For example, unless we have prior understanding, we cannot take something from a neighbor's yard; the difference between borrowing and stealing is based on shared understandings. These understandings give our daily lives order and allow us to determine which behaviors we can legitimately insist we perform and which they can legitimately insist we perform. We understand at least some of the expectations that will hold for us and others in these settings. Such expectations are norms. Norms are social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in given situations. They afford a means by which we orient ourselves to other people. In all cultures the great body of these social rules deals with matters involving sex, property, and safety. There are different types of norms which are folkways, mores and laws.
Let me explain what folkways, mores, and laws are.
• Folkways have to do with the customary ways and ordinary conventions by which we carry out our daily activities. For example, bathing, brushing our teeth, sleeping in beds, etc. We view people who violate folkways, especially those who violate a good number of them, as somehow different and even strange.
• Mores are norms to which people attach a good deal of importance and exact strict conformity. Members of a culture or society are more concerned about violations of mores. For example: murder, theft, rape, treason, and child molestation bring strong disapproval and severe punishment in the U.S. Mores are seen as vital to a society's well being and survival. People usually attach moral significances to mores, and they define people who violate them as sinful and evil. Consequently, the punishment for violators of a society's mores is severe; they may be put to death, imprisoned, cast out, mutilated, or tortured.
Now for laws:.
• Some norms are formalized into laws, rules that are enforced by a special political organization composed of individuals who have the right to use force.
