Normative Systems
Because so many of us may have relatively little background in
sociology, here is a rough lexicon of a few terms we will be
using in the first few weeks. Because our method of handling
certain types of disputes entails a "culture of justice" that
dates back a dozen or more centuries to as a means of keeping
a stable "normative system."
The following is a summary of the key elements of a NORMATIVE
system. There are a number of ways to control behavior to assure
that people more-or-less conform to cultural preferences. One
way is through force, but more often, and often more effective,
are the less formal ways that we "take for granted." One source
of such control is through our normative system. Culture is a
complex body of inter-related "things" including knowledge, art,
morals, customs, language, and behavior acquired by people as
SOCIAL creatures.
It contains three components:
1) Empirical culture (e.g., technical knowledge, such as science,
social knowledge, etc);
2) Aesthetic culture (e.g., art, literature, in short, things
created as "beautiful");
3) NORMATIVE culture, which specifies what people should or
should not do.
It is loosely described as those rules of right and wrong that
are socially-based and guide individual, group, and other activi-
ties. A NORMATIVE SYSTEM is simply those elements of social ex-
istence that provide such rules, and although scholars do not al-
ways agree on the make-up of this system or its significance, for
our purposes we can diagram it as follows:
A. VALUES:
1. Form of Legitimation: Transcendent Principles
2. Sanctions: Severe ridicule, informal punishment
3. Source of Control: Religion, culture
B. CUSTOMS:
1. Legitimation: Tradition
2. Sanctions: Save as above, often less severe
3. Source of Control: Social Cohesion and solidarity
C. NORMS
a) FOLKWAYS:
1. Legitimation: Tradition, but more-often group preferences
2. Sanctions: Teasing, minor ridicule
3. Source of Control: Near-group and peer-group pressure
b) MORES:
1. Legitimation: Tradition, values
2. Sanctions: Severe ridicule, shunning
3. Source of Control: Social community or wider culture
D. LAWS
1. Legitimation: Central authority
2. Sanctions: Jail, fines, corporal punishment
3. Source of Control: Police, courts, state
These normative elements are ways to guide and maintain what
might be called "culture universals," such as 1) Our relation to
our environment (consider changing environmental norms and laws);
2) Sexual behaviors; 3) Division of labor; 4) Acceptable roles;
5) Communciation (ie, social interaction);
SOME QUICK DEFINITIONS:
1. MORES: Folkways that have become obligatory
2. CUSTOMS: Folkways that become more-or-less permanent and
shared by culture are customs.
3. VALUES: Broad, DEEPLY HELD notions of what is GOOD,
PROPER, BAD, IMPROPER, etc--the UNDERYING BASIS for much
behavior
4. FOLKWAYS: Norms governing everyday life
Jim Thomas, Professor
Sociology/Criminal Justice
Northern Illinois University