A Society Without Norms

A Society Without NormsWhat society lacks today are norms. Norms are not to be confused with simple normality. Rather, norms are the basis for living together in civil society, and without which a social order crumbles. A society without norms is a bland society that leads to standardization with no standards.

Russell Kirk said it best when he wrote that “A norm means an enduringSubscription8.1 standard. It is a law of nature, which we ignore at our peril. It is a rule of human conduct and a measure of public virtue. The norm does not signify the average, the median, the mean, the mediocre. The norm is not the conduct of the average sensual man. A norm is not simply a measure of average performance within a group” (Russell Kirk, Enemies of the Permanent Things: Observations of Abnormity in Literature and Politics, Arlington House, New Rochelle, N.Y., 1969 p. 17).