Definition of Folkways – Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through the study of the past, controlled and naturalistic observation of the present and disciplined scientific experimentation and modeling.
It attempts to accomplish legitimate, objective conclusions through rigorous formulations and observation. Generally, behavior science deals primarily with human action and often seeks to generalize about human behavior as it relates to society.
Folkways
Folkways are the customs or conventions of daily life. They are a type of social norm expectations for how we act. Folkways are behaviors that are typical in a society. These behaviors typically govern unimportant details of day-to-day life, such as how people should dress or behave.
Folkways may include how to dress for a funeral, how to behave while eating or other common social behaviors. Folkways are enforced by the society as a whole, with mild negative reinforcement for inappropriate behavior. Individuals who fail to practice the folkway may be verbally scorned or may not be accepted socially.
For example, someone who dresses in a nonconforming manner may have difficulty fitting in or obtaining employment. Folkways may dictate privacy levels, manners and social etiquette, as well as body language and clothing choices.
Definition of Folkways
According to Reuter and Hart (1933),
“The folkways are simple habits of action common to the members of the group; they are the ways of the folks that are somewhat standardized and have some degree of traditional sanction for their persistence”.
According to Maclver and Page (1949) defined it as:
“The folkways are the recognized or accepted ways of behaving in the society.
According to W.G. Sumner (1906)
“The folkways are unconscious, spontaneous, uncoordinated adjustment of man to his environment, the product of the frequent repetition of petty acts, often by great numerous acting in concern or at least acting in the same way when face to face with the same need.”
According to Horton and Hunt
“Folkways are simply the customary normal, habitual ways a group does thing.
According to Gillin and Gillin
“Folkways are behavior patterns of everybody life which generally arise unconsciously is an group”
According to Lundberg,
“Folkways designate those uniformities in the behavior of a group which develop relatively spontaneously and even unconsciously in adapting to common life conditions and which become established through repetition and general occurrence”
Nature/Characteristics of Folkways
The major characteristics of folkways are as under:
- Folkways arise spontaneously out of the fundamental fact that man must act in order to live. They generally arise unconsciously in a group such as shaking hands, tipping the hat, calling on strangers and without planned or rational thought.
- Folkways develop out of group experience. They are passed down from generation to generation through interaction.
- They change as culture changes or when we enter different situations.
- Folkways are the weakest norms, which are most often violated but least likely to carry
any severe punishment. Violations of folkways bring only mild censure in the form of
some smiles, glances, or occasional comments from others. - Folkways are not looked on by most people as moral matters. They are deemed the ‘right’ way and ‘normal’. People accept most of them unquestionably.
- Folkways differ from mores in that they are less severely sanctioned and are not abstract principles.
- Folkways (customs) may and sometimes do become burdensome. They sometimes exact more energy than they conserve.
- Every society has some/many folkways. Even the most primitive society will have a few hundred folkways. In modern industrial societies they become even more numerous and involved.
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