Transcript Norms

Understanding of Norms:
a developmental context
Function of norms
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coordinating actions, beliefs, feelings,
expectations
Norms represent social facts – normative
facts of what makes sense to do (= rational)
Norms provide (justified) reasons for action
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Normative action
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a human disposition to act, believe and feel
in ways that are guided by norms
a disposition to experience certain feelings
when norms are violated (correlated in self
and other)
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Domains of norms
Fundamental distinction between moral and
social norms
 Moral norms (morally permissible/good or
blameworthy/wrong actions in view of
principles of fairness/justice and solidarity)
 Social/conventional norms (arbitrary norms
e.g. eating-, dressing codes, traffic rules)
 prudential norms (goal oriented
instrumental action)
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Domain mixture
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Social norms are arbitrary but:
they can be moralized (e.g. religious norms,
Shweder)
Morality can be the basis of some
conventional norms (for ex. politeness)
(some) legal norms (e.g. contractual norms)
are rooted in moral norms
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Cognitive basis of norm following
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Capacity to accept norms as fundamental
human (biological) adaptation
norms imply coordinated expectations about
behavior
moral prescriptive: what we (rightly) ought
to expect from each other in specific
situations (theory of mind, perspective
coordination)
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Motivational basis of norm following
Norms provide good/justified reasons for action
 Internal motivation:
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internalisation of norm = to have a motivational
and emotional disposition to follow/not to violate
the norm
moral self and identity, self respect
External motivation
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Obedience to authority, feelings of security and
group belongingness, moral admiration
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Norm violation
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norms require more or less strict orientation
of individual actors
correspondingly, violation of norms is
punished/sanctioned more or less strictly
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external sanctions: sanction by law,
public opinion
internal sanctions: conscience, shame/guilt
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Emotional dispositions in norm violation
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Disposition to certain feelings, evaluations and
actions which are coordinated/correlated in self and
other
Emotions in violator:
external: fear of punishment (physical – social
exclusion)
internal: fear of shame/guilt
Emotions in victim/observer:
anger, moral indignation, outrage, blame,
resentment, disappointment
Reconciliation, compensation, apology, forgiveness
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Development of understanding of
norms involves cognitive processes
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Theory of mind, perspective differentiation
and coordination
understanding feelings, motives,
expectations
But: rationally understanding a norms and
obligations does not necessarily imply
following them.
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Development of moral self/identity
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Development of moral sensitivity
Cultivation of moral feelings
Development of moral motivation
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Social experiences and development of a
sense of fairness or justice
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Developed (cultivated) under certain social
and historical conditions
Experiencing just institutions (family,
school, societal institutions, see Rawls)
If situations deviate from normative
standards perceived as fair the sense of
justice may be violated and situations
evaluated as unfair. Contradictions
emerge/conditions of change.
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