Most of us attribute a range of commonly practised behaviours to the existence of social norms – “Oh! So many of my friends and relatives drink alcohol. Must be a social norm!”. However, identifying a social norm is not that simple. What may seem to be a social norm may actually be a custom or a moral code or a ritual.

Attributing the practice of a collective behaviour to the existence of social norms requires the establishment of a strong causal link between the behaviour and expectations i.e. expectations about the behaviour practised by others in one’s reference group as well as expectations about the approval/disapproval of the behaviour. Moreover, social norms exhibit a dynamic nature, as a collective behaviour that qualifies as a social norm at one time may cease to be so after a few years. Similarly, a collective behaviour may be considered to be a social norm in one context while not being so in a different context.

The South Asia Social Norm Learning Collaborative’s next webinar aims to demystify social norms and create a deeper understanding of their nature. This understanding is crucial as it facilitates a more accurate identification of collective behaviours  as social norms and enables the adoption of suitable measurement methodologies.