Legal Behaviour: Norm and Deviation

• Author: Silvia Kaugia
• Pages: 7-13

Silvia Kaugia

Legal Behaviour: Norm and Deviation

Human society is a complicated system in which it would be impossible to orient oneself without behavioural norms which have been accepted by the majority. Different social norms which reflect typical social relationships and ties and which are characteristic of a majority of the members of a specific social group or a society as a whole are the regulators of a person's social behaviour.

A social behavioural norm must be viewed as a part of the structure of society, which exists at the macro level of that structure and regulates the behaviour of people at the micro level. The existence of such a rule of behaviour can be considered if both the person himself or herself as well as other members of society have the right to control his or her behaviour.

There is both an objective and a subjective component to actual behaviour. In the objective sense, a behavioural norm manifests itself in peoples' specific acts, the form and substance of which conform to society's interests and requirements. In the subjective sense, a behavioural norm becomes a part of peoples' consciousness as a certain model of behaviour, incorporating therein to a greater or lesser extent their understanding of societal values and the social meaning of their own actions. This model plays a significant role in the motivation of behaviour. All social norms are characteristic of society.

The most important characteristics of any social norm are: 1) usefulness (society's need); 2) mandatoriness; and 3) factual realisation in the behaviour of individuals. In connection with the usefulness of a social norm, one or another social norm may be useful to specific social groups, while at the same time being neutral or even harmful with respect to others. With respect to the usefulness of a specific norm, its role in time and space must always be considered. Thus, for a social norm to conform to the principle of usefulness, it must be correctly oriented and differentiated in time, space and to the intended addressee, that is, the social groups or individuals, and change in accordance with changes in people's living conditions¹. Failure to take this into consideration will reduce the effectiveness of every social norm, until it loses its importance entirely in the eyes of the members of society. This situation directly causes deviant behaviour, since despite the existence of required norms, people no longer abide by them, which means that such norms are left unrealised in the behaviour of individuals.

The most widely known categories of social norms are legal norms, moral norms, commonly accepted norms and corporate or associational norms, the objective of which is to regulate specific types of social relationships. Legal norms, which are the means for creating order in human behaviour, form the normative basis for law and order².

Many normative systems and subsystems exist simultaneously in a complicated social system. Therefore, it is impossible to give an unequivocal evaluation as to whether a specific behaviour is correct or incorrect. Since all social norms are evaluative, their deviations are also evaluative and different social structures or institutions, as well as individuals can give their evaluations. If the evaluation of a specific act is positive, then the act is considered to be in conformity with the expectations of the appropriate norm.

There is not always a direct and immediate relationship between normative behaviour and the norm. A norm is the foundational basis for normative behaviour. The purpose of legal norms is to provide the judicial means by which it is possible to enforce required behaviour.

There are many special traits which are peculiar to a legal norm. A legal norm:

1) contains a description of the attributes of the required behaviour (the so-called material content of the legal norm);

2) indicates the state's position with regard to the respective behavioural model and prescribes, permits or prohibits the described behaviour; and

3) fixes the rights and obligations of the legal subject in its disposition and fixes the actions of the corresponding state organs with respect to offenders in its sanctions³.

The axiomatic effect of a legal norm consists of its influence over a person's beliefs, orientation toward the world, feelings and emotions. Naturally, its value component is tied to communication because the conception of a social value which is comprised of law may be acquired or passed on only through channels of communication. Every branch of law, through specific institutions, creates certain social values which become principles of law (for example, the ideas of justice and freedom). A legal norm in its value sense influences human behaviour differently than in its informational sense; its informational influence is more specific than its influence as a value. The legal norm as a value shows a direction for action, creates a basis for legal behaviour, shapes a person's main positions and helps to shape one's system of values.

In the case of social deviations, the digression from at least one group of social norms is at issue. Social norms may or may not be fixed in writing, but they always express a certain assessment. A deviation is that which the dominant societal understanding considers a deviation.

No behavioural act is deviant, so to speak, in and of itself. In order for one or another act to be called deviant, it must be declared by society to be deviant. Such a "declaration" is derived from the values of a society's institutions or social groups.

In order to adequately perceive objective reality and effectively act within it, an individual must acquire the norms and values of the social environment which surrounds him or her and get into that environment to essentially become one with it, or in other words, become socialised.

The socialisation of an individual already begins in his or her early childhood at which time his or her attitudes are formed in connection with all that surrounds him or her. This facet of the socialisation process seems to be especially important in the shaping of deviant behaviour.

The shaping of attitudes is a psychological process in which two poles are decisive: 1) the independent shaping of the subject, during which the individual identifies with other people who surround him or her (he or she accepts as his or her own the value evaluations, norms and ideas of others, and the individual's emotional identification with people who surround him or her occurs) and during which individuals who serve as examples are imprinted upon him or her; and 2) the activities which help to shape the individual's attitudes in the desired direction (teaching, guidance). Social norms and values proceed through the mediation of the two poles "from the outside inward". A person acquires his or her attitudinal structure which is shaped as the direct result of the influence of objective reality; he or she forms in his or her own time in a specific social environment and acquires an attitudinal structure which allows him or her to exist and act in that environment⁴.

The socialisation of an individual may progress more or less successfully. Conflict situations may occur between the individual and the environment which surrounds him or her during the socialisation process. The result may be the breaking of established behavioural norms. Unlawful behaviour gives proof to the fact that there is some sort of defect in the interaction between the individual and the social environment. The interpretation of such behaviour as unlawful is justified only in cases in which the legal prohibition in the society comprises an indivisible part of the prevailing culture and...