From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Sociology

Portal

General aspects

History · Positivism · Antipositivism Functionalism · Conflict theory Social theory · Critical theory Structure & agency · Socialization Research · Public sociology Sociology of: childhood · culture deviance · education · environment · ethnicity · family · gender · health industry · internet · knowledge · law military · rationalization · religion science · secularization · stratification

Related fields and subfields

Criminology · Cultural studies Economic sociology · Islamic sociology Media studies · Medical sociology Political sociology · Social anthropology Social psychology · Social work Socioeconomics · Sociolinguistics Statistics · Systems theory

Categories and lists

Journals · Publications · Outline List of sociologists · Index

v • d • e

Shaking hands after a tennis match is an example of a social norm.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)

Social norms are the behavioral expectations and cues within a society or group. This sociological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors." These rules may be explicit or implicit. Failure to follow the rules can result in severe punishments, including exclusion from the group."^[1] They have also been described as the "customary rules of behavior that coordinate our interactions with others."^[2]

The social norms indicate the established and approved ways of doing things, of dress, of speech and of appearance. These vary and evolve not only through time but also vary from one age group to another and between social classes and social groups. What is deemed to be acceptable dress, speech or behaviour in one social group may not be accepted in another.

Deference to the social norms maintains one's acceptance and popularity within a particular group; ignoring the social norms risks one becoming unacceptable, unpopular or even an outcast from a group. Social norms tend to be tacitly established and maintained through body language and non-verbal communication between people in their normal social discourse.

We^{[ who? ]} soon come to know when and where it is appropriate to say certain things, to use certain words, to discuss certain topics or wear certain clothes, and when not to. Such knowledge about cultural norms is important for impression management^[3], which is an individual's regulation of their nonverbal behaviour. We also come to know through experience what types of people we can and cannot discuss certain topics with or wear certain types of dress around. Mostly this knowledge is derived experientially.

What is IR?

International relations refers to the collective interactions of the international community, which includes individual nations and states, inter-governmental organizations such as the United Nations, non-governmental organizations like Doctors Without Borders, multinational corporations, and so forth. The term is also used to refer to a branch of political science which focuses on the study of these interactions. As an academic discipline, international relations encompasses a wide range of academic fields, ranging from history to environmental studies, and there are a number of areas of specific specialty, for academics who are interested in them.

The concept of international relations on some level is probably quite old, given that humans have been establishing governments and communicating with each other for thousands of years. However, many people agree that international relations truly began to emerge around the 15th century, when people started exploring the world and interacting with other governments and cultures. Organizations like the Dutch East India company were among the first multinational corporations, for example, while representatives of various European governments met with foreign governments to establish trade agreements and to discuss issues of mutual concern.

As one might imagine, international relations can get incredibly complex. It is also sometimes known as “foreign relations,” and specialists in this field do things like staffing diplomatic agencies abroad, providing consultation to businesses which are considering establishing branches overseas, and assisting charitable non-governmental organizations with their missions. Many specialists pick a particular region of the world to focus on, as the language and etiquette of international relations is incredibly varied, depending on whom one deals with.

In the academic world, the study of international relations encompasses the history of this immensely varied field, along with studies of modern foreign relations. Students often examine specific relationships to learn more about them, and they may look at emerging global issues as an ongoing part of their education. Many people in the field of international relations also spend time abroad, studying foreign relations from a different angle and performing specific regional research.

Whether one works in international relations or studies it, one should expect to examine things like economics, history, sociology, anthropology, law, nationalism, development, human rights issues, psychology, geography, global studies, and even philosophy. Many institutions all over the world offer training for people who wish to specialize in this field, along with cooperative study agreements abroad which help to expand the horizons of students.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16