialization. There is not a single society or group of people without a system of norms that determine their behavior.

Social norms perform a variety of functions: orientational, regulatory, sanctioning, informational, corrective, educational, etc. The norms contain certain methods of action, in accordance with which individuals direct, organize and evaluate their activities, regulate their behavior. Social norms focus on the formation of the goals of human behavior, but also contain requirements regarding the means of achieving them.

With regard to social norms, their understanding is possible, which entails different directions for their study:

Social norms - as a means of social regulation of the behavior of individuals and groups; - social norms - as a set of requirements and expectations that a social community imposes on its members

The first of these understandings has a functional connotation. In other words, norms are considered instrumentally, dynamically. This assumes that they are known, or at least available for discovery and fixation. On the other hand, what is of interest is not this or that specific norm, but what is the mechanism of their action in general, what are the laws of their emergence, existence, replacement by other norms? How is it possible to use the studied regularities in practice?

The second understanding is rather phenomenological. At the same time, questions of a substantive nature in relation to specific norms, questions of their qualitative difference and similarity are of interest.

Social norms perform many functions and cover all aspects of our lives. Thanks to the norms, society gets rid of the need to regulate the same acts of individual behavior. Naturally, regulation takes place in accordance with the prevailing system of values, needs, interests, and ideology. Thus, social norms turn out to be a goal-setting tool. Just as naturally, they become a tool for predicting, social control and correction of deviant behavior in the social environment, as well as stimulating the creative and social activity of a person.

It should be noted that the study of social norms is associated with certain difficulties, due to the fact that neither epistemology, nor psychology, nor medicine, nor sociology separately can give an answer to the question of the genesis and mechanisms of the emergence of a norm. The norm is objectively the point of intersection of many social processes, so its study is of interdisciplinary importance.

Distinguish three ways in which social norms arise and function:

• spontaneous (natural);
• planned-conscious (purposeful) and
• mixed.

Moreover, with each of these mechanisms, any types of social norms can arise, and in each case, their own features of the genesis of norms inherent in a particular mechanism are revealed.

The origin of norms can be caused by natural processes. One can observe the self-development of social norms, usually functioning in the form of customs, traditions, rituals, etc. The creation and transformation of social norms as a result of purposeful, orderly activity is an artificial process. Their emergence is a product of human consciousness, experience, culture. But although this process is artificial, it does not lose its objectivity, because it has objectively established conditions as its prerequisites.

The role of the social norm in the social process is that it is a means of consolidating the practical experience of people and knowledge, and then translating them into social practice at a higher, more efficient level.

The elucidation of the essence of the norm as an integral system will become more complete when we single out, from the variety of features of various types of norms, in general, the basic properties of the norm that make up its structure and characterize the dialectical nature. These main the properties of the social norm are:

• objectivity of reflection of reality;
• uniqueness (consistency);
• historicity (continuity);
• compulsory reproduction;
• relative stability (stability);
• dynamism (variability);
• formal certainty (external completeness);
• degree of prevalence, appeal to the future;
• optimality; .
• the possibility of its measurement;
• organizing, regulating ability;
• prevention;
• correctional and educational ability.

Social norms are vital to society:

• maintain order, balance in society;
• suppress the biological instincts hidden in a person "cultivate" a person;
• help a person to join the life of society, to socialize.

Functions:

- Regulatory. These norms establish the rules of behavior in society, regulate social interaction. By regulating the life of society, they ensure the stability of its functioning, the maintenance of social processes in the required state, and the orderliness of social relations. In a word, social norms support a certain systemic nature of society, the conditions for its existence as a single organism.

- Appraisal. Social norms act in public practice as criteria for attitudes towards certain actions, the basis for assessing the socially significant behavior of specific subjects (moral - immoral, lawful - unlawful).

- Translational. It can be said that the achievements of mankind in the organization of social life, the culture of relations created by generations, the experience (including negative) of the social structure are concentrated in social norms. In the form of social norms, this experience, culture is not only preserved, but also “transmitted” into the future, passed on to the next generations (through education, upbringing, enlightenment, etc.).

In order to exist in the social world, a person needs communication and cooperation with other people. But essential for the implementation of joint and purposeful action should be such a situation in which people have a common idea of ​​how they should act correctly, and how it is wrong, in which direction to apply their efforts. In the absence of such a vision, concerted action cannot be achieved. Thus, a person, as a social being, must create many generally accepted patterns of behavior in order to successfully exist in society, interacting with other individuals. Similar patterns of behavior of people in society, regulating this behavior in a certain direction, are called social norms.

main public purpose social norm can be formulated as the regulation of social relations and human behavior. Regulation of relations through social norms ensures voluntary and conscious cooperation of people.

Regulatory This is one of the main functions of social norms. By and large, its essence lies in regulating, streamlining the interaction of people and their associations. Thus, to stabilize and organize society, as well as create the basis for its existence and development of society.
Another not unimportant function is estimated . Being standards and models of socially necessary or acceptable behavior. The evaluative function is in some way a criterion for treating specific acts of behavior of people and their associations as immoral or moral, etc.
But don't forget the importance translational functions. Since the historical memory of people and their communities regarding the optimal forms of their relationships within society is also concentrated in social norms. After all, knowledge about various types of norms is transmitted through the education system, and norms of behavior, in turn, are transmitted from generation to generation, thus, over the years, and the possibility of using the historical experience of regulatory regulation in new conditions is laid.

Social norms perform a number of important social functions:

• Socialization - norms are a means of introducing people to a certain social and cultural experience.
• The transmission of culture is the transmission of it from generation to generation.
• Social control - norms regulate the behavior of individuals.
• Social integration - with the help of norms, social and intra-group cohesion is maintained.
• Sacralization - norms consecrate various social relations and objects, both real and fictional. Norms are not visible until they are violated. Violation of social norms can be a sign of anemia in society.

There are various classifications of social norms. The most important is the division of social norms depending on the characteristics of their emergence and implementation. On this basis, five varieties of social norms are distinguished: moral norms, customary norms, corporate norms, religious norms and legal norms.

Moral norms are rules of conduct that are derived from people's ideas about good and evil, about justice and injustice, about good and bad. The implementation of these norms is ensured by public opinion and the internal conviction of people.

The norms of customs are the rules of behavior that have become a habit as a result of their repeated repetition. The implementation of customary norms is ensured by the force of habit. The customs of moral content are called mores.

A variety of customs are traditions that express the desire of people to preserve certain ideas, values, useful forms of behavior. Another kind of customs are rituals that regulate the behavior of people in everyday, family and religious spheres.

Corporate norms are the rules of conduct established by public organizations. Their implementation is ensured by the internal conviction of the members of these organizations, as well as by the public associations themselves.

Religious norms are understood as the rules of conduct contained in various sacred books or established by the church. The implementation of this type of social norms is provided by the internal beliefs of people and the activities of the church.

Legal norms are rules of conduct established or sanctioned by the state, while church norms are rights established or sanctioned by the state, and sometimes directly by the people, the implementation of which is ensured by the authority and coercive power of the state.

All social norms operating in modern society are divided on two grounds:
according to the method of their establishment (creation);
- on the means of protecting their claims from violations. Based on this, the following types of social norms are distinguished:
1. Rules of law - rules of conduct that are established and protected by the state.
2. Norms of morality (morality) - rules of conduct that are established in society in accordance with the moral ideas of people about good and evil, justice and injustice, duty, honor, dignity and are protected by the power of public opinion or inner conviction.
3. The norms of public organizations are the rules of conduct that are established by the public organizations themselves and are protected with the help of measures of public influence provided for by the charters of these organizations.
4. The norms of customs are the rules of behavior that have developed in a certain social environment and, as a result of their repeated repetition, have become a habit of people. The peculiarity of these norms of behavior lies in the fact that they are carried out by force of habit, which has become a natural vital need of a person.
5. The norms of traditions act as the most generalized and stable rules of conduct that arise in connection with the maintenance of time-tested progressive foundations of a certain sphere of human life (for example, family, professional, military, national and other traditions).
6. The norms of rituals are a kind of social norms that determine the rules of people's behavior when performing rituals and are protected by measures of moral influence. Ritual norms are widely used during national holidays, marriages, official meetings of state and public figures. A feature of the implementation of the norms of rituals is their colorfulness and theatricality.
The division of social norms is carried out not only by the way they are established and protected from violations, but also by content. On this basis, political, technical, labor, family norms, norms of culture, religion and others are distinguished.

There are many classifications of social norms proposed by scientists in the legal literature, such a variety of classifications can be explained by the fact that various classification criteria are put in the basis of one or another classification. The most common is their systematization according to two criteria:

1. By scope social norms distinguish between economic, political, religious, environmental, etc. The boundaries between them are drawn depending on the sphere of society in which they operate, on the nature of social relations - the subject of regulation. Economic norms are of particular importance for our country in the conditions of the formation of a market economy and are self-regulating principles of the economic activity of society. Political norms are designed to regulate the relationship of social groups, citizens to state power, relations between peoples, the participation of the people as a whole and individual social groups in state power, the organization of the state, the relationship of the state with other organizations of the political system of society. Religious norms regulate the relationship of believers to God, the church, each other, the structure and functions of religious organizations. Religious norms are of great importance. The existence of various religions and trends dictates the need to identify a set of moral and ethical guidelines - an integral part of religious beliefs. Religious canons are a regulatory system that has been operating in society since the most ancient stages of human development. A special role in the possibility of the existence and recognition of religious norms was played by the provision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes the freedom to change one's religion or belief as one's own. So it is together with others, publicly or privately, in teaching, worship and the performance of religious and ritual rites.

2. By mechanism(or regulatory features): morality, law, customs and corporate norms. Here the difference lies in the process of formation of norms, the form of their fixation, the nature of the regulatory impact and the ways and methods of ensuring.

The number of social norms is enormous. According to the content, a different number of types of social norms are distinguished, depending on how social relations regulated by social norms are distinguished. There is no clear classification here.

Traditionally distinguished:

• Political norms (rules governing relations regarding the exercise of political power, management of society);
• Economic norms (rules governing relations regarding the production and distribution of social benefits);
• Cultural norms (rules governing the behavior of people in the non-productive sphere of society; here, first of all, we mean the norms governing creative, sports and other activities to realize human interests);
• Aesthetic norms (rules related to ideas about the beauty of human actions, as well as about the external manifestations of the beautiful and the ugly);
• Religious norms (rules regulating the relationship of believers with each other, with religious organizations, religious rites, etc.);
• other social norms.

According to the mechanism of action, social norms are divided into social autonomous and social heteronomous, which reflects the various ways in which social norms influence the behavior of an individual.

Socio-autonomous norms are rules of conduct based on the inner conviction of the individual (for example, moral norms).
Socially heteronomous norms are rules of conduct that are external to a person’s personality, imposed from the outside, their implementation is strictly regulated and enforced from outside (for example, legal norms).
From the point of view of legal science, the main classification of social norms is the classification, the criterion of which is the method of formation and the method of ensuring social norms. On this basis, all social norms are divided into two groups: legal norms and other social norms.
Legal norms, both in terms of the way they are formed and the way they are provided, are connected with the state. They are established or sanctioned by the state power, on the one hand, and are provided by the power of state coercion, on the other.
Other social norms are formed by other social institutions and provided by other - non-state - measures of influence. Depending on the features of the formation and provision of other (non-legal) social norms, they are divided into three main types:

Customs are historically established rules of behavior of a general nature, which have become a habit of people as a result of repeated repetition and are the regulator of social relations.

From the point of view of the method of formation, customs are formed historically, in a natural way, as well-established and most acceptable behaviors; they are formed by society independently of the state. From the point of view of the mode of provision, customs are maintained primarily by force of habit; moreover, like all social norms, they are secured by the power of public opinion.

Norms of morality (morality) - general rules of behavior based on people's ideas about good, evil, honor, duty, justice, etc. categories, supported by the inner conviction of the individual and the power of public opinion.
From the point of view of the method of formation, moral norms are formed in society, absorbed by the individual in the process of socialization, and introduced into consciousness through education. From the point of view of the means of ensuring, specific to moral norms is the support by the power of the inner conviction of the individual; in addition, moral norms are supported by the power of public opinion, and for them this method is more significant than for other social norms.

Corporate norms are the rules of conduct established by one or another association of people, regulating relations between members of this association and supported by measures of influence of these public associations themselves.
Examples of such norms can be the charters of various public associations, interest clubs, for example, a cat lovers club, a philatelist club, house committees, etc.

From the point of view of both the methods of formation and the methods of ensuring, these norms are associated with various non-state associations of citizens, they are established by these associations independently, in order to streamline their relationship in the process of communication of interests. At the same time, citizens independently introduce measures to influence those members of the association who violate the norms established by it. The most significant measure of ensuring corporate norms is exclusion from the members of a given society.

All classifications of social norms closely intersect with each other. It is possible to characterize a separate group of social norms only by reflecting its features from the point of view of various classifications.

Legislation- a system of legislative acts adopted by the legislative (representative) body or directly by the population and operating on the territory of the country.

social norms-- universally recognized rules, patterns of behavior, standards of activity that ensure orderliness, stability and stability of social interaction between individuals and social groups. The set of norms that are in force in a particular community constitutes an integral system, the various elements of which are interdependent. legislation social regulation

Types of social norms

group habits-- norms of small groups. They appear and continue to exist only in small groups (families, sports teams, friendly companies).

General rules -- the norms of large groups (society as a whole). These are manners, traditions, etiquette. Each social group has its own customs, rules of conduct, traditions. There are manners of behavior of older people, national customs.

The normativity of social behavior is directly related to the role functions of a person in society as a whole, a social group. These functions are determined by his status in such a group. The social norm instilled in an individual, group and society dictates the behavior that will be expected. Stereotypes are formed, a person's vision of his proper behavior.

Functions of social norms

integration of individuals into groups, and groups into society;

regulation of the general course of socialization;

controlling deviant behavior;

formation of models, standards of behavior.

Achieving this with the help of social norms occurs as follows:

social norms These are the duties of one person in relation to another or other people. Restricting students to communicate with the school principal more often than with their teachers obliges each student to fulfill the required norms of behavior, certain obligations with other students, teachers and the school principal. Consequently, social norms determine the formation of a network of social relations of a group, society.

social norms-- these are the expectations of a small group, a large group, society as a whole. From each person who observes social norms, others expect a certain behavior. When public transport passengers exit first, and only then others enter, there is an organized interaction. When the norm is violated, collisions and disorder arise. Consequently, social norms determine the formation of a system of social interaction, which includes motives, goals, orientation of the subjects of action, action, expectation, evaluation and means.

Social norms perform their own functions depending on the quality in which they manifest themselves:

as standards of conduct (rules, requirements, duties);

as expectations of behavior (stereotypes, reactions of other people).

Social norms are universal. The social norm, fixing any rule of behavior, affects not a specific individual, but all people in similar situations. Social norms are characterized by:

uncertainty of the addressee (to someone who is in a specific capacity, in specific conditions provided for by social norms);

universality of application (in acts of social relations, production, exchange, interaction of individuals);

repeated repetition (a criterion of the historical process, denoting the pattern of development).

The social norm fixes the act of activity, which in practice has become established in life. Therefore, committed actions become an unspoken rule. The social norm determines the formation of the purposeful activity of each individual, which is determined by objective factors. These factors give social norms the so-called "objective power".

Social norms also presuppose the relative freedom of human behavior, which each person feels when he acts in accordance with social rules, although he could neglect them. At the same time, when a person violates the rules of conduct, he must be prepared to undergo a certain kind of sanctions, by applying which the society ensures that individuals respect the social rules.

With the help of social norms, society seeks to ensure the implementation of certain social functions. The exercise of these functions is of public interest. This public interest is not necessarily, in the full sense of the word, the interest of the predominant part of society. However, it is social in the sense that, with the help of social norms, it ensures the coordination and coordination of the actions of individuals in order to successfully unfold, first of all, the process of social production that ensures the existence of society at a given stage of its development.

• - all social norms operating in modern society are divided on two grounds:
  • a) the method of creation;
  • b) means of protecting their claims from violations.

Based on this, the following types of social norms are distinguished. Rules of law are generally binding rules of conduct that are established or sanctioned (recognized) by the state and protected by its coercive force. Norms of morality (morality) - the rules of behavior that are established in society in accordance with the moral ideas of people about good and evil. justice and injustice, duty, honor, dignity and are protected by the power of public opinion or inner conviction. The norms of public organizations (corporate) are the rules of conduct contained in the charters, programs and other documents of parties, trade unions, public associations, mass movements. These norms are obligatory only for members of these public formations and are protected with the help of measures of public influence provided for in the statutory documents of these organizations. Religious norms regulate relations between believers, their participation in worship, the order of worship, etc. Religious norms for thousands of years have regulated relations not only between members of religious communities, but have also been used. as legal norms (in particular, when regulating family and marriage relations, land use, inheritance, etc.). They are contained in religious books (Old Testament, New Testament, Koran, Talmud, Buddhist religious books, etc.). The norms of customs are the rules of behavior that have developed in society under certain conditions and as a result of their repeated repetition, which have become a habit of people. The peculiarity of these norms of behavior lies in the fact that they are carried out by force of habit, which has become a natural vital need of a person. Their implementation is carried out, as a rule, without thinking about the origin of the norm due to emotional perception and a certain automatism. The norms of traditions are the rules of conduct (a special guide of customs), acting in the form of the most general and stable areas of human activity, associated with a certain spiritual make-up of the individual, his worldview (for example, family, professional, military, national and other traditions). Therefore, the tradition can be eradicated by ideological influence on people. On the contrary, a custom can only be superseded by another custom. The norms of rituals are a kind of social norms that determine the rules of people's behavior when performing rituals and are protected by measures of moral influence. Ritual norms are widely used during national holidays, marriages, official meetings of state and public figures and official receptions (banquets). A feature of the implementation of ritual norms is their colorfulness and theatricality. The division of social norms is carried out not only by the method of their establishment and protection, but also by content. On this basis, political, technical, labor, family, norms of culture, religion, etc. are distinguished. All social norms in their totality and interconnection are called the rules of human society.

Social norms, like other values, perform the functions of assessing and orienting the individual, the community. However, they are not limited to these functions. Norms regulate behavior and social control over behavior. They have a pronounced volitional character. It is not only an expression of thought, but also an expression of will. At the same time, in contrast to the individual expression of will, the norm expresses typical social ties, gives a typical scale of behavior. The norm not only evaluates and orients, like ideas, ideals, but also prescribes. Its characteristic feature is imperativeness. This is the unity of evaluation and prescription.

Social norms are rules that express the requirements of society, a social group for the behavior of an individual, a group in their relationship with each other, social institutions, and society as a whole.

The regulatory impact of norms lies in the fact that they establish boundaries, conditions, forms of behavior, the nature of relations, goals and ways to achieve them.

Due to the fact that the norms provide both general principles of behavior and its specific parameters, they can provide more complete models, standards of due than other values.

Violation of the norms causes a more specific and clear negative reaction from the social group, society, its institutional forms, aimed at overcoming behavior that deviates from the norm. Therefore, norms are a more effective means of combating deviation, a means of ensuring order and stability of society.

Norms arise from the need for certain behavior. So, for example, one of the most ancient norms was the norm of an honest attitude to one's share in social labor. At the dawn of mankind, it was possible to survive only by adhering to this norm. It appeared as a result of consolidation of repeated necessary joint actions. It is interesting that this norm has not lost its significance at the present time, although it is fed by other needs, other factors are actualizing it.

The variety of social reality and social needs gives rise to a variety of norms. Rules can be classified in different ways.

For a sociologist, it matters selection of norms by subjects, carriers of norms. On this basis, universal human norms, norms of society, group, collective are distinguished. In modern society, there is a complex collision, interpenetration of these norms.

By object or field of activity the norms that operate in the field of certain types of relations are delimited: political, economic, aesthetic, religious, etc.

By scale:First type- these are norms that arise and exist only in small groups (youth get-togethers, groups of friends, families, work teams, sports teams). These are called "group habits".

Second type- these are norms that arise and exist in large groups or in society as a whole. They are called "general rules". These are customs, traditions, mores, laws, etiquette, manners. Every social group has its own manners, customs and etiquette. There is secular etiquette, there are manners of young people. There are national traditions and customs.

By place in the normative-value hierarchy: fundamental and secondary, general and specific.

According to the form of formation and fixation: rigidly fixed and flexible.

Scope of application: general and local.

By way of provision: based on internal conviction, public opinion or on coercion, on the power of the state apparatus.

By function: norms of evaluation, orienting, controlling, regulating, punishing, encouraging.

According to the degree of stability: norms based on social habit, custom, traditions and not having such a basis, etc.

All social norms can be classified depending on how strictly their implementation is observed.

For violation of some norms, a mild punishment follows - disapproval, a smirk, an unfriendly look.

For violation of other norms, harsh sanctions - imprisonment, even the death penalty.

A certain degree of defiance exists in any society and in any group. Violation of palace etiquette, the ritual of a diplomatic conversation or marriage causes embarrassment, puts a person in a difficult position. But it does not entail harsh punishment.

In other situations, sanctions are more tangible. Using a cheat sheet in an exam threatens with a decrease in grade, and the loss of a library book - a fivefold fine. In some societies, the slightest deviation from tradition, not to mention serious misconduct, was severely punished. Everything was under control: hair length, dress code, demeanor. So did the rulers of ancient Sparta in the 5th century BC. and Soviet party organs in the 20th century.

If you arrange all the rules in increasing order, depending on the measure of punishment, then their sequence will take the following form:

Sanctions are marked with crosses, therefore, the more of them, the more severe the punishment for violating the norm. Compliance with the norms is regulated by society with varying degrees of rigor.

Violations of taboos and legal laws are most severely punished (for example, killing a person, insulting a deity, revealing state secrets), and habits are the mildest. Whether it is individual (forgot to brush your teeth or make your bed) or group, in particular, family (for example, refusing to turn off the light or close the front door).

So social norms – prescriptions, requirements, wishes and expectations of the relevant(socially approved) behavior. Norms are some ideal models (templates) that prescribe what people should say, think, feel and do in specific situations.

Social norms perform very important functions in society. They:

Regulate the general course of socialization,

Integrate individuals into groups, and groups into society,

Control deviant behavior

They serve as models, standards of behavior.

How can this be achieved with the help of norms?

First, norms are also the duties of one person in relation to another or other persons. By forbidding newcomers to communicate with superiors more often than with their comrades, a small group imposes certain obligations on its members and puts them in certain relations with superiors and comrades. Therefore, norms form a network of social relations in a group, society.

Secondly, norms are also expectations: from a person who observes this norm, others expect quite unambiguous behavior. When some pedestrians move on the right side of the street, and those walking towards them on the left, there is an ordered, organized interaction. When a rule is broken, collision and confusion occur. The effect of norms is even more evident in business. In principle, it is impossible if the partners do not comply with written and unwritten norms, rules, and laws. Therefore, the norms form a system of social interaction, which includes motives, goals, orientation of the subjects of action, the action itself, expectation, evaluation and means.

Norms perform their functions depending on the quality in which they manifest themselves:

How standards of conduct(duties, rules) or

How behavior expectations(reaction of other people).

Protecting the honor and dignity of family members is the duty of every man. Here we are talking about the norm as a standard of proper behavior. This standard corresponds to a very specific expectation of family members, the hope that their honor and dignity will be protected. Among the Caucasian peoples, such a norm is highly valued, and deviation from this norm is punished very severely. The same can be said about the South European peoples. The Italian mafia arose as an informal norm for protecting the honor of the family, and only later did its functions change. Apostates from the accepted standard of behavior were punished by the entire community.

Why do people strive to comply with the norms, but the community strictly monitors this?

Norms - value guards. The honor and dignity of the family has been one of the most important values ​​of the human community since ancient times. And society appreciates what contributes to its stability and prosperity. The family is the basic cell of society and caring for it is its first duty. Showing concern for the family, a man thereby demonstrates his strength, courage, virtue and everything that is highly appreciated by others. His social status rises. On the contrary, those who are unable to protect the household are subjected to contempt, their status is sharply reduced. Since the protection of the family is the basis of its survival, the performance of this most important function in a traditional society makes a man automatically the head of the family. There is no dispute about who is first - husband or wife. As a result, the socio-psychological unity of the family is strengthened. In a modern family, where a man does not have the opportunity to demonstrate his leading functions, instability is much higher than in a traditional one.

As you can see, social norms are really the guardians of order and the guardians of values. Even the simplest norms of behavior embody what is valued by a group or society.

The difference between a norm and a value is expressed as follows: norms are rules of behavior, values ​​are abstract concepts of what is good and evil, right and wrong, proper and improper.