- Define culture, norms and values
- Distinguish folkways, mores and laws
- Explain cultural relativism
Culture and Norms
Culture is the software societies run on: shared meanings, rules and expectations that make behaviour predictable enough for strangers to cooperate.
A norm is an expected pattern of behaviour in a given situation — from folkways (etiquette) to mores (moral rules) to laws (formalised, enforced rules). Sanctions — rewards and punishments — keep norms alive.
Key points
- Values: broad ideals (freedom, fairness). Norms: specific expected behaviours.
- Folkways: customs (covering your mouth when you cough). Mores: moral weight (taboos). Laws: written and enforced.
- Subcultures share the wider culture but differ in parts; countercultures reject it.
- Cultural relativism: judge practices by their own culture’s standards — while still debating universal rights.
Britain’s queue is a folkway with teeth: jump it and face collective fury. No law requires it — just shared norms and social sanctions (glares, tuts, confrontation).
Practice
Folkways are everyday customs with mild sanctions (table manners); mores carry moral significance and stronger sanctions (theft, assault).
Judging practices by their own culture’s standards rather than yours. Criticism: taken absolutely, it can’t condemn human-rights abuses anywhere.
- Culture = shared meanings, norms and values.
- Norms range from folkways to mores to laws.
- Sanctions enforce norms informally and formally.
- Subcultures differ within; countercultures oppose.