Sociology: The Complete Companion - Essay Example

The first example is where an individual of high-status quo decides to use his bicycle to travel to work despite having a vehicle and the availability of public means of transport, the individual will have behaved against the norms of the society as depicted by the roles and code of behavior associated with his rank and status in the society. The sanctions that the society will impose on such an individual will include the decline in respect and status attached to the individual by his workmates and society.

His workmates who have lower prestige jobs in the workplace may doubt the individual's capability to be in such a position and this might lead to the loss of the job by the individual because the individual does not act according to the roles attached to him and also he does behave according to the societies norms to maintain his status and prestige according to the role he or she plays in the society.Dressing and social norms:The other example is when an individual may decide to wear two different types or make of shoes, one makes on the left foot and the other on the right, those who notice may decide that this is a mere joke but the society may decide to sanction you because of breaking the social norms associated with wearing shoes by trying to embarrass you in public, therefore norms are mostly sanctioned by the use of informal sanctions as depicted by this example.

The society's norms depict that one should wear one type of shoe at a time and also they should be of the same make, failure to do so means that the norms of the society are not followed and therefore informal sanctions are imposed on the individual who behaves in such a manner.Conclusion:It is evident from the above examples that informal modes of governing behavior known as norms do exist in our society, when an individual goes against the social norms then we realize their existence and there are those informal sanctions associated with such behavior.

Therefore behavior in all societies is governed by both the formal rules and the informal rules (norms), breaking a formal norm will be rewarded with a formal sanction while breaking an informal norm will be rewarded with an informal sanction.