Social Mores

I was reading over the blog on same – sex marriages and how they violate social laws. Among many other things I am a student of Sociology. One of the first principles we learn in sociology is that there are complex social laws (mores) that guide our conduct and help us decide what we think is acceptable. It’s like the common sense we were talking about in class. We all know it is polite to take off one’s hat indoors. We know this by what we study others doing.
There are many ways in which we soak up our ideas and morals (no you do not decide your own morals in their entirety). As a society we are all affected by the common values of the collective (whether we like to admit it or not). Before we ever first discussed the idea of same sex marriages we all had our preconceived notions about it. These notions are the result of our parents’ ideals, the ideals of our friends, etc. For the most part I think we can all agree that the idea of same sex marriage is a major social taboo like the blog Alyssa composed.
The fact is that these issues become major issues because they challenge the norm. Like the Arab man and his boy or the female circumcision. These norms are embedded in our society and as my old speech teacher once told me: “Ideas that date back centuries become embedded in a culture and become difficult to change.” He said this when we were discussing an odd practice in the Middle East. If a man contracts an STD, they believe sleeping with a virgin will cure it. I just thought that was interesting.