Category: Social Norms

Abstract

People differ as well as traditions. The literature of various periods contains works describing lonely people that are isolated. It is not clear whether these people became isolated because they wanted to live alone without experiencing the necessity to take care of somebody else. Another variant of being lonely is hidden in the society to which lonely people belong. Traditions, customs, and social norms can make the most cheerful person an isolated marginal. Though people can be considered outcasts within their community, they are not deprived of dignity and humaneness.

Moreover, it is possible to trace the marginalization of separate individuals in the works of literature written by Kate Chopin, Franz Kafka, and William Shakespeare. As people become lonely, society changes its position and attitude towards those people. Thus, Edna, Othello, and Gregor are lonely people regardless of their living in the very middle of society; they experience isolation in spite of living with people they love and appreciate.

Introduction

The concept of isolation can be traced in the literature of different periods. People differ as well as traditions. It is not clear whether these people became isolated because they wanted to live alone without experiencing the necessity to take care of somebody else. History saw a great number of cases when people were talented and had great potential, though isolation was the only possible way for them to live without harming other peoples lives. Another variant of being lonely is hidden in the society to which lonely people belong. Traditions, customs, and social norms can make the most cheerful person an isolated marginal. Isolation was caused by social norms which did not let people be those who they appear and feel to be.

The nature of changes can be traced in Othello who is treated as a person with different color of skin as well as Edna who is not accepted by the Creole community; Gregor Samsa is described as a man who has nothing in common with his family which is the society, he lives in. Different reasons make these people change their opinion, behavior, and even appearance. Though people can be considered outcasts within their community, they are not deprived of dignity and humaneness. The literary characters are different as well as their lives and reasons for becoming marginalized. People experience marginalization without being aware of changes that can influence their lives and the lives of people around them. Moreover, it is possible to trace the marginalization of separate individuals in the works of literature written by Kate Chopin, Franz Kafka, and William Shakespeare.

As people become lonely, society changes its position and attitude towards those people. Thus, Edna, Othello, and Gregor are lonely people regardless of their living in the very middle of society; they experience isolation despite living with people they love and appreciate. The concept of isolation is described in different ways by Kate Chopin, Franz Kafka, and William Shakespeare. Thus, we can see Othello as a strong man without any problems; the only difficulty appears when he happens to choose the wrong woman as a wife and promoting Cassio instead of Iago. Envy is the reason for isolation while analyzing the changes in Othellos life. Gregor Samsa is introduced as an ordinary young man who finds himself as a giant cockroach; he is the only one who gains money in order to maintain his family, while the family feels relief after his death. Edna is a young woman who experiences marginalization as her husband wants her to act like all other women in the Creole community, whereas she finds herself changing as Edna awakes from a deep dream of being like others.

Characters Isolated in Literature

Isolation is one of the techniques to make the character look different than others; some authors invent hardships and adventures for their characters, while Shakespeare, Kafka, and Chopin had made up social outcasts that can be considered marginal people within the society. It is unclear whether social norms or their own decisions make them isolated; Edna, Gregor, and Othello experience changes in their lives. Othello becomes a murderer and a self-murderer; Edna becomes a woman involved in an affair with a man other than her husband; Gregor becomes a burden for his family which needed his help before.

Othello as a lonely Moore. William Shakespeare presents Othello as a Venetian Moor who is treated as a person who does not have a right to marry a white woman. The reasons for introducing a Moor are ambiguous. It is possible to assume that the author was trying to talk about racial discrimination, though the color of skin cannot be an object of envy. Another reason for presenting the main character as the image of a strong, freedom-loving, ambitious, man of natural elegance and dignity (Grebanier, qtd. in Kolin 91), and an independent Moor is that Shakespeare was a racist who condoned the negative image of blacks in his culture (Hadfield 77). The reasons can be unidentified, though the result is available at any bookstore. The tragedy of the Moor can make anyone believe in the unexpected changes that can happen in the life of every person. People are likely to change their decisions without thinking about the consequences of different actions and steps in their life and the lives of other people. Iago was free to change the lives of people as they did not resist his lies and deception.

Othello was treated as a good soldier that was promoted to the general of the Venetian army; however, it did not make him happy because people envied him, his beautiful wife, and his obtaining a higher position in life than all of them. A society is opposed to the desire of being happy; social norms can make a man kill his wife and himself because of deception and a chain of misunderstandings. Would a modern man kill his wife due to a handkerchief? It is not reasonable to blame someone because of ungrounded assumptions. As the social norms require some decisions to be made concerning certain events in the society, one who suspects his wife of being unfaithful should beat her and raise hell in public.

Othello can be treated as the embodiment of justice as he attempts to reestablish the right which was violated. When the Moor is deceived, he turns angry and impulsive, which brings all his strength, evil, and stubbornness outside his inner world. Social norms, in this respect, are the reason for the explosion of the volcano of feelings of the free-loving and just Othello. As the Moor was envied, he was in danger as well as his reputation, position, and his beautiful wife Desdemona as his family because the peoples envy is worth than any evil in the world for it incorporates all mean and greedy features those human beings can possess. The evil, in this case, is not universal but exercised by people to get something that does not belong or is not appointed to them. The same happened with Iago who considered himself to be worth no worse a place (Shakespeare 7). This is one of the basic reasons for deceiving Othello for the latter had appointed Cassio to the position craved for by Iago.

Society (presented by Iago) was against justice when the best candidate was appointed to a certain position; therefore, Iago did everything possible to deprive Othello of everything he loved most, namely his career and a beautiful wife. The means to fulfill the meanest plan were chosen by chance which added even more vividness to the entire picture of the way society can make a person refuse everything and let people provoke him. When everything was opposed to the concept of justice and happiness, it was unlikely for Othello to fight for his wife and position as he did for Venice as a general. Circumstances can break the strongest man, though the strongest man cannot fight circumstances when he is not aware of the reasons for all problems. It is easier to overcome difficulties when you know what to do and what arguments to oppose to those presented by the enemy.

Metamorphosis in the life of Gregor Samsa. As traditional artistic forms and structures in literature, painting, poetry, music, and the theatre were undergoing innovative, and in some cases, revolutionary changes that were taking place in the post-war Europe served as an appropriate background for a short novel written by Franz Kafka, as argued by Taikeff (2-3). As changes in the life of the main character of The Metamorphosis are extraordinary, it is necessary to analyze the image of Gregor Samsa in terms of strange behavior, envy, or very high position. Unfortunately, the readers are sure to fail while trying to find the young mans high position, a beautiful wife, or a great number of enemies. One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug (Kafka 1). Gregor Samsa is set as a common person who has to maintain his family and the only thing he thinks about after being changed into a giant insect is his job which fed the whole family.

The society in this short novel is presented by the members of Gregor Samsas family, while only the wooden door made Gregors change unnoticeable to others (Kafka 3). In this respect, we can assume that the door may be considered a symbolic means of defending oneself from the social prejudices and discrimination of society and norms established by people living in the society. The mother of the main character is a very kind woman and the readers can clearly see Gregors warm attitude towards her, though she refuses to believe that he is her son when the family experiences benefit from Gregors position. His younger sister Grete becomes the main caretaker of this monstrous insect that had been her brother; she treats him as her brother only at the very beginning of the novel, though she changes her attitude towards the insect which does not seem to be her brother anymore.

The family of the protagonist can return to a normal life only after his death (Taikeff 13) because they cannot bear the existence of the giant cockroach which does not resemble their son and brother. The memories about the way he disappeared as soon as he becomes a heavy burden to each and every member of his former family. When Gregor finds himself in the appearance of an insect, he does not think about the way his family would treat him, about his future life, about personal communication with other members of the society; the only thing Gregor thinks about is the impossibility to work and maintain his family. Gregor, with regard to his position in life and towards society, is a marginal who is not able to interact with other members of the same society.

As life in society presupposes the acceptance and adherence to certain rules, norms, and principles existing in this society including physical appearance and personal hygiene, it is necessary to mention that Gregor can be considered an outcast of his society which is presented by his family and a clerk from his job. Marginalization is the main theme of this novel because it emphasizes the bitterness of a situation when a person cannot live as he used to. It is possible to assume that Gregor was always taken by society as an outcast, though the real appearance was concealed behind adherence to social norms.

In this respect, the appearance of a giant insect appears to be an allegory that is aimed at explaining the concept of marginalization. When a person does not look like others, cannot perform functions that others can, is not able to maintain himself, and is rejected by other members of the same society. Gregor Samsa is a lonely person who feels it necessary to leave the family not to make them ashamed of him and his appearance.

Sexuality and loneliness of Edna. Another example of marginalization can be observed in the novel The Awakening by Kate Chopin where the story of a young woman is described. Edna Pontellier is a wife of a successful businessman who has two adorable children, though she does not feel happy at all because she has to perform all duties attributed to women in contemporary society. Social norms exclude the minor possibility that a woman can be independent, ambitious, or self-sufficient. When Edna experiences emotions different from those encountered in marriage, she realizes that she was sleeping all her life. In this respect, Edna can be considered an outcast of society because she dared to violate the norms established by people living in the same society. Her husband is one of the representatives of the society which had created certain roles and functions for women which contradict Ednas new cognition of the world.

Edna is a woman whose manner was engaging (Chopin 7); she is a good wife and mother, though her awakening affects her family as well as her reputation within the society. When Edna Pontellier experiences certain freedom from social norms which seem to have been bounding her wishes, desires, and will, she becomes out of control and cannot stop creating gulfs between herself, her family, and the society they all live in. however, Edna is not likely to realize the true damage she brings to her family because they are not the ones to blame, though the closest people are always the first to be blamed. The family rejects her as well as did the family of Gregor Samsa in The Metamorphosis, this happens because she is not able to return to the previous lifestyle and become adherent to social norms that bound her.

The person who contributed greatly to the awakening of the main character of the novel is Robert Lebrun, a man who is younger than Edna and who got used to flirt with all women without being obliged to marry any of them. When Edna realizes that she had totally divided herself from society, she tries to establish relations with Robert, but he refuses to be with her because she is a married woman. Though Lebrun knew from the very beginning that Edna was married to Mr. Pontellier, he did not cease seeing her. However, Robert had crossed the ts when Edna was not any longer able to return to the previous lifestyle. It was you who awoke me last summer out of a life-long, stupid dream (Chopin 283); these words can be considered the essence of her awakening as all her life was senseless.

As the marginalization is described here as the constant condition and the only remedy is the refutation of the social norms and traditions, the social roles of women in the society, it is obvious that Edna has recovered from the disease. The Awakening is the new narrative that Mrs. Pontellier was unable to create: not (it is true) a story of female affirmation, but rather an excruciatingly exact dissection of the ways in which society distorts a womans true mature (Beer and Nolan 63). Edna feels free and goes away for society cannot accept her in an image different from the one commonly attributed to women in numerous cultures.

Conclusion

Marginalization is a concept described in the literature as the one which divides the individuals considered to be the outcasts from the rest of the society. When people see someone, who does not follow the common rules of behavior, they treat him/her as an alien that has no right to live in the same society because this person is not able to be adherent to the social norms. The current essay dwelled on the marginal characters existing in the literature. The Awakening written by Kate Chopin, Othello by William Shakespeare, and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka present characters treated as outcasts of the society because of the social norms.

Edna is treated as marginal because she refuted social roles commonly attributed to women; as soon as she refutes her roles, she becomes a lonely person and nobody understands her desires. Othello is envied and has to act according to social norms to save his reputation in society. Gregor Samsa is described as an originally lonely person, though the understanding of marginalization comes suddenly and no one can help him.

Works Cited

Hadfield, Andrew. A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on William Shakespeares Othello. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Shakespeare, William. Othello. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University, 2008.

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. H. S. Stone & Company, 1899. Harvard University, 2007.

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

Kolin, Philip C. Othello: New Critical Essays. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Taikeff, Stanley. Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis. Piscataway, New Jersey: Research & Education Assoc., 1996.

Beer, Janet, and Elizabeth Nolan. Kate Chopins the Awakening: A Sourcebook. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Social Norms are pattern of behavior in a particular group, community or culture that are accepted as normal behavior by the people living in these groups, communities or cultures and to which individual is expected to conform (What is social norm? definition and meaning. (n.d.)). Social Norms allow us to expect the events that will occur in a particular setting. This allows us to be prepared for a situation and reduces the amount of uncertainty. The social norms remain stable in the society as most people are taught to follow them and abide by the rules set by them. There are times when a person may not want to follow the social norms, but they are pressurized to do so by the people in their societies, the people for whom any behavior other than the social norms is abnormal and unacceptable. The groups preserve their norms without even the awareness of its members. The preservation of norms is done by socialization (the process through which individuals are taught the social norms), internalization (the process of our actions and beliefs being guided by our society norms without us being aware of it) and institutionalization (the process when social norms become embedded in social institutions).

On a personal level, social norms set by my society play an important role in shaping my behavior. From the small, negligible aspects of my behavior to the very important, big and prevalent aspects norms have a significant influence. There are tons of examples for this. In Pakistan it is a norm to greet the elders first. We being the part of this society are taught about this from the very beginning and are obligated to do so. If we fail to do so it is taken as an offense and before the others can say something about it our own parents scold us in front of everyone. We in return, to avoid the social embarrassment of getting scolded or talked badly about in front of everyone make sure to perform this ritual.

Though lately there has been a lot of freedom and support given to females to take initiatives and be bold however, our society has always promoted patriarchy and still does. I being a girl cannot stay out of house late till night because; my parents do not allow it, our society does not approve it and holds it against a girls character and above all I have been told scary stories of what happened to girls or can happen to girls if they stay out late at nights. This all shapes a person’s behavior a lot as even if I really want to stay out till late I will not because I get scared of any mishap that could happen whereas this all is not applicable for a boy in our society or even for girls in other societies that have different norms. Moreover, the roles for women and men are also separated and discriminated. The boys are never told to household stuff whereas girls in my society are always expected to do so. The example of this is how these roles are portrayed can be seen in advertisements like that of cereals and cooking oils were a woman does the cooking for the entire family and serves food to them and the male doing the office work (Vrama, D, 2018). These roles are not just specified for the grown ups but the difference between the girls and boys is there from the very beginning. Parents buy their boys car toys and girls barbie toys and then everyone assumes that girls love barbies and boys’ cars. However, the society forgets that it has made them fall in love with these respective things as from the very beginning the norms of the society are followed as a frame to mold us in.

A very good example of the impact of norms on our behavior and action is the difference between the head nod of Pakistani people and many people across the world versus the Indian head nod. It is a yes when people move nod their head vertically and no if they nod it horizontally however Indians do a side to side tilting of head for both yes and no and for anyone other than their society it is difficult to understand whether it is a yes or a no (Barry, T. I, 2016). Therefore, even these head nods are dictated by the norms of a society. Moreover, our society is a collective society and family values are deeply embedded in us. Statistics show that 83 percent of Pakistani people believe that one should look after its family before anything (G, 2019). However, this may not be the case in the western societies which are more individualistic. Parents are also dominating in eastern societies as compared to the western. A child stays under its parents umbrella even after he has crossed the age of 18. This is why the rate of dependency are higher in societies like Pakistan and arranged marriages are more customary.

There are infinite examples of instances of how the norms govern our lives nevertheless, a person may not always abide by these norms. This is known as deviance. People rebel from standards set by the societies from time to time. This is a result of their bodies being governed by the natural genetic behavior or a person’s understanding of good or bad. Yes! Genes do play an important role in shaping the behavior of a person that is why even in the same society people follow the norms but in their ways. For example, a person studies medicine as his parents wanted him to because the society thinks highly of it (this is therefore a norm) whereas the way the person studies for it is according to his natural capacity and varies from person to person. My mother has always told me to be polite because I am a girl, but I am short tempered naturally and fail to remain polite a lot of times. The extent to which people dismiss the norms vary.

A human being is not just the product of norms stated by the society. The norms and nature go hand in hand in in shaping the behavior of an individual. Norms bring in uniformity in the society and therefore lead to social cohesion. They help in people understanding each other and discriminating between good and bad. Nature is a dominating factor too and this is why stereotypes set by societies are broken. The norms of the society are so much a part of us that we cannot separate our natural instincts from that of the norms. For example, a boy acts like his father can be because they share the same genes but also because the son has grown up seeing his father and thinks of his behavior as a norm. He internalizes his father’s behavior and now it is difficult to tell whether his behavior is natural or socially constructed. The two are thus inseparable. Nature and nurture (norms) both impact human behavior and have influence on a persons personality.

References

1. What is social norm? definition and meaning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-norm.html
2. Vrama, D. (2018, August 29). Sajal Ali New Ad Of Kisan Cooking Oil With Adnan Malik | Latest Pakistani Ad | 2018. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG6CBkoxDOE
3. Barry, T. I. (2016, November 16). Indian Nod : Explained. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RaBxH_MKQI
4. G. (2019, February 27). When to Lend a Hand: At 83%, the vast majority of Pakistanis believe before helping others, one should first look after oneself and one’s family. Retrieved from https://gallup.com.pk/when-to-lend-a-hand-at-83-the-vast-majority-of-pakistanis-believe-before-helping-others-one-should-first-look-after-oneself-and-ones-family/

“Boys and Girls” by Alice Murno is a coming of age story about gender roles, the narrator tells us about her life as a child on a farm and how she discovered that her role on the farm as she grows up. She describes the various roles on the fox farm that varies between her and her young brother. In order to covey this coming of age story, Munro used literary devices like symbolism, tone, foreshadowing.

“Boys and Girls” is a part of a collaboration of short stories called Dances of the Happy Shades. Dances of the Happy Shades was published in 1968. During this time, the women’s movement has begun. The women’s movement started due to the low status and freedoms women had in society. “Boys and Girls” shows the typical gender roles during this time. It’s one of the first times that a woman writer supports the changes to enlarge women’s social choices.

The setting of the story is at a fox farm during the 1960’s. During this time, the woman movement began in the city. Since the character resided in the reserved countryside, they may not have learned about this social change until later. In the narrator’s family men and women were unequal. Gender stereotypes were normal. “Boys and Girls” uses first-person point of view considering the whole story is based off the narrator’s perspective. The purpose of having this point of view show the difference between the narrator and the rest of the characters in the story. The narrator showed abilities that we didn’t see from another character. For example, she used her imagination a lot. According to Nischik, this is an example of “the potentially compensatory function of literature in general, of the narrator’s imaginative ability in particular (which sets her apart from the rest of her totally unimaginative family, who are stuck in conventional thought patterns)” (Nischik 3) Another that sets the narrator apart is she is the only character to think that gender stereotypes are not normal. Several times a family stated what a female should be doing. For example, the narrator stated “My grandmother came to stay with us for a few weeks and I heard other things. ‘Girls don’t slam doors like that.’ ‘Girls keep their knees together when they sit down.’ And worse still, when I asked some questions, ‘That’s none of girls’ business.’ (Munro 6) Murno utilize flashback and foreshadowing using fantasies/stories. “This hypothesis concerning her male orientation gains support from the nature of her nocturnal fantasies” (Goldman 2) The narrator fantasies/stories portray what she would like her adult life to be; without having to worry about gender roles. “Stories something different was happening, mysterious alterations took place. A story might start off in the old way, with a spectacular danger, a fire or wild animals, and for a while I might rescue people; then things would change around, and instead, somebody would be rescuing me. It might be a boy from our class at school, or even Mr. Campbell, our teacher, who tickled girls under the arms.” (Murno 11) In this story the narrator is feeling as if she is being trapped into something that doesn’t want to do. In comparison, the two horses bought to be used for food for their foxes. This is an example of foreshadowing. In the story, the narrator acknowledges the fact she knows the death of the horses is beneficial to fox farm. However, the narrator allowed her emotions to let the mare Flora runaway. The animal’s death relates the gender roles of the narrator. No matter how hard she tries to withstand her future, she is going to lose to forces greater than herself.

Murno used symbolism in the story to create imagery and express the theme. In the story, descriptions of the setting can be seen as symbolism. For example, the smell of the foxes at night and images of light and dark in her room is a symbol for comfort. Another example is the description of the surroundings of the workspaces she encounters with her mom verses her dad. “I hated the hot dark kitchen in summer…It seemed to me that work in the house was endless, dreary, and peculiarly depressing; work done out of doors, and in my father’s service, was ritualistically important.” (Munro 4) This shows that the narrator dislikes the female tasks and contrasts with the freedom she feels when working outside. “For this reason, the mother treats her daughter as a fellow prisoner and their association is characterized by speech and openness. “(Goldman 3) Also, Munro used symbolism throughout the story to emphasis a deeper meaning in the story. The fox’s names symbolize the maturity and identity of each character that names them. The ones given by the father are very general. Later in the story, you will see that the father only interest is farming. He’s not very talkative. The narrator states that “My father did not talk to me unless it was about the job we were doing.” (Munro 3) The narrator gives the foxes lady-like names. This portrays the narrator’s girly ways. Laird gives thoughtless names showing that he is young and immature. “Those my father had named were called names like Prince, Bob, Wally, and Betty. Those I had named were called Star or Turk, or Maureen or Diana. Laird named one Maude after a hired girl we had when he was little, one Harold after a boy at school, and one Mexico, he did not say why” (Munro 3) Another symbol is the farming industry. The farming industry was portrayed as a man’s world. An example for the story is “One time a feed salesman came down into the pens to talk to him and my father said, ‘Like to have you meet my new hired hand.’ I turned away and raked furiously, red in the face with pleasure. ‘Could of fooled me,’ said the salesman. ‘I thought it was only a girl.’” (Munro 4) I believe that the gender of the horse are a symbol. In “Boys and Girls” she watched the stallion be killed but decided to set the mare free. This symbolism relates to how women were rejecting the fate that gender roles had for them. Throughout, the story the narrator fights the urge of being girly. “The word girl had formerly seemed to me innocent and unburdened like the word child; now it appeared that it was no such thing.” (Munro 6) The narrator remains unnamed throughout the story could be figurative to her search for an identity throughout the story.

“Boys and Girls” by Alice Munro is one of the first stories to illustrates the confusing process of young lady learning her identify while dealing with social norms. I believe that Munro decided to portray women’s identity because during this time, being a different was unusual. The literary devices, she used to allow us to explore the coming of age of a young woman and the various roles between males and females.

Work Cited

1. Goldman, Marlene. ‘Penning in the Bodies: The Construction of Gendered Subjects in Alice Munro’s ‘Boys and Girls’.’ Literature Resource Center, Gale, 2020. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/H1420022933/LitRC?u=lftla_pultch&sid=LitRC&xid=71633bbb. Accessed 2 Apr. 2020. Originally published in Studies in Canadian Literature, 1990.
2. Nischik, Reingard M. ‘(Un-)Doing Gender: Alice Munro, ‘Boys and Girls’ (1964).’ Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Lawrence J. Trudeau, vol. 370, Gale, 2015. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link-gale-com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/H1100118828/LitRC?u=lftla_pultch&sid=LitRC&xid=b52b9778. Accessed 2 Apr. 2020. Originally published in The Canadian Short Story, edited by Reingard M. Nischik, Camden House, 2007, pp. 203-218.
3. Munro, Alice. “Boys and Girls.” Boys and Girls, www.giuliotortello.it/shortstories/boys_and_girls.pdf

As we know that diverse people deport our self contrarily in certain situations. This is how they behave in these circumstances. Let take an example of any food restaurant, like – McDonalds, when people visit there, they stand in line to order their food at the counter, after then they again make line at serving counter to take their order and then after consumption when leaving the restaurant, throw left-over food material or any waste in dustbins. So, who told them to do this, who made these types of rules like standing in line, etc. people cram these sorts of thing from each other, by beholding at other people just to uphold discipline in society.

Social norms

Now come to a point, social norms, what are these? As I gave example in foremost passage, Social norms are written and unwritten rules. Different societies have different rules followed by people.

These norms tells us what is good, right or wrong in the society. So, these are rules and regulations by which society guides the behaviour of its members. For example – while boarding a bus, again all people silently stand in the line. One more when boarding a bus, all other people give priority to old ones to go at first. This is a kind of norm made by community to respect, help and give precedence to old people.

There are mainly two types of norms: –

1. Formal norms
2. Informal norms

Formal Norms

Formal norms are written rules. These are the kind of norms which are established and also these are firmly enforced to the society. Formal norms are very imperative rules. If someone violate these rules, then strict action is taken against that person. All people must obey these norms. If anyone break the law, then he/she get arrested.

For example – Laws, laws are formal norms because these are inscribed and recognised. All people follow these laws no matter who they are, even politicians or people who are at higher post also maintain these commandments. Like- in some countries, money is highly valued. So, in these countries, monetary crimes are strictly punished. If someone break this rule like rob a bank, then the robber is highly punished and also go to prison. Because if that robber is punished then other people will aware about this and maybe if someone other plan to do same then he could think upon it about the consequences of doing this.

It is also against the law to drive drunk, because it is dangerous for the life of that people because by doing this accident might happen and it could lead to death. These rules cares for the people’s lives. In Canada, it is strictly against the law to drive drunk. There are many laws in Canada to punish drunk driving.

Murder is also a kind of formal norm. if someone do a murder then he/she will face many difficulties like go to prison, sometimes martyrdom.

Informal norms

These are norms which are not written. These are very simple norms like made by society. People learn these norms by observing other people, by socialization and sometimes from their elders also. If someone do not track informal norms, then he/she is not strictly chastised but considered as shameful in the society sometimes. Informal norms are different among different societies. This is a kind of casual behaviour and express personal relations also.

For example – Different Cultures have different methods of greeting new people. Like – in some cultures, people kiss on other person’s cheeks while in others, people start conversations after handshaking and in few cultures, when greeting person join his both hands to show respect to other person.

Use napkins, cover your mouth with your hands while coughing, sneezing, etc. kids acquire very quickly that picking your nose in front of others is measured as shameful.

In Canada, there are many informal norms at restaurants, any public place, while rooming a bus, etc. As I already mentioned in the initial, an example of McDonalds, like here people stand in a line to order and then after eating, just leave rather than talking with strangers by sitting at the tables of the restaurant.

There are a lot of rulebooks to talk with outsiders in the community. It is fine if someone sit beside to the stranger in crowded bus, but it is not okay if take a seat only beside to the stranger in empty bus. Similarly, it is good to stand with someone in atm line but weird if look over his shoulders as he/she makes the transaction.

Norms are further classified into three categories: –

1. Folkways
2. Mores
3. Taboos

Folkways

These are just conventional and small norms. These direct usual behaviours of the person. If someone violate folkways then there is no serious punishment given to the subject, because these are common things and used in day-to-day life of everyone. These are made by society. For example – if a cellphone rings in a class then lass may laugh at this rather than giving any punishment like prison. Folkways specify whether to shake hands or kiss on cheeks while acknowledgment. It also tells whether to wear a black colour shirt with blue jeans or to wear white colour shirt. Like in some counties if women say hello or smile with men in street then it is okay, there is no problem to anyone but in some nations, it is not satisfactory. Folkways might be minor behaviours.

Mores

These are the norms highly connected to morality. These are strictly enforced and constructed on societal necessities. There are a lot of strong mores which are threatened by legal laws. If someone intrude upon mores, then he/she face serious consequences. Like in most of the countries murder is considered as more (formal norm), if someone break this or do the murder then he will strictly be punished. There are some mores which are controlled by public sentiment those are informal. People who violate these kinds of mores, they considered as shameful in the society or sometimes banned in some groups of society. For example – in some countries, not having a sex before marriage, like in India, if someone do the sex before marriage then they and even their family along with them considered as disgraceful in the culture. In some countries, for example – in Canada, plagiarism is taken as more in schools (plagiarism means if a student copy from internet or from any other source and just paste it on his/her assignment/notes).

Taboos

These are really very chief and strong norms. These are referring to activities which are outlawed by ethical principles. Taboos are most deeply held norms. Their disobedience induces severe chastisement. Taboos are slightly similar to mores because their destruction leads to serious penalty. Taboos are also mention to authoritative decent exclusions in secular framework.

SANCTIONS

These are people’s reactions to follow/track and breaking/avoiding social norms. Sanctions are of two types –POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE.

Positive sanctions

It means, if someone shadow norms, then society’s reaction is positive, means people treat them in a positive/ good way. Smile and promotion is an example of positive sanction.

Laughing is also a kind of positive sanction but it depends on a situation. If people laugh on someone’s joke, then it is taken as positive respond to that person who voices a joke.

Negative sanctions

It is just reverse to positive sanctions, it simply means when people treat that person in adverse manner. For example – getting scolded from someone, bad grades, etc. Like I already mentioned in first type of sanction, that laughing depends on situation. In this, if people laughed on someone’s insult then it seems as negative sanction.

So, social norms are really very important for the society. Just imagine if there are no social norms, what happens, simple everyone has a liberty to do any crime and has no limits. Thus, these are responsible to sustain harmony, peace and discipline in the culture.

Social norms can be defined as “the informal rules that govern behaviour in groups and societies” (Bicchieri et al, 2018). Individual interactions result into social norms; therefore, they vary across cultures. Although some scholars disagree, some norms are thought to exist for a purpose, and this might be the reason why they persist (Hechter and Opp, 2001). However, there are many others that are inefficient and often have a negative impact or fade away. This can be observed on gender norms, as some of these raise inequalities and makes women inferior than men.

To understand gender norms, it is crucial to be aware of the distinction between the words “gender” and “sex”. A person’s biological femaleness or maleness is referred as “sex”. The word “gender” refers to the sociocultural prescriptions for femininity and masculinity, these are the non-physical aspects of sex (Lips,1988: 3). In their first year of life, children begin to be aware of the gender roles, and begin to develop a gender identity as suggested by The Social Learning Theory (1988: 43). This theory assumes that females learn to be feminine and males to be masculine, because gender-role behaviour might be punished, ignored or rewarded depending on the appropriateness of the behaviour in accordance with the gender assigned (Bandura,1925). As argued by Foucault (1979) this is not a neutral act, we become subjects of powerful institutions as we internalize their norms. These institutions hold specific power structures in place such as capitalism. In this essay I will analyse how Patriarchy, Capitalism and the emergence of the nation state are responsible for contemporary gender norms. However, this paper will argue that these interconnects which will lead to the conclusion that none of these can be seen alone as the responsible of gender norms and the inequality women has always faced.

The patriarchy is the structural system, which perpetrates and crystallizes the oppression suffered by women at the political, social, economic and cultural spheres. This is, among other reasons, because males occupy the immense number of upper positions in hierarchies (Goldberg, 1977). But when did this masculine supremacy at the power spheres began? At the very beginning, humans evolved in small hunter and gathered bands, as we instinctually feel the need to be part of a group which also increased survival. To allow for efficiency, groups developed a hierarchy, which usually meant having a leader. The characteristics associated with leadership, at the time, were associated with males. As suggested by Hearn, this could be because men tend to have a greater role in hunting, working with hard and heavy material, trade and inter-societal exchanges. While women, were related to ‘domestic’ tasks such as childrearing (Hearn, 2012). This led to a sharp differentiation of gender roles across many cultures. Leaders had access to more resources, which meant that women were nothing without men. This was emphasized centuries later by Simone de Beauvoir (2015) as she argues that “man defines woman”, and describes how humans tend to form opposite groups. In this case, he is the essential while she is the inessential. One would think that there is reciprocity between the sexes to some extent, as it could be found in biological needs such as the desire for posterity. This is certainly not the case, since there are plenty of elements of inequality lying underneath these claims of reciprocity, whose creation rely entirely on socially constructed aspects. The responsibility of patriarchy could then be related to contemporary norms in the household, such as the male being the ‘breadwinner’, because the gender dynamic in the political and social hierarchies are reflected in more personal relationships.

Male domination is clearly observed in the micro-level of social interactions, but also on the macro-level. The case of Delia Prince in Gender and Power illustrates the effect of patriarchy on an individual. She is described as ‘normal’ teenager and the author questions what this ‘normality’ really means. Analysing the individual’s economic circumstances, family structure and education of Delia in which relations between the different genders, is perhaps enough to show the interplay of personal problems and public/social issues (Connel, 1987). Furthermore, Carol Hanisch (1969) states that “personal problems are political problems” after she attends “political therapy” in which political women discuss personal problems of women to then sum up and generalize and make connections about it. She argues that power is present in many personal aspects of an individual’s life. It should be emphasized how women has face this in the unequal responsibilities in aspects such as housework and childrearing (Hearn, 2012: 187). Feminism focuses on tracing power from macro-micro level (Davis, 1991). The micro-level can be found on the implicit support of patriarchy, such as norms of beauty women are taught to follow (2012:188). The effects of this has led to problems we face at the macro-level such as public confrontations in the ‘First and Second Wave’ like the Women’s Liberation Movement, which pursuit social change and equality. This could be argued to follow the assertion described in The Sociological Imagination of how public issues affect personal troubles (Mills, 1970). Which are now shown in contemporary gender norms, as more macro and public influences such as social media or stereotypes within fashion industries are responsible for more micro or internalised gender roles.

Of course, patriarchy as a structural system affecting the different components of a civilization –the society, its economy, its social norms or its culture- is the main component to blame. The consequences that the constraints and the boundaries that the stigmata of feminization have produced are undoubtedly key to the understanding of the discrimination faced by women daily and around the world. Nevertheless, it does not operate solely, the importance of other factors must be underlined too. The economic system established in the world we live in, capitalism, contributes to the gender hierarchy and gender norms that still prevails nowadays (Streeck,2012). Especially since we consider that, according to the Marxist theory (Marx, 1967), the economic structure is the first and the most basic source of inequalities in the world. One can easily assume, as Simone de Beauvoir did, that not only a woman will always be less privileged than a man while, simultaneously, a working-class woman faces more obstacles than a working-class man, since she faces the economic issue of the capital gain as illustrated in the master-slave relation Simone de Beauviour describes, as well as some others, but she is already captivated because of the chains of the patriarchy (2015: 9).

Through the access of mediums of production, which have established the economic power of those owning them since the beginning of economic liberalism during the XVII century –whose pavement got to the point of no return due to the Industrial Revolutions-, capitalism has perpetuated a dichotomy which comprehends society divided into the group of the poor and of the rich. Capitalism determines how people organize their social and personal life including the more informal hierarchies and in the household. This could be because the expansion of markets affects cultural assumptions and what people conceive as “normal” (Streeck, 2012: 17). Furthermore, it is very rare to see women on the top of the economic tree. One of the reasons why this happens, could be because in a capitalist economy, the ability to accumulate wealth is very much dependent on one’s ability to command credit. Many institutions are more likely to extend a credit to a man than a woman. In particular, direct discrimination in terms of the assumption that a husband is necessarily ‘head of the household’ is not an unfamiliar gender issue in terms of economies and therefore it is involved in capitalism. In relation to contemporary gender norms a wife may not be an independent agent (Connell, 1987).

The interconnection of both patriarchy and capitalism are to be considered by feminist activists as the alliance that affects women’s empowerment and emancipation the most. It is highly responsible for contemporary gender norms such as women having to take care of children and cook, while men is considered the “bread-winner” (1987: 6). Furthermore, some of the results of this interaction can be seen through the attempts of legalizing prostitution, as well as by surrogacy, amongst other elements that are based on the capitalization of women bodies (Quinn, 2010).

The conception of the nation-state, since it was given birth at the peace treaty of Westphalia (Lansford, 2000), which was established right after the end of the Thirty Years War. This entrains the establishment of non-tangible elements such as identity, language or common values that are adapted to the borders of a territory, which conform a State -amongst its other pillars, such as the population of inhabitants that live in it-. The co-existence of those political, geographical and cultural entities entrained since its very beginning different principles that have been very relevant to the development of areas as Public International Law, among which it is important to consider the non-intervention principle (Shen, 2001). Even though it was not strictly settled down until the 20th century, it is an aspect that plays a very important role regarding the matters of a State belonging to itself, without the permission of foreign countries to intervene within that given order. As a result of this, it could be stated that the construction of the nation-state has perpetrated the different gender rules and norms that might be embodied within countries’ constitutional norms or political cultures (Ranchod-Nilsson, 2011). Thus, if a state claims itself to be respectful towards gender equity and the different patriarchal stigmata, it would not have the right to intervene in case that its neighbouring country violates those rights, since those are internal affairs about which it would have no competences to get through. This could mean that as gender equality increases in some areas, other areas are still lacking which can suggest that the responsibility of contemporary gender norms is difficult to analyse. Therefore, it could argued that the nation-state is not directly responsible for gender norms however, it can aid the persistence of them.

In conclusion, it could be argued that patriarchy holds the most responsibility for contemporary gender norms. However, without the economic system of capitalism, certain gender roles would have not persisted such as the “head of household” dynamic, because the system persuaded men to be in the top of the hierarchy and made women to be completely dependent on men. Furthermore, it could be said that the nation-state aid the persistence of certain gender norms such as those that promote inequality between gender or follows patriarchal patterns. It has been demonstrated by feminist scholars that feminist movements have had also a big impact in contemporary gender norms as it has aimed to make those that increase inequality fade away. It would be wrong to blame only one factor to be responsible for the gender norms and inequality those bring, as social norms are the interaction between individuals. As social interactions are at a micro-level, collectively they become macro-level communications, which inevitably set social gender norms.

In the science of sociology and the studies of social theory, social norms are defined as a set of unwritten rules on the standards of behaviour that are acceptable within different institutions such as social groupings, societies and cultures.

Social norms are the expectations of how people should think, feel and behave (Schaller & Crandall, 2004). Even though they are unspoken and rarely thought of, social norms become visible when they are violated or when we combine people of different cultures and beliefs, then do we see the comparisons and highlights of our daily life ideals. They become foreseeable actions of people without having occurred. It is what is expected of those who want to be a part of the society. They exercise social influence on group members by advocating which reactions are appropriate, and which are not (Abrams, Wetherell, Cochrane, Hogg, & Turner, 1990). Nonconformity within the social norms of a group can result in loss of social status or exclusion, particularly if the social norm is important to the group (Festinger, 1950). Thus, norms serve to reinforce conformity by promoting the need for social acceptance and avoidance of social punishments (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955).

The social roles people play in society dictate what norms they are to follow and how people in different social positions ought to behave. For example, social roles within the Western world such as ‘attractive people’ or ‘gender’ carry distinctive behavioural expectations such as a requirement for women to be skinny and men to be muscular to be considered as attractive, or the expectation that all women should be nurturing as a gender role. These norms may seem ‘normal’, but when studied from other cultural or temporal perspectives, we can see that not all of them are reasonable and fair-minded. The mechanisms which support normative behaviours include coordination with others in particular types of interaction, social pressures, signals and symbolism such as dress codes for specific groups (eg. headscarf and veil covering of Muslim women), and benchmarks and reference points (eg. time of day it is acceptable to begin drinking alcohol).

Throughout history, theorists have had their own interpretations on the influence social norms have on society. Talcott Parsons believed that norms dictate the relations of people in all social situations, while Karl Marx had the belief that the use of norms is to promote the creation of roles in society which then allows people of different levels of social class to function properly. Marx claimed that this social dynamic creates order within society as people understand their place within the hierarchy.

Social norms usually evolve without direct instruction through processes of trial and error, experimentation and adaptation (Young, 2015 pg. 361). This then shows how social order is formed through interactions rather than by a set design. Throughout history, some social norms have evolved, whilst some have passed through generations. Sometimes it comes down to the society within which we study said norms. Take for instance, having an illegitimate child, passing on all your belongings to your eldest male offspring, or the use of contraception. Some societies frown upon these acts and view them as disruptions to set social norms; while others, to this day, consider them normal practice.

Humans are not independent creatures in the sense that they can all individually live alone forever. It is in our human nature to form groups, societies, and to be part of something. But to be part of a group or society, we must adapt to and follow certain unspoken rules and guidelines. For example, different religions have customs that apply to how someone is to dress when attending religious gatherings or attending the house of worship, or how they must speak with higher religious leaders. This is how norms shape peoples’ behaviour. Such with the example of religious groups, within all social groupings there are unspoken guidelines on how one should behave that are to be followed if one wishes to stay a part of said social grouping. For people who stray outside of the unspoken social norms, it is usually detrimental to their position within the group or society. These attitudes we must abide by also fall hand-in-hand with Marx’s theory of social hierarchy. For example, there are social norms that are to be abided by within different workplaces based on your position within the workforce. At the lower end of the hierarchy we have receptionists in an office. Receptionists are not permitted to raise their voice at someone above them on the higher end of the hierarchy, such as an administrator. If they do so, they would probably be fired from their job. This is not a rule by law but one that is formed over time through social expectations within the set field of work. Another example of how social norms shape peoples’ behaviour within society is attitudes towards people who identify themselves as LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etcetera). Most religious societies view homosexuality as problematic. As these people are so set within their religious groupings and the beliefs they form over time through teachings, rather than individually deciding their stance on the topic at hand based on peoples’ personalities, they are moved by the teachings of their religious scripts and the unanimous decisions of their social grouping so as that they are not removed from said grouping.

Other social norms that people unanimously follow in everyday life include norms regarding their behaviour in public, norms while using their mobile phones, norms when dining out, norms in teaching institutions such as schools or classrooms, norms within the workplace, and norms that are specific to gender.

Some examples of these norms include: making your way to the end of a shopping line rather than pushing in at the front; flushing the toilet after use; dressing appropriately depending on the environment you are in; starting a phone call with a greeting; when eating, using utensils appropriate to the meal and cuisine, such as not eating soup with a fork but rather with a spoon; arriving to set meetings or classes on time; the idea that men should be strong and muscular, while women should be dainty and nurturing; the idea that men should take care of household repairs, whilst women are expected to do the cooking.

The examples can go on and on as these are all things people are aware of within the social world but do not pay very much mind to until attention is brought to them. Even though these are our current norms, social norms are able to change quite rapidly within different societies. The changes are not unanimous to all humans though, rather only to certain social groupings. Just as rapidly as they may change in some societies, do they intensify in others. For example, the customs of marriage over time. In countries such as Australia and America, if legally accepted, marriage is generally by choice. People within these countries are able to marry whoever they please. While this is the case in these countries, in countries such as India, the cultural expectations of marriage have not evolved. In cultures such as this, a marriage is usually arranged between two families rather than the individuals choosing for themselves. Whether this cultural norm will evolve over time to adapt more to the Western world, we can only wait and see.

In conclusion, social norms are the unspoken rules of our societies. They tell us what to think about certain topics, when to feel certain feelings, and how to behave in certain environments. They are not punishable by law, but in some cases being shunned and rejected by your social grouping is much worse than paying a fine. These social norms we live by shape our behaviour based on which social grouping we find ourselves in. They are the unspoken teachings of how we are to behave depending on where we stand within the social hierarchy of our groups and communities; within our educational facilities or our workplaces; within our religions and our nations. Embarrassment and punishment is what drives us to cooperate with these norms. Everyone wishes to be ‘normal’.

Reference List: Harvard Referencing Style

1. Abrams, D., Wetherell, M., Cochrane, S., Hogg, M.A. and Turner, J.C., 1990. Knowing what to think by knowing who you are: Self‐categorization and the nature of norm formation, conformity and group polarization. British journal of social psychology, 29(2), pp.97-119.
2. Arrow, H. & Burns, K. L., 2004. Self-organizing culture: How norms emerge in small groups. In M. Schaller & C. S. Crandall (Eds.), The psychological foundations of culture. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
3. Binmore, K., 2010. Social norms or social preferences? Mind & Society, 9(2), pp.139-157
4. Deutsch, M. and Gerard, H.B., 1955. A study of normative and informational social influences upon individual judgement. The journal of abnormal and social psychology, 51(3), p.629.
5. Passer, M.W., 2018. Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour, McGraw-Hill Australia, Sydney. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [18 April 2020]
6. Popitz, H., 2017. Social norms. Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, 11(2), p.4.
7. Scott, J. and Marshall, G., Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, 2005.
8. Young, H.P., 2015. The evolution of social norms. Economics, 7(1), PP.359-387.

Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta is a novel that’s the main purpose is to inspire the reader to chase their dreams no matter the race, gender, or status. The story follows the growth of Adah, Nigerian women around the time of World War II. Adah was becoming established as a person as her dreams became more prominent, she never let her dreams die out. Adah was able to get out of Nigeria despite her conditions and go to England to fulfill the life she wanted to live. Furthermore, In both Nigeria and England, Adah fights against social norms that kept her suppressed, and as a result, she manages to achieve her independence.

Adah had to fight against her husband, Francis’ ideals of what a Nigerian wife should be like. When Adah wrote her first manuscript she didn’t come home to a supportive husband but a husband who burned her manuscript, Emecheta states: “You keep forgetting that you are a woman and that you are black. The white man can barely tolerate us, men, to say nothing of brainless females like you who could think of nothing except how to breastfeed her baby” (Emecheta, 167). Adah was in constant turmoil with her husband despite her being the breadwinner of the family. Francis is trying to control Adah and have her continue to live under his shadow. This society believes that the role of a wife is to simply to be a caretaker, Adah challenges that belief that women are only good for bearing children and taking care of their husbands by not only taking care of the household but holding down the family financially.

Francis was starting to merge into the stereotypes of his time that colored people couldn’t prosper in life because he told Adah that she couldn’t succeed because of her race. Francis is also very sexist because he thinks men are superior to women no matter how valuable the woman might be to the household. Francis wanted to suppress Adah’s dreams as a writer so she doesn’t gain too much freedom from him and used the excuse of “what would my family think” against her. Francis displays more insecurities than Adah because he doesn’t have much going for him. Adah didn’t conform to social norms used to knock her down such as her race, gender, and marital status when Francis would try and control her.

In England, Adah was expected to raise her children how other Nigerian families had to, but she refused. When arriving in England, Adah was told that most foreigners have two mothers, a foster mother, and a biological mother. The foster family would be a white family who the child would live with and the child would be able to obtain the luxury a white family in England will usually get, such as education and good housing. Adah took this to offense and felt like they were trying to tell her that if she keeps her children that her children will be bound to fail in England. It was common knowledge that people of England thought Nigerians aren’t expected to give their children a good home and have a fair educational background while living in England. A Nigerian isn’t able to give their children a successful life in England because the opportunities were limited for them so most foreigners will give their children up for adoption so that they could have those opportunities. Adah refused and wanted to give her children a great life

in England herself. Adah didn’t want to fall into what is expected by England society of Nigerian children having a foster parent to live a good life in England.

In England, Nigerian women were not supposed to have high paying jobs and education. Adah was different and strived to get the education a Nigerian woman deserves and a job a black English woman needs. Adah was able to obtain a good-paying job despite her race and gender, Emecheta says: “She was in a white man’s job, even though everybody had warned her against it, it looked as if she was meant to keep it (Emecheta, 69).” Adah was able to secure herself a great job because of the education she fought for in Nigeria. It didn’t bother Adah that it wasn’t typical for a person of her gender and race to have a stable job. It was unheard of being a middle class or upper-class black woman in England. However, Adah proved everyone wrong, even Francis. Once Francis saw Adah was able to bring a stable income, he decided to sit back and feed off of her paychecks. Adah rejected the idea that only white men can have stable incomes in England.

In Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta, Adah proved many people wrong of the social norms they grew up with such as men being superior, raising children how society feels is necessary, and Nigerian women can’t have a good education and get high paying jobs. Francis was a byproduct of how Nigerian women were viewed hence, why he treated Adah the way that he did. Adah, on the other hand, didn’t allow herself to be the byproduct of the social norms in both Nigeria and England of how a woman of color should live life. Adah didn’t let her husband

define her, she raised her children on her own without foster care, and she obtained a high paying job due to her well-educated background which a Nigerian woman was denied to get.

Adah is an inspiration for women in today’s society. Women still often feel suppressed by social norms they feel they must adapt to, but Adah was an example for women who want to break free from the cycle. She created her own identity separate from the social norms everyone instilled in her.

Let us take an example model, spread of awareness model of Social Norms to describe the model and lets us deep dive in to see how the arguments that I have presented in the section I and II prevails. The models simulate the micro-behaviors of individuals about the consumption of a limited resource (Water or Energy). The chosen model aims to clarify the processes that leads a group of households to perceive a resource as ‘Critical’ for environmental sustainability and thereby to reduce its consumption and to observe the collective outcome of how a social norm emerges about the sustainability or unsustainability at a macro level (Sissa, G. (2014)). The objective of the model is to simulate the spread of awareness and assess the time required to reach the Reduction Goal in the system proposed. The models simulate, how awareness spreads in a community of agents, how the dynamic of such awareness impacts on individual reduction goals and on resource consumption, how the availability of smart metering functions can impact on such mechanisms. This agent-based model can be viewed as a helper system that assists in researching and theorizing a middle-range hypothesis of awareness spread in the given community. The underlying hypothesis is that ICT tools can enable and amplify key social and psychological mechanisms leading to environmentally sustainable lifestyles.

There is an overall reduction objective the system can reach or not. Attaining the objective corresponds to sustainable consumption or in short sustainability. The agents in the model are households. Agents don’t move and their position is always the same. This choice of non-mobile agents is driven by the consideration that agents are sharing the infrastructure where are available the smart metering functions, that are part of the infrastructure where households live. Such smart metering functions include: In home metering; Individual feedback about the individual own consumption of the limited resource; Information about green leaders and their low consumption profile that are taken as reference; Personalized advice for consumption reduction.

Awareness is a feature of each agent. It changes by interaction with neighbors in a given radius, by the influence of a green aptitude of a community and by a mechanism of social reinforcement. Agents are categorized into different types, and each type as different environmental awareness, different impacts on other agents as well as different awareness update coefficients. Because the categorization defines the consumption patterns and the potential reduction patterns, the awareness spread leads to behavior changes of agents in resource consumption. The agents are basically people involved in the consumption of one limited or critical resource. Each agent as mentioned earlier is a household.

There are mainly five types of agents; blinds, indifferent, spectators, actives, and evangelists. Blind Agents have negative environmental behavior. Their need to prevent overuse of the resource and their environmental sustainability goals are negative. Their consumption increases and they are mocking other green agents(i.e., actives or evangelists). Their awareness level is very low, and they have a significant negative influence on neighbors. They represent a block in achieving the tipping points. Normally, they don’t increase enough their awareness to change their type. They become more aware only if a large part of their neighbors consists of green agents and the social norms become evidently significant. They respond only to negative social reinforcement. Their consumption pattern is independent of the smart metering functions available. Indifferent agents are neutral about the environmental sustainability goal. Their consumptions are constants, with only some possible small reduction under very specific conditions, i.e. when they are supplied with a combination of smart metering functions. They don’t have an influence on neighbors but are influenced by them. Spectator agents are quite stable in their behavior but are open to listen and observe their neighbor’s behaviors. Under some combinations of smart metering functions, they can have reduction goal and They do not have an influence on their neighbors but are influenced by them. Active Agents are green people, engaged into a reduction of resource consumption. They have a significant positive influence on neighbors. They allow other people to look at their own data in order to show beneficial behavior results and to share reduction goal with others. They are responsive to positive social reinforcement. They are quasi-¬‐committed agents. Evangelist agents they are green activists that, in addition to active agents, can supply new resources into the system by producing the resource, for example when they produce renewable energy at a local scale with solar panels. They are prosumers. They have a strong influence on neighbors but are not influenced by them. Their awareness never decreases an evangelist. The agents know the global trend about resource consumption. When their behaviors are concordant with the general consumption trends the agents “reinforce” their beliefs and such social reinforcement in round change their awareness (Sissa, G. (2014).

Process- Macro- micro-level action and outcome

It is very obvious that the system tries to cover the macro- micro-level actions and their outcome in detail. In short, the process of the model is,

1. Update of awareness: The awareness of the agents is updated according to the neighbors’ influence.
2. Update of types: An agent changes his type when his awareness passes a given threshold.
3. Update of reduction goals: The individual reduction goal varies according to agent type.
4. Update of consumption: The own resource consumption depends on the reduction goal.
5. Social Reinforcement: Social Reinforcement is a variable of each agent

During each run in the system, each agent looks around himself to verify how many neighbors and what type there are in the given radius. And according to these and other specific conditions he updates his awareness level. The awareness is also affected by a view of the overall “pro-environment” aptitude. After the update of awareness of each agent, when agent awareness is beyond a given value the model updates the agent type. Each agent has on own consumption pattern, this can be correlated to Merton’s view of micro action and the outcome. The pattern of consumption depends on the type of the agent and also on the availability of smart metering functions. Such smart metering function are the enablers to make agents able to measure the resource that he consumes, to have feedback on his individual consumption, to compare his own consumption with other agents, namely the agent with the lowest consumption. The process of agents getting influenced by their neighbors and their update of awareness all constitute to the micro action and outcome in the system. The overall change in the number of different type of agents and consumption of the resources in total by the population in the system there by attaining the overall reduction goal, constitutes the macro-level outcome of the system. This final macro-level outcome is reached through various mechanisms or processes such as Social norms, Social influence or reinforcement, and Smart Metering system. The change in the dynamic of the society is also captured in the model. Thus, the model allows us to implement a generative understanding of causality.

Association and Causality

It can be clearly seen that there is an association in terms of Resource consumption since the different agents in the system consumes resources differently and they all have different consumption rate. At the same time, no agents were affected with each other’s resource consumption or in other words no cause happened to an agent because of another agent. The result of the system such as, the change in global resource consumption, attaining sustainability or the unsustainability of the system, time taken to achieve the system reduction goal and the aggregate number of different types of agents can be causally related to the input criteria, such as initial setup of the system. Such as, the number of blind and active agents, smart metering facility in their households by defining mechanisms or processes such as social network and smart metering function.

Validation

We can choose Statistical and Qualitative cross- Validation for validating the paper and it can be done against the evidence that are qualitative in nature which describes about the behavior of individuals and how they interact within the agents. In the model, the consumption of resources is reported and the overall result of the process of decreasing the resource usage by awareness involving agents to inform and validate the model qualitatively at micro level. It can be perceived that this cross-validation of agent-based social simulation models is an achievement in analytical sociology. Micro validation against accounts of individual behavior and macro validation against the data that are aggregated can also be done. Reduction goal and individual resource consumption can be validated at the Individual level (Micro Validated). The overall resource uses can be validated at macro level.

Conclusion

The paper discussed agent-based models and why they are part of the empirical sociology framework in terms of building or contributing to middle-range theories and basic ideas on middle-range models, the definition of ABM, Causality and Mechanisms, and finally a brief overview of my experience in explaining the existing model and validating the model. It can be concluded that Analytical sociology provides the blueprint for understanding the social world and process. It brings out intricate connections between micro-level behaviors and macro-level patterns. Analytical Sociology assists in understanding a social phenomenon and predicting the outcome. The concept of middle-range theory can be considered as the bread and butter in Analytica sociology and it is the best method to define, analyze and study a social phenomenon. Middle-range theories are the best approach to explain a social behavior with the exact level of abstraction. To design and understand the Analytical sociology theories agent-based modeling system the best technique, as it clearly encapsulates the macro- micro-level of action and outcome clearly. Further, we have covered varying understanding of causality and how ABM fits into each in it. We can conclude that the ABM can be used for causal inferences as well, if it satisfies certain conditions. Moreover, all these was further argued and validated using an example ABM model, spread of awareness of social norms.

What is conformity? Conformity involves changing yourself behaviourally or physically in order to “fit in” or to get along with those around you. This social influence may involve agreeing with the majority or acting according to what a certain group of people may perceive as “normal”, which in this case refers to the social norms existing in our society. Some common social norms include pink for girls, blue for boys, getting married by 35 and having the guy pay for the meal when a couple is out on a date. Although conformity may not necessarily be a bad thing, I strongly believe that people should not conform to social norms. It is important for us to be proud of our individualism and stay true to our beliefs and core values.

To start off, I believe that we as individuals in this society, should be proud of our individualism. Social norms, in a nutshell, is to be “socially normal”. It may be the most common or popular way of doing a certain thing. However, this normal is an opinion, formed by the majority. What others perceive as normal may not be what we perceive as normal and vice versa. From my personal experience, there are many people in my age group who are avid fans of this korean boy band, namely, BTS. Even though I am an avid fan of K-pop myself, I do not conform to this social norm of crazing over BTS which is what the people around me perceive as being a “normal” K-pop fan. Just because the way we think or act is not considered “normal”, does not mean that it is wrong and that we should not be approaching the issue in this way. This just shows that every individual is different and we are all unique in our own ways. Our mindset, our behaviour, our beliefs and our core values, they all differ. We need not change ourselves just to fit in with those around us and we should not be afraid to stand out even if we are outnumbered. After all, it is important for us to be proud of and stand up for our own thoughts and feelings.

Moreover, not conforming to social norms will allow us to stay true to ourselves and our beliefs. By conforming to these social norms, you are not entirely showing your true self to those around you. When you spend most of your time trying to be someone who is not genuinely you and wearing all kinds of masks and costumes based on the role that you are expected to play, you begin to lose yourself. At this point, you may become obsessed with gaining approval and love from everyone around you. However, it is important to keep in mind that we are all different and that we are not born into this world to lift up to society’s expectations of us. Instead of blending in with and losing ourselves into the crowd and pretending to be the someone whom we are not, why not embrace ourselves for who we truly are. We should all be proud of our perfections and imperfections and not be afraid of staying true to our true selves. The society may not perceive what we believe in as normal, but that is fine. As long as we know that we are fighting for something that we truly believe in, it is enough. We do not need to lose ourselves in the midst of aligning our mindset and our behaviour with the people around us.

Contrary to what I believe in, some people believe that we should conform to social norms as it will be beneficial for us as individuals. This is especially prominent amongst teenagers. Due to the lack of maturity and self confidence, teenagers find it hard to stay true to themselves without feeling left out of a certain group or a “misfit” to the society. As a result, they tend to follow in the footsteps of those around them so as to feel like a part of them. By doing so, it is believed that their confidence is boosted as they will be acknowledged by those who have the same mindset and behaviours as them. However, I beg to differ. When we conform to fit into another person’s mindset, we live off their beliefs. The confidence that was built up is not built upon us as our true individual selves. I believe that if you were to change yourself for these social norms that you do not believe in, you have eliminated the possibilities of self-esteem and happiness. In fact, you will only end up feeling more miserable and uncomfortable. A life without authenticity, without values and lived in contradictions with your beliefs is equivalent to having no life at all since you are practically living off as others.

Social and cultural values are expectations or the rules of behaviour and way of thinking which relay on beliefs within a specific cultural or social group. Different social and cultural norms influence how individuals react to violence. Cultural norms are the standards we live by. They are the shared expectations and rules that guide behaviour of people within social groups. Cultural norms are learned and reinforced from parents, friends, teachers and others while growing up in a society. They should know how much cultural norms really matter.

No social norms means no patterns of behaviour . If there were no social norms, then everyone would be doing whatever they felt like, neglecting what needed to be done, and people would be acting with no sense of respect whatsoever for anyone except themselves, and we would quickly arrive in a State of Nature in which there was a war of all against all and life was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.Therefore, we can speculate that IF a condition could exist without social norms, AND there are no other guidance factors in individual development, society would be anarchic, with consequences of much slower intellectual and community development.

It would be a much more primitive and animalistic existence. Society without culture norms would create a destructive environment everywhere and if we talk about our country Pakistan here with all the norms, social and cultural values still rights are neglected infants are being raped and there is no such punishment for the culprits and if there is any, they would bribe the system and be free. Having cultural norms is very important. Every single individual should have them. Otherwise world would be at war all the time.And if we talk about Socio-Political Institutions then Culturally tight nations tend to have more autocratic governments, restricted media, stronger suppression of dissent, and more severe punishments for crime.Everyday Social Situations.

All kinds of interactions with fellow members of the culture are more formal in nations with tight cultural norms. These include situations at home, the workplace, school, places of worship, parks, and others. Loose cultures provide more room for individual discretion in such situations. A wider range of behaviour is counted “appropriate.”

Psychological Adaptations. People’s minds become attuned to the different requirements of living in places with tight or loose cultural norms. Individual psychology then further supports the level of cultural tightness or looseness. People living in tight cultures become more focused on avoiding mistakes. They are more cautious in their own behaviour, and more closely monitor themselves and others for norm violations.