SOCIAL NORMS

Question # 1What are social norms and values? What is the major agency or societal force that constitutes the societal norms and values of individual? Provide twenty standard norms?

SOCIAL NORMS:  are the behaviors and cues within a society or group. This sociological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to follow the rules can result in severe punishments, including exclusion from the group." They have also been described as the "customary rules of behavior that coordinate our interactions with others."

Norms: Social norm refers to group group-shared standards of behavior. The norms are based on social values. Norms are social rules which define correct and acceptable behavior in a society or a group to which people are expected to confirm. They prescribe the way the people should behave in particular situations.

They determine, guide, control and also predict human behavior. Norms, in short, are a bundle of do’s and don’ts; they are rules of behavior in particular situations. For example, in all societies, there are norms which define acceptable male and female dress. There are norms about driving. Norms exist in all areas of social life.

Social are “general precepts, which being internalized or, accepted by individuals, induce conformity in simple actions or in complex ethical judgments, thus increasing group unity.” It is used to describe the common standards or ideas which guide members’ response in all established groups. When it is said that a particular action is in accordance with norms, the intention is to say that it conforms to community expectations of behavior.

As Robert Bierstedt has pointed out, “A norm is a rule or standard that governs our conduct in the social situations in which we participate.” He further writes that a norm can be treated as “a cultural specification that guides our conduct in society”.

Norms are rooted in institutions. They provide the standard of behavior and are regulatory in character. The choice of individual for striving towards the cultural goal is regulated and guided by norms. These provide the guideline for action. Norms give cohesion to society. They influence attitude of individuals to understanding and unity.

Norms are relative:Norms vary from society to society. Sometimes, norms vary from group to group within same society. Some norms do not govern the behavior of all the people. Norms applicable to older people are not applicable to children. Similarly, norms applicable to policemen are different from those of teachers.

Norms are internalized by the individuals:Norms become part of personality through the process of socialization. Individuals internalize the norms of the society. Individuals generally behave in accordance with the social norms.

NORMS INCORPORATE VALUE-JUDGMENT :A norm is a standard shared by the group members. These represent “standardized generalization” concerning expected modes of behavior. As standardized generalizations, they are concepts which have been evaluated by the group and they incorporate value-judgment. In terms of value we judge whether some action is right or wrong, good or bad, expected or unexpected.

INSTITUTE OF NORMS:A social norm operative in one social system may not be operative in another. “A social norm is said to be institutionalized” remarks Johnson,” in a particular social system when three conditions are met.

SOCIAL VALUES: Qualities, characteristics, or ideas about which we feel strongly. Our values affect our decisions, goals and behavior. A belief or feeling that someone or something is worthwhile. Values define what is of worth, what is beneficial, and what is harmful Values are standards to guide your action, judgments, and attitudes.

Social Values' form an important part of the culture of a society. Social values, norms and institutions explain the way in which social processes operate in a given society. They are the social sources of patterned interaction.

Values account for the stability of the social order. They provide the general guidelines for conduct. In doing so, they facilitate social control. Values are the criteria people use in assessing their daily lives, arranging their priorities, measuring their pleasures and pains, choosing between alternative courses of action.

Ordinarily value means belief about what is right and wrong and what is important in life. Social value means the norms or forms of behavior which are widely acceptable and admirable in society. Social are the root of all virtues that pave the way for the harmony of a society. It is the social values that are the key to the development of a society. With social values, a person shapes up as a good human being and plays an important role in society’s development.

Meaning of Social Value:The meaning of the term “social values” has changed over the years. In modern time, along with the particular beliefs it also refers to the life style that people think that they should accept. In the past, honesty, sincerity, truthfulness, piety, fellow feeling etc. were regarded as the social

values. In one word, only different human behaviors were regarded as social values. But in modern time, the definition has changed and that is due to the change in the lifestyle of the people. But still one should remember that there are hardly any social values that can overpower the humanitarian qualities. So their existence is more than essential for the society’s development and no change of meaning can be enough to defy that.

STANDARD EXAMPLES OF NORMS1. Avoid burping or farting in public S2. mile when your being introduced to someone u do not know 3. say please when asking for something 4. chewing food with no sound 5. offer an elder man/woman to be first at anything like standing in line, having your

seat...etc 6. when have guests at home we must offer them drinks or food .7. treat managers, professors or anyone above you "differently" if u know what i

mean;) 8. We eat together 9. We live together with our parents10. We help each other.11. Wearing Clothing in public 12. Showering 13. brushing your teeth 14. opening the door for old ladies  even for every one.15. going to the back of the line16. Men kissing a woman's hand when they are introduced to her (not a norm in US,

a norm in other countries) .17. Using titles of respect for elders or people whom we don't know well (less of a

norm in US, more of a norm in other societies) .18. Offering your seat to elders in a public transportation vehicle .19. Bringing a present to someone's birthday party .20. We Celebrating marriage party together.21. Knowing your neighbors well (not a norm in US, a norm in other countries) .

22. Celebrating of Eid ul-fitr and Eid ul-adha.23. one must bathe and dress with clean or new clothes if possible.24. wearing specific clothes for each occasion or timing, for not to "feel odd" ,25. Men pay for dinner most of the time.26. Women covering their faces in public (norm in Muslim societies, not a norm in

Western societies) .

Types of Values: Moral Material Aesthetic Intrinsic Extrinsic Universal/American Group specific values

What is the major agency or the societal forces that constitute social norms and values of individuals?

Societal forces can be seen in various levels of functioning. The gross level is physical force to control via military or police. Usually what you ask about is related to how a person's behavior is influenced by their assimilation of values for example in the society around them. In this case people are in a sense experiencing ‘force’ acting on them, by how their identity in the sense of social self, interacts with perceived beliefs about what is right action as presented during socialization.

Social force. Any effective urge or impulse that leads to social action. Specifically, a social force is a consensus on the part of a sufficient number of the members of society to bring about social action or social change of some sort. In the plural, the social forces are the typical basic drives, or motives, which lead to the fundamental types of association and group relationship. 

The more liberal, desensitized and immoral a people become the greater the rotting of that society. The decay then becomes irreparable. History is overflowing with examples of fallen empires.

This may refer to political culture, social culture and economical development of a given society. These forces may determine educational theories that one may use to educate and train the workforce. A social force is anything within a society that has the capability to bring about change or encourage someone to bring about or cause change. 

Government also play a great role to give a basic protection to the standard norms of the society. If any one broken the norms they are arrested by the forces and keep them into the Jill or prison even they accepted the norms and they also able to protect the norms.

Question no # 2State the advantages of media in our routine life activities.to what extent do you agree that media and

technology both has played a pivotal role in shaping our lives for good?

Communication channels through which news, entertainment,  education, data, or  promotional messages are disseminated. Media includes every broadcasting  and narrowcasting  medium such as newspapers,  magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail, telephone, fax, and internet. Media is the plural of medium and can take a plural or singular verb, depending on the sense intended.Social Media in our life:How Strongly Can Social Media Influence and Control People’s Lives? What comes to your mind when you hear the term “Social Media?" Perhaps some people thinking about the media that makes them able to meet and communicate with people around the world. While some others think about that, social media is the channel that gives them the chance to send and receive many information. Others think that social media is about the way we get many updates from people who we follow and maybe someone out there thinks social media is a part of a new marketing strategy. Nowadays, social media seems like a big part of our life. When your friends didn’t reply to your text, you can greet them on Face book. When you want to listen to music or see a music video from your favorite singer – go to YouTube. When you just wake up and open your eyes, you don’t have to walk outside to get the newspaper, just take your phone and scroll your Twitter timeline then you’ll get the information. Blog and Forum are also types of social media because they allow you to share “what you think” about articles, pictures, videos and so on. There is social media which allows the users not only to share about their profession, major of study, works and company, addresses, political views and religion, but also allow them to find a job and allow the company to find the employees.But social media such as Face book or Twitter or Google hangout or LinkedIn are proving to be much more than manifestation of our lives in the digital world. Though the founder’s of these companies might not have started with the grand vision and great psychological studies or with the intentions of changing the people behavior, but these tools are precisely doing that –they are taking us into an era where our social behavior is being shaped by them. Here are sample examples why I think it is happening:

Social Media and NetworkingSocial media not only helps people stay in touch with existing contacts, but also aids in the formation of new alliances. These alliances are usually with people that share common interests. These social networks open up the possibilities of discovering and learning new information, sharing ideas and interacting with others. Social media such as LinkedIn allows people to create professional networks that help them search for jobs or get tips on how to enhance their careers. With such networks, people are spending less time looking for jobs through newspapers and are turning to social media.

Social Media and Networking

Social media not only helps people stay in touch with existing contacts, but also aids in the formation of new alliances. These alliances are usually with people that share common interests. These social networks open up the possibilities of discovering and learning new information, sharing ideas and interacting with others. Social media such as LinkedIn allows people to create professional networks that help them search for jobs or get tips on how to enhance their careers. With such networks, people are spending less time looking for jobs through newspapers and are turning to social media.

HOW THE MEDIA SHAPES OUR LIFES?In this century the role of the Media in shaping our lives has become inevitable. The media has drastically changed the lives of many of us. Our inevitable dependence on it is given to two main reasons:

1. The fast-paced high tech. sweeping across the globe and shrinking it to a single room.

2. Our ever growing curiosity to be updated with the news in the instant of its breaking to be aware of the world events.

As the former is solely a matter of natural change and revolution, the latter is an adoption and an extensive employment of the former in our service, a phenomenon we can't escape.

The media, just like any other evolutionary and revolutionary advances and developments, seems to be in process of cascading overtaking of the new from the old fashioned. The Radio has been replaced by the Television and the Internet whose upgrading process has reached its peak in the digital satellite and wireless broadband respectively.

The traditional snail mail has become thing of the past in the wake of the emails and messenger chat. The multi-gadget audiovisual mobile phones, Bluetooth and wireless connection to the internet have knocked out the bulky landline phones. Likewise did the accessories of these equipment took the same outdating effect when today's flat screen PCs and TVs came with

latest technology both in memory and power. The once highly valued floppy disks were crushed in bulks while jubilating the era of thousand times more powerful removable USB keys.

A pivotal turning point in the realm of Media technology, but how does this affect our daily life? The cyberspace technology seems to be in parallel challenge with the audiovisual technology, namely the television. The internet encompasses the whole of the audiovisual, written and readable as well as messaging service in one. Today it has been estimated that the internet use is incredibly expanding day after another and many people over the world are getting access to it. There is almost at least one web site in every subject of which occurs into the mind of every human being on earth.

For decades we have had been deaf and blind except what we were being told or shown. While still the same scenario lingers to lesser effect in the rise of the local websites, TV services and independent channels have contributed to the free media revolution. The reason why big and old broadcasting corporations like the BBC, Radio France International (RFI), Deutsche Welle (DW), Voice of America (VOA), financed millions even billions into the programmers presented to its overseas audience should itself hold an evidence.

To include in their websites educational scheme aimed at the younger generation. In Almost all websites, there is no such educational programme for the different ages of children, teenagers and youth. Sparing a corner of the website for children, teenagers and youth by providing those puzzles, quizzes, contents, where winners would be named and hailed would be an excellent idea of motivation. The younger generation with brilliant brain can be harmonized with their culture and tradition. There is yet more effort to be done to create in them love of their religion, country and people.