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| Mores | |
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| Name | Mores |
Mores are the morally significant customs and conventions that shape social expectations and sanction behavior within societies. They function as prescriptive standards rooted in shared histories and institutional practices, informing how communities respond to actions deemed acceptable or reprehensible. Mores interact with formal institutions, influential individuals, and landmark events, and vary across cultures, periods, and social groups.
Mores are distinguished by their moral weight, communal recognition, and capacity to provoke strong sanctions when breached; they are typically upheld by elders, civic leaders, legal institutions, religious authorities, and scholarly bodies such as Pope Francis, Supreme Court of the United States, European Court of Human Rights, Confucius, and Mahatma Gandhi. Characteristics often include a normative claim about rightness or wrongness, enforceability via social ostracism or institutional penalties, and transmission through rites, texts, and cultural productions associated with figures like William Shakespeare, Homer, Dante Alighieri, Miguel de Cervantes, and Jane Austen. Mores overlap with customs observed in ceremonies presided over by entities like the Vatican, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the British Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.
Forms of mores have evolved alongside institutions, leaders, and landmark moments. In antiquity, prescriptive norms reflected codes compiled under rulers such as Hammurabi and philosophical systems articulated by Aristotle and Plato; later developments involved canonical rulings from councils like the Council of Nicaea and legal reforms under monarchs such as Charlemagne and Henry II of England. The Reformation led by Martin Luther and the Enlightenment associated with John Locke, Voltaire, and Immanuel Kant transformed moral expectations, as did revolutions exemplified by the French Revolution and the American Revolution. Industrialization driven by innovations connected to James Watt and Eli Whitney and social thought by Karl Marx and Max Weber reshaped workplace and family mores, while 20th-century upheavals, including both World Wars, the Russian Revolution, and decolonization movements led by figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Kwame Nkrumah, produced further realignments. Institutions such as the League of Nations, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court have influenced modern moral expectations through treaties like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mores vary cross-culturally, illustrated by practices associated with leaders and institutions across regions: honor codes linked to dynasties such as the Qing dynasty and the Ottoman Empire; kinship obligations codified by customary law in societies studied by anthropologists like Bronisław Malinowski and Margaret Mead; gendered expectations shaped by movements involving Simone de Beauvoir, Susan B. Anthony, Emmeline Pankhurst, and Malala Yousafzai; and dietary and ritual taboos addressed in texts by Moses and traditions maintained at sites like the Western Wall and the Kumbh Mela. Examples include social sanctions for adultery enforced in contexts ranging from historical codes under Salic law to modern cases adjudicated by courts such as the International Court of Justice, and communal mourning practices seen in ceremonies associated with Queen Elizabeth II and state funerals for leaders like Nelson Mandela.
Mores serve integrative, regulatory, and expressive functions within societies. They foster social cohesion in settings governed by institutions like the Catholic Church, Sunni Islam institutions, and cultural organizations such as the Royal Society, while regulating behavior in workplaces and families influenced by corporate norms at firms like Ford Motor Company and educational norms at universities like University of Oxford and Harvard University. Enforcement mechanisms range from informal shaming in public spheres associated with media outlets like The New York Times and BBC to formal sanctions imposed by tribunals such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and legislative bodies like the UK Parliament or United States Congress. Moral entrepreneurship by activists linked to movements such as Civil Rights Movement, Suffragette movement, and MeToo movement demonstrates how influential actors can create, modify, or amplify mores.
The boundary between mores and laws is dynamic and mediated by legal, religious, and political actors. Legislatures like the French National Assembly and courts such as the Supreme Court of India often codify prevailing mores into statutes or constitutional doctrines, while other mores remain regulatory without formal legal backing, enforced by guilds such as the Bar Association or ecclesiastical bodies like the Synod of Bishops. International agreements like the Geneva Conventions and domestic landmark decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education illustrate the conversion of moral expectations into binding legal norms, whereas contested mores may spark litigation before institutions like the European Court of Justice or public debates in forums such as the World Economic Forum.
Contemporary shifts in mores are driven by technological, demographic, and political forces connected to companies like Google (Alphabet Inc.), movements led by figures such as Greta Thunberg and institutions including UNESCO. Digital platforms run by Facebook (Meta Platforms), Twitter (X), and YouTube mediate normative disputes, accelerating transformations in privacy, sexuality, and speech norms once governed by traditions associated with Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. Global migration involving crises like the Syrian civil war and economic changes tied to organizations such as the International Monetary Fund create friction between inherited mores and emergent practices, prompting debates in parliaments like the Bundestag and policy bodies such as the European Commission. Legal contests in supreme courts, advocacy by NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and cultural productions by filmmakers linked to festivals such as Cannes Film Festival continue to reshape which mores gain prominence and which are marginalized.
Category:Social norms