Social Norms

Introduction

— What are social norms?

— Why are social norms important?

— How do social norms impact the content that we speak about or analyse in public speaking, debates and critical thinking?

Social norms and Public Speaking - 3 minutes

— Why are speeches a good medium to discuss social norms?

— How do social norms allow for the speaker to investigate pathos and ethos effectively?

— What are some great examples of speech content that involve social norms?
Norms about art and creativity
Norms about law and order
Norms about human interactions

— Should we analyse a ‘big’ or a ‘small’ change to a social norm? What are the strengths and weaknesses of either approach?

Social norms and Debating

— Every debate analyses a norm (we call that the status quo).

— Most status quos are split into the practical (policy component) and the principle (societal component).

— A social norm generally reflects on the principled parts of a debate and argues that these need to shift, with the practical policy being the lever.

— What are some examples of where looking at social norms is important?Education debates – the norm of academic success of the individual
Sport debates – the norm of ‘win at all costs’
Media debates – the norm of ‘bad news sells papers’

— How can we best argue that these changes to social norms are important to the debate?

Social norms and Critical Thinking

— Why are social norms important to consider in critical thinking?

— What is the role of bias in social norms?

— Should we teach kids about bias or social norms first?

— What are some frameworks for adding to the discussion about social norms?

What are some of the best pieces of CT content to discuss social norms?

Takeaways

— Social norms are great building blocks for enabling discussion.

— An understanding of social norms allows for true analysis of how society works.

— Demonstrated understanding of social norms allows for detailed analysis of why particular people are driven to take actions (characterisation) and also why people might act against their best interests for the sake of culture.

— Discussions of cultural norms are a great way to develop empathy and broaden understanding, without over-valuing the role of difference (a lens of acceptance).