Values and social/legal norms as the culture forms

Abstract

The paper examines the role and place of values and social legal norms within the system of human culture. Among regulative factors of social interaction we consider: existential values, practical utility and social norms per se. We demonstrate that ‘values’ and ‘norms’ are not the same thing if we judge these categories by the respective scope of artifacts they cover. Value and usefulness underlie a social norm, while the latter in its turn can be regarded as an 'emasculated’ value drained of its existential nature. The author puts in question the rationalized and practical nature of social norms, since their axiological content never disappears altogether. The author suggests a classification of social norms based on such criteria as ‘formalization/non-formalization’ and ‘legitimization/non-legitimization’; the classification includes the following types of social norm: customary practices, prescriptions, morality and laws.