Social norms in the system of reference points of human practice

In the course of the formation and development of society, and accordingly with the emergence of dominant strata, many different norms have been developed designed to regulate the behavior of people in various spheres of life. In any society, there are necessarily certain social norms inherent in a particular society. Social norms mean certain patterns and rules of behavior that have become stronger in society as a result of practical activities in the process of which certain standards have appeared, as well as standards of behavior recognized as standard. The assimilation by a person of the values and norms of society, the social rules and standards of behavior required by society, the coordination of his behavior with the institutions of society, the subordination of his actions and deeds to the highest norms of proper behavior developed by society is an indispensable condition for the formation of a citizen. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of social norms in the life of modern society and in human life. "Norm is a concept that designates the boundaries in which things, phenomena, natural and social systems, types of human activity and communication retain their qualities, functions, forms of reproduction". The concept of a norm is concretized in terms of rules, samples, and prescriptions. It is used to characterize the states of natural and social processes, although it is closely related to the organization of human activity, its jointly divided nature, with various systems of measures developed in it. Norms can be presented in a directly material form: in the form of samples and standards; in the form of rules fixed in symbolic forms and as schemes of activity and communication "embedded" in the behavior of human individuals. Norms can relate to objects external to a person, to certain situations of social interactions, to individual personality development and are classified accordingly. But since they set stable and universally valid rules of action jointly developed by people, they can all be broadly defined as social.

Social norms in a narrow sense express the specific nature of the existence of certain social groups. In archaic societies, they fixed the conditions for the reproduction of social ties, schemes for the transfer of experience from generation to generation in strict forms of prohibitions, customs and regulations. They acted as a natural law of human behavior and were perceived by people as an immutable order of their life. The categories of philosophy include explicit or implicit normative functions and precisely due to this they serve as guidelines for human practice and personal self-realization of individuals.

The norm-oriented analysis of social life was embodied in various sociological concepts of social action and social interaction and appeared in the most developed form in the theory of functionalism (T. Parsons), which prevailed in sociology until the 70s of the twentieth century. According to this theory, the normal existence of a social system is associated with balancing and preserving its basic functions. Violation of the basic functions of the system, arising in particular due to the avoidance of individuals from authorized forms of interaction, can lead to social pathology. Therefore, the maintenance of norms and the permanent socialization of individuals are a condition for the preservation of social order. Acting as a powerful means of regulating human behavior and collectives of people, social norms are a "bridge" connecting all manifestations of a person's personality, his behavior with the most important social institutions of modern society, its structure, its requirements.

Social norms as the establishment and models of the proper and evaluable behavior of individuals and various types of communities by society are the most common and effective means of social regulation of behavior and solving a large number of social problems. The assimilation by a person of the values and norms of society, the social rules and standards of behavior required by society, the coordination of his behavior with the institutions of society, the subordination of his actions and deeds to the highest norms of proper behavior developed by society is an indispensable condition for the formation of a citizen.

Norms exist in various systemic states and manifestations and include law, morality, customs, traditions, etc. Social norms are coercive. Powerful socioeconomic factors dividing the modern world, distinguishing diametrically different classes, strata and layers within society, ultimately generate in modern society an infinite number of different types of cultures, ways of life and activities, forms of interaction and relationships of people. This leads to the formation in different societies and different, often diametrically opposed systems of social norms and value systems served by these norms, value orientations and normative value systems. In turn, social norms, standards, patterns regulating institutions, models of due, permissible, acceptable, possible, approved or censured, variously evaluated and prescribed behavior, having arisen in modern society, themselves act as social factors. It should be noted that not only economic and socio-economic factors, but also social norms and regulatory systems as a whole divide and contrast people in modern societies or, conversely, unite and unite them into certain communities, cementing and socially formalizing socio-economic communities or, conversely, dissimilate them. But social norms are not only an important factor in the stratification of society and the stratification orientation of a person. When solving large social tasks, conditions are created under which the normative regulation of behavior and conscious adherence to the norms developed in society become the most important characteristic of social behavior of citizens.

Almost all members of society know (although they are not always aware of the factors of their own behavior, do not always follow and obey them) the basic requirements — the norms of society, they know how "it should".

The service of values is admired, and the fulfillment of norms is at best only approved. "The norms are organized in such a way that, as a rule, it is always possible to fulfill all the norms at once, and the impossibility of this characterizes the inconsistency of the system. At the same time, it is a common state of affairs when some values are sacrificed in the name of others, and this is not blamed on either the value system or the person. In connection with the latter, it can be noted that the normative system determines behavior more rigidly than the value system. The norm does not know gradations: either the norms are fulfilled, or they are not. Service to values can vary in "intensity".

Social norms find themselves in conditions in which people's behavior and activities are developed and built, and internal factors for a person, and means of organizing and regulating his behavior and activity. In the first case, a person faces a complex, multifaceted and sometimes contradictory system of social norms-requirements and norms-expectations, developed in society as a whole, and by those communities and groups in which the individual is included.

The system of social norms of society as a whole and its constituent diverse communities of people, being a powerful regulator of behavior, turns out to be both a guide and a means of realizing values, institutions, goals and objectives of the whole society, and forms of manifestation of features, specific conditions, goals and objectives of private communities, groups. It is no coincidence that during periods of restructuring of society and transformations of various aspects of society's life, differentiation of people, their collision and opposition, or vice versa, cohesion, consolidation are associated with conflicts or, conversely, with the harmonization of norms and values of its constituent groups and communities. It is in the sphere of social norms that possible tensions and "personal" conflicts manifest themselves, or, conversely, coordination and fusion of goals and ideals, means and methods of action, the connection and dependence of the spiritual and moral life of people and their socio-economic, political, legal and specific group position in society are realized. In a person's life, therefore, in his behavior there are practically no such spheres, such types of activities and the general life activity of an individual that would not be regulated socially and primarily with the help of diverse and different in importance and importance of social norms.