What Are The Differences Between Folkways, Mores, Taboos, and Laws?

What Are the Differences
Between Folkways, Mores,

Taboos, and Laws?
The social norm, or simply, "norm," is arguably the most important concept in
sociology. Sociologists believe that norms govern our lives by giving us implicit
and explicit guidance on what to think and believe, how to behave, and how to
interact with others. We learn norms in a variety of settings and from various
actors, including our families, from teachers and peers in school, through the
media, and simply by interacting with others as we go about our daily business.
There are four key types of norms, with differing levels of scope and reach,
significance and importance, and methods of enforcement and sanctioning of
violations. These are, in order of significance, folkways, mores, taboos, and
laws.
Folkways
Early American sociologist William Graham Sumner was the first to write about
these distinctions. (See Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of
Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals (1906).) According to Sumner,
and how sociologists understand this term today, folkways are norms that stem
from and organize casual interaction, and that emerge out of repetition and
routines.
We engage in them to satisfy our daily needs, and they are most often
unconscious in operation, though quite useful to the ordered functioning of
society.
For example, the practice of waiting in (or on) line in many societies is an
example of a folkway. This practice creates order in the process of buying
things or receiving services, which smooths and expedites the tasks of our daily
lives. Other examples include the concept of appropriate dress dependent on
setting, raising one's hand to take a turn speaking in a group, or the practice of
"civil inattention"--when we politely ignore others around us in public settings.
Folkways mark the distinction between rude and polite behavior, so they exert a
form of social pressure on us to act and interact in certain ways, but they do not
have moral significance, and there are rarely serious consequences or
sanctions for violating one.
Mores
Mores are more strict in folkways, as they determine what is considered moral
and ethical behavior; they structure the difference between right and wrong.
People feel strongly about mores, and violating them typically results in
disapproval or ostracizing. As such, mores exact a greater coercive force in
shaping our values, beliefs, behavior, and interactions than do folkways.
Religious doctrines are an example of mores that govern social behavior. For
example, many religions have prohibitions on cohabitating with a romantic
partner before marriage. So, if a young adult from a strict religious family moves
in with her boyfriend, her family, friends, and congregation are likely to view her
behavior as amoral. They might sanction her behavior by scolding her,
threatening punishment in the afterlife, or by shunning her from their homes
and the church. These actions are meant to indicate that her behavior is amoral
and unacceptable, and are designed to make her changer her behavior to align
with the violated more.
The belief that forms of discrimination and oppression, like racism and sexism,
are unethical is another example of an important more in many societies today.
Taboos
A taboo is a very strong negative norm; it is a strict prohibition of behavior that
society holds so strongly that violating it results in extreme disgust or expulsion
from the group or society. Often times the violator of the taboo is considered
unfit to live in that society. For instance, in some Muslim cultures, eating pork is
taboo because the pig is considered unclean. At the more extreme end, incest
and cannibalism are taboos in most places.
Laws
A law is a norm that is formally inscribed at the state or federal level, and is
enforced by police or the FBI. Laws exist because the violation of the norms of
behavior they govern would typically result in injury or harm to another person,
or are considered violations of the property rights of others. Those who enforce
laws have been given legal right by a government to control behavior for the
good of society at large. When someone violates a law, depending on the type
of violation, a light (payable fine) to severe (imprisonment) sanction will be
imposed by a state authority.

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