How can socio-cultural aspects preserve our social norms and value?
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Social and cultural norms are rules or expectations of behavior and thoughts based on shared beliefs within a specific cultural or social group. While often unspoken, norms offer social standards for appropriate and inappropriate behavior that govern what is (and is not) acceptable in interactions among people (WHO, 2009). Social and cultural norms are highly influential over individual behavior in a broad variety of contexts, including violence and its prevention, because norms can create an environment that can either foster or mitigate violence and its deleterious effects.
Different social and cultural norms influence how individuals react to violence. Researchers have hypothesized that the social and cultural norms that lead to the tolerance of violence are learned in childhood, wherein a child experiences corporal punishment or witnesses violence in the family, in the media, or in other settings (Abrahams and Jewkes, 2005; Brookmeyer et al., 2005; Lansford and Dodge, 2008; WHO, 2009). Witnessing violence in childhood creates norms that can lead to the acceptance or perpetration of a multitude of violent behaviors or acts, but it also may provide a potent point of intervention for violence prevention efforts. Although research in this area is limited, many preliminary studies show promise in actively influencing or altering existing social norms in order to reduce the occurrence of violence within a given population (WHO, 2009).