Social norms are rules that govern the behavior of all the members of society and lay down the social laws. Those who do not observe these rules are termed as deviants and prune to punishment given by the same law. The form of punishment varies from one society to another. Normalcy in any culture is dependable on various factors, such as background, and location (Pope and Vasquez, 2011). Generally, norms bring conformity to the society and enable its people to socialize within the provisions of that culture.
The cultural norms promote creation and distribution of roles within the different members of the society hence social order. These cultural norms have both the direct and the indirect impacts on the development of ethical standards and codes. This paper examines critically the roles of cultural norms in the development of ethical standards and codes in the society and their impact on the general societal wellbeing.
Standard ethics and codes are applicable in all spheres of life. These codes ensure good practices and understanding among societal members by providing a structural framework for members to behave ethically. All the members of the society have to follow these rules. Codes of ethics have foundation on the morals and principles of society (Pope and Vasquez, 2011). The norms of each society, therefore, have both positive and negative impacts on the development of ethical standards and codes.
Societal norms regulate the discipline of the members by constraining them and making behave in a certain way. A well-known societal organization, the American Psychological Association, was founded in the United States to analyze and regulate human behaviors by psychologists. Ethical standards and codes protect the rights and privileges of all the members of the society and influence the growth of these members (Reynolds, 2006).
Societal norms impact the ethical response of an individual with respect to the society of origin. People respond to the equate ethics of the society, regardless how they feel about the matter at hand. An individual following his or her feelings may found oneself on the wrong side of what is taken to be right by the society (Pope and Vasquez, 2011). Therefore, the ethical development has a direct influence on people basing on the societal norms.
Societal norms subscribe all the ethical standards to which citizens of a specific society should assume. Being ethical means acting the way one’s society expects. Every society follows ethical standards that are generally acceptable by all the members. The impact on an individual by the corresponding societal norms is, however, not always positive. An entire society can be, let’s say, corrupt. A good example of such a society is German society in the Nazi Era. In such a society, all the members can be influenced to become ethically corrupt. In Nazi Era in Germany, the society is morally corrupt; hence its members are exposed to its negative influence as well.
Social norms come from what the society generally accepts. For example, some societies accept the art of abortion, hence its people have strong conviction on accepting the same practice. Others strongly abhor such a practice; hence it is not ethical to them. Existence of consensus on societal issues makes it possible to equate ethics (Simonstein, 2009). An agreement, therefore, is very essential regarding the facts that diverge in society.
From this definition, ethical standards take two forms: first, they refer to standards of what is right or wrong and define operations of the humans. Standard ethics also refers to the feelings, laws, and social norms implemented in a moral conduct. Generally, the behavior of an individual is an exact replica of the societal beliefs or norms. These norms shape the personality of an individual forcing him or her to conform to a certain lifestyle.
References
Pope, S & Vasquez, T. (2011). Ethics in psychotherapy and counseling. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass/Wiley.
Reynolds,G. (2006). Appearance of Impropriety: How the Ethics Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business, and Society. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Simonstein, F. (2009). Reprogen-Ethics and the Future of Gender. Georgia: Springer.