Theoretical approaches to social standards as the basis for studying social and age norms

The study of social and age norms requires a comprehensive analysis of accumulated knowledge in the field of social norms. In the field of psychology, norms are considered as part of a more general problem of conformity. Therefore, the canonical theories of conformity (theory of socialization, theory of social identity and theory of rational choice) constitute the methodological basis for the integration of psychological knowledge about the origin, mechanisms of action, and the structure of social norms. The differences in the basic provisions of the above mentioned theories relate to exogenous and endogenous origin of norms, the ratio of normative expectations and real behavior of people, nature of negative sanctions for their violation and procedure of remuneration for compliance. The result of the analysis is the formulation of the current research issues in the study of social and age norms: the combination of various types of norms (prescriptive and descriptive) at different stages of life, identification of the age-specific functions of norms (in particular, signal functions), age flexibility and rigidity of social norms.