Mores and folkways are essential social norms that dictate appropriate behavior within a society, with mores representing moral customs and folkways reflecting everyday habits. Mores carry a sense of moral obligation and are subject to social disapproval if violated, while folkways are more informal with no moral significance. Both provide guidelines for conduct and can evolve over time, serving as means of social control.

1. Prepared by
Md Rajik Hussen
MSW 1 year
Pondicherry University
MORES AND FOLKWAYS

2. Mores and Folkways
• Mores and folkways are the two chief means of
exercising social control. They are the social norms
• What is social Norms
• According to Young & Mack: Norms refers to the
group shared expectation
• According to Lesh,Larson & Goerman: Social norms are
rules developed by a group of people that specify how
people must,should,may,should not &must not behave
in various situation
• Social norms are the code of ethics

3. MORES
Definitions of Mores...
According to Gillin & Gillin: Mores are those customs and
group routines which are thought by the members of
society to be necessary to the groups continued existence
The must behaviour is called mores
Examples of Mores:
 Respect for the parents
 Wearing cloths
 Entering into other’s house without permission

4. Types of Mores
1. Positive Mores
2. Negative Mores
Positive Mores: It Always prescribe behaviour pattern .
They represent the “Do’s”. They give instructions and
provide guidance for the people to behave in a particular
way .
Examples:
 Respecting Elders
 Protecting children
 Loving one’s country
 Speaking the truth

5. Negative Mores:
Negative Mores prescribe behaviour pattern . They
represent the “Don’t”. Also called “Taboos”. Taboos forbid
or prohibit a certain behaviour patterns.
Examples:
 Don’t steal
 Don’t tell lies
 Don’t be irreligious
 Don’t be cruel to the wife and children

6. Characteristics of Mores
 Following are the main characteristics of mores:
1. Mores carry a sense of moral obligation. Lack of the
observance of mores carries social disapproval and there
is provision of some kind of punishment
2. Mores are socially accepted and it is obligatory to
observe them
3. Folkways tend to become mores
4. Distinguish between right and wrong

7. Folkways
Definitions of Folkways…
According to Gillin and Gillin: Folkways are behaviour
patterns of every day life which generally arise
unconsciously in a group
A mode of thinking , feeling or acting common to a
given group of people
Example of Folkways:
 Correct manners
 Appropriate dress
 Proper eating behaviour
Shaking hands and embracing while meeting

8. Characteristics of Folkways
1. Spontaneous Origin: Folkways arise spontaneously. They
are not deliberately planned or designed.
2. Approved behavior : Folkways are the recognized ways of
behavior . The group accords recognition to certain way
while rejects others
3. Distinctiveness- There is numerous folkways in different
societies ,the folkways become related to a particular
group. There is considerable variation in the folkways
between groups.
4. Hereditary- Folkways are passed on from one generation
to another. An individual receives folkways from his
ancestors.

9. Importance of Folkways
 Folkways have following important features:-
1) Folkways act as guide to social behaviour
2) Folkways exercise restraint and control on social
conduct
3) Folkways keep modifying to melt the changes of time
and place. Old folkways give way to new, but this
happens gradually.
4) Folkways have conservative influence in a society.

10. Difference between Mores & Folkways
Mores
o Mores are moral customs
and traditions that are
shared by a group of
people that makes up a
society
o Mores are social
conventions that are
morally significant
 Folkways
 Folkways are habits of
individuals or of a group of
people which have been
accepted & by its members
& eventually became
accepted as a way of life
 Folkways are informal
social conventions with no
moral significance

11. Cont…
Mores
o “Mores” comes from Latin.
o Mores represent the values of a
group
o Mores are stricter
Folkways
 “Folkways was introduced by
American Sociologist ‘William
Graham Sumner’.
 Folkways are the feelings ,
thinking and actions of a group
 Folkways are less strict

12. Similarities between Mores & Folkways
 Both folkways and mores instruct people on how they
should act
 Both terms were first used during the early 1900s
 Both folkways and mores were developed from the
peoples habitual actions and not from society’s laws

13. Conclusion
At last it may conclude that mores and folkways are
the social laws. These laws have an obligatory
character which constrains the members of a society
to follow these.
These are the means of social control that’s why it may
change from place to place or people to people

14. References
1. Social change and social control- Rajendra k. Sharma
2. C. N. Shankar Rao - Sociology Principles of Sociology
with an Introduction to Social Thought
3. Internet