It's all about Perspective: Norms and Sanctions

I was sick all week with a nasty respiratory virus, causing me to miss 3 days of school. This experience has allowed me to stumble upon a perfect real life example of a sociological norm and sanctions.

Norm: what exceptions, thoughts, feelings are appropriate within a given group or culture.

Sanction:  a reward or punishment that results from a norm being followed or violated.

In the United States and especially well off towns like mine, kids are supposed to go to school. It is a norm.  If they do not they get behind in material their fellow students are learning and quickly try to play the catch up game before their  grades begin to sink with them. This negative consequence is called a sanction.  There are many positive sanctions for following this norm, as well. For example, one who attends school on a daily basis will eventually have the ability to attend college and one day get a worthwhile career. On a smaller scale, one will simply be on track with his classmates if he attends school. He won’t be trying to make up tests or homework, like I find myself right now.

Like I showed you with my example above, sanctions come in all different “shapes and sizes”. They can be positive, if you followed the norm, or negative, if you neglected to behave appropriately for that certain group or culture. But they also can be temporary and short term consequences of your actions or permanent and long term consequences.

Here’s an example relating to our world today:

Big Love: a TV show on HBO about a man with three wives and children with each.

There are laws in our states that that say it is illegal to have more than one married spouse. The term is known as polygamy or sometimes bigamy. It is against the norm. That is in the greater picture of our country. However, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) have a different view on polygamy. They are a community filled with husbands with more than one wife and children with each. They view this behavior as a norm. The greater of the country however, views this type of lifestyle as inappropriate, and there for violating a social norm. Polygamists are violating the norm of marrying one single spouse and only having children with that one person, according to each state government. But if a man in FLDS decides to only have one spouse that is going against their norm.

Here's a link about Polygamy in America: http://www.pri.org/politics-society/polygamy-in-america1873.html

So our norms are relative. They depend on what group, big or large, a single individual belongs to. If I lived in a rough neighborhood, and did not attend school for 3 days, one would not assume I was sick right away. Worse things keep kids away from school than illness in high crime areas. But in my school illness is usually the root to school absence. Overall, it is all about perspective.

It's all about perspective...