Definition of the concept of “social norm”. The importance of social norms for individuals and society

Regulatory regulation of social relations in the modern period is carried out with the help of a rather complex and diverse set of social norms. Social norms are determined by the level of development of society - and the scope of their action is social relations. Determining the proper or possible behavior of a person, they are created by groups of people.

Consequently, social norms are the rules governing the behavior of people and the activities of the organizations they create in relationships with each other. Social norms are characterized by the fact that they are:

Rules of behavior for people, indicating what their actions should be;

General rules of conduct (as opposed to individual rules);

Not only general, but also mandatory rules of behavior of people in society, which are provided for this by coercive measures.

Thanks to these properties, social norms are capable of exerting a regulatory influence on social relations and the consciousness of their participants.

The variety of types of social norms is explained by the complexity of the system of social relations, as well as the multiplicity of subjects that carry out the normative regulation of social relations.

All social norms operating in modern society are divided according to two main criteria:

The method of their formation (creation);

Method of provision (security, protection).

In accordance with these criteria, the following types of social norms are distinguished:

Rules of law- rules of conduct that are established and protected by the state. The distinctive features of law as a social regulator are its formal nature, i.e. its external expression in official legal sources (laws, international conventions, court decisions, etc.), systematicity or clear interconnection of legal norms, generally binding regulations, provision of state coercion in the event of an encroachment on the rule of law.

Moral standards(morality, ethics) - rules of behavior that are established in society in accordance with people’s ideas about good and evil, justice and injustice, duty, honor, dignity and are protected from violation by the force of public opinion or internal conviction.

Norms of customs- these are rules of behavior that have developed in society as a result of repeated repetition over a historically long period of time and have become a habit of people; they are protected from violation by the natural internal needs of people and the force of public opinion.

Norms of public organizations(corporate norms) - rules of behavior that are established by public organizations themselves and are protected by measures of social influence provided for by the charters of these organizations.

Religious norms- rules of behavior that are established by various faiths, are used in the performance of religious rites and are protected by measures of social influence provided for by the canons of these religions.

Social norms can also be divided according to content. On this basis, economic, political, environmental, labor, family standards, etc. are distinguished. Social norms in their totality are called the rules of human society.

The most important regulators of human behavior have always been customs, law and morality. As you know, the most ancient rules of human behavior were customs. Custom is closest to instinct, because people perform it without thinking about why it is needed - it’s just been the way it has been for centuries. Custom united and streamlined the primitive community of people, but where they did not overcome its dominance, the development of society froze at a dead point, because customs stifled creative imagination and the desire for the new and unusual.

The younger sister of custom was another system of rules of behavior - morality. Moral rules arise as spontaneously as customs, but they differ from custom in that they have an ideological basis. A person does not simply mechanically repeat what has been done before him from time immemorial, but makes a choice: he must act as morality prescribes to him. What is a person guided by when justifying his choice? Conscience, which gives rise to a sense of duty. The meaning of moral duty is that one person recognizes himself in another, sympathizes with the other.

Although morality, like custom, oriented a person toward the observance of collective interests and collective actions, it was an important step forward compared to custom in the formation of the individual principle in people as natural beings. Morality is a system of principles of a person’s deeply personal attitude to the world from the point of view of what is proper. Morality is, first of all, a life guideline that expresses a person’s desire for self-improvement. Its main function is to affirm the truly human in man. If the mechanical repetition of customs is still close to instinct, then conscience, duty, and a sense of responsibility inherent in morality are absolutely alien to the natural world, they are the fruits of man’s “second nature” - culture.

It is with the cultural development of society that people gradually begin to form their own, individual needs and interests (economic, political, social). And in connection with the protection of the individual, the individual and his personal interests, a third system of rules of conduct arose - law. The formation of this system is closely related to the emergence of inequality within the community of people that followed the Neolithic revolution (the transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one). Inequality developed in two directions: inequality in prestige, and, consequently, in influence and power, and inequality in property. Naturally, the owners of these values ​​(prestige or property) have a need to protect them from the encroachments of others, as well as the need to streamline new social relations so that everyone “knows their place” in accordance with personal capabilities.

Thus, law initially arises to express people’s claims to certain goods as a permission exercised by an individual in order to satisfy his own needs through forceful influence on other individuals. But this method of protection was not reliable enough. In addition, using force, you can not so much protect your own as appropriate the rights of others. This led to disorder that threatened the death of society. Therefore, a new organization arose in society, designed to streamline relations between people - the state, and the instrument of the state was the law - an act issued by the state and mandatory for execution under pain of physical coercion. The law (and other official sources) enshrined rights recognized by society (claims for social benefits). Consequently, law can be characterized as a set of rules of conduct that define the boundaries of freedom and equality of people in the implementation and protection of their interests, which are enshrined by the state in official sources and the implementation of which is ensured by the coercive force of the state.

Currently, legal and moral norms occupy a dominant, dominant position in the system of regulatory regulation. This is not least due to the fact that both have the most extensive scope of action - potentially they cover the entire society. In this regard, the scope of morality and law largely overlaps. At the same time, they are independent elements of the normative system, the unity, relationships and interaction of which deserve special attention.

The unity of legal norms and moral norms is based on the commonality of socio-economic interests, the culture of society, and people’s commitment to the ideals of freedom and justice. The unity between law and morality is expressed in the following:

In the system of social norms, they are the most universal, extending to the entire society;

The norms of morality and law have a single object of regulation - social relations;

Like legal norms, moral norms come from society;

Rules of law and rules of morality have a similar structure;

Rules of law and moral norms emerged from the fused (syncretistic) customs of primitive society during its decomposition.

Law and morality serve a common goal - the coordination of the interests of the individual and society, the development and spiritual elevation of man, the protection of his rights and freedoms, the maintenance of public order and harmony. Morality and law act as a measure of an individual’s personal freedom, set the boundaries of permitted and possible behavior in the situation they regulate, and promote a balance of interests and needs. They are fundamental general historical values, they are part of the content of the culture of the people and society, and show the level of social progress of civilization.

At the same time, legal norms and moral norms still differ from each other in the following ways:

By origin.

Moral norms are formed in society on the basis of ideas about good and evil, honor, conscience, and justice. They acquire mandatory significance as they are realized and recognized by the majority of members of society. The rules of law established by the state, after entering into force, immediately become mandatory for all persons within the scope of their action.

According to the form of expression.

Moral standards are not enshrined in special acts. They are contained in the minds of people, exist and act as a set of unwritten rules in the form of teachings and parables. Recent attempts to impose on society the commandments clearly formulated by higher party authorities in the form of the Moral Code of the Builder of Communism (“Man is man’s friend, comrade and brother”) can hardly be regarded as a successful experiment. In turn, legal norms in modern conditions most often receive written expression in official government acts (laws, decrees, regulations, court decisions, etc.), which increases their authority and gives their requirements clarity and certainty.

According to the mechanism of action. Law can only regulate the actions of people, i.e. only those actions (or inactions) that are perceived and recognized by the acting subject himself as social acts, as manifestations of the subject that express his attitude towards other people. Legal norms cannot directly interfere with the world of thoughts and feelings. Legal significance has only that behavior of a person or a group that is expressed externally, in the external physical environment - in the form of body movements, actions, operations, activities performed in objective reality.

“Only insofar as I manifest myself, insofar as I enter the realm of reality, do I enter the realm subject to the legislator. Apart from my actions,” Marx wrote, “I do not exist at all for the law, I am not at all its object.” Therefore, a person cannot be held legally responsible for base feelings and dirty thoughts if they were not objectified externally in one or another publicly accessible form, but morality clearly condemns both. Morality makes demands not only on the nobility of actions, but also on the purity of thoughts and feelings. The action of moral norms is carried out through the formation of internal attitudes, motives of behavior, values ​​and aspirations, principles of behavior, and in a certain sense does not imply the presence of certain pre-established external regulation mechanisms. As is known, the main internal mechanism of moral self-regulation is conscience, and the informal, external mechanism is customs and traditions as the centuries-old collective wisdom of the people.

According to the method of protection against violations.

Moral norms and legal norms in the overwhelming majority of cases are observed voluntarily on the basis of people's natural understanding of the justice of their instructions. The implementation of both norms is ensured by internal conviction, as well as by means of public opinion. Society itself, its civil institutions, and collectives decide on the forms of response to individuals who do not comply with moral prohibitions. At the same time, moral influence can be no less effective than legal influence, and sometimes even more effective. “Evil tongues are worse than a gun!” – Molchalin exclaimed in Griboedov’s famous play. Such methods of protection are quite sufficient for moral standards. To ensure legal norms, measures of state coercion are also used. Illegal actions entail a reaction from the state, i.e. special legal responsibility, the procedure for imposing it is strictly regulated by law and is procedural in nature. The person is punished on behalf of the state. And although in each individual case the interests of individual “private” individuals may be directly violated, the state cannot entrust the application of legal liability measures to the offender to these “private” individuals. The offender openly opposed his will to the general will embodied by the state in the rules of law, and his conviction and punishment should be not only personal, but also of a state nature. The state, even in the offender, must see “a person, a living piece of society in which the blood of his heart beats, a soldier who must defend his homeland, ... a member of the community performing public functions, the head of a family whose existence is sacred, and, finally, most importantly, a citizen states. The state cannot lightly remove one of its members from all these functions, for the state cuts off its living parts from itself whenever it makes a criminal out of a citizen.”

The consequences of immoral, immoral behavior can also be severe and irreparable. However, violation of moral standards generally does not entail intervention by government agencies. Morally, a person can be an extremely negative person, but he is not subject to legal liability if he does not commit any illegal acts. Responsibility for violation of moral norms is of a different nature and does not have a strictly regulated form and implementation procedure. Morality has a traditional and fairly limited system of sanctions. Punishment is expressed in the fact that the offender is subjected to moral condemnation or even coercion; measures of social and individual influence are applied to him (remark, demand for an apology, termination of friendly and other relationships, etc.). This is a responsibility to the surrounding people, teams, family and society, and not to the state.

According to the level of detail.

Moral norms appear in the form of the most general rules of behavior (be kind, fair, honest, do not envy, etc.). Moral requirements are categorical and know no exceptions: “thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not lie.” Legal norms are detailed rules of conduct compared to moral norms. They establish clearly defined legal rights and obligations of participants in public relations. By giving a specific formula for lawful behavior, the law strives to outline in detail all the options for prohibitions. For example, the commandment “thou shalt not kill” in criminal law is represented by a whole list of elements: simple murder; murder of a newborn child by a mother; murder committed in a state of passion; murder committed when exceeding the limits of necessary defense or exceeding the measures necessary to apprehend the person who committed the crime; and even causing death by negligence. In addition, as we see, the law considers it legitimate (subject to the conditions established by law) to cause death in a state of necessary defense, or when detaining a criminal.

By scope.

Moral standards cover almost all areas of human relationships, including the legal sphere. Law affects only the most important spheres of public life, regulating only social relations controlled by the state. As already noted, morality is designed to influence the inner world of a person, to form a spiritual personality, but law is not capable of invading the sphere of feelings and emotions, the deep inner world of the individual. However, the scope of morality is not unlimited. Most legal procedural and procedural issues (the sequence of stages of the lawmaking process, the procedure for conducting a court hearing, inspection of the site during a traffic accident) are ethically neutral and, because of this, cannot be regulated by morality.

We must not forget that in each country, as a general rule, one single and only system of law is officially recognized, to which the entire population of that country must obey. Moral requirements do not constitute such a single and unique system. Morality can be differentiated in accordance with class, national, religious, professional or other divisions of society: the dominant morality is corporate, the morality of the ruling elite and the governed. Group “morality”, especially of the criminalized and marginalized parts of society, often diverges from the legal provisions common to all citizens, of which many striking examples can be found in the life of modern Russian society. However, their replication through the media without due emphasis on the negativity and extreme pathology of such phenomena already leads to the spread of such subcultures of individual groups throughout society (for example, in the language of everyday communication).

Differences in moral principles and moral attitudes exist not only between certain social groups (one can point to the peculiarities of the professional ethics of doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc.), but also between people of the same social group. Suffice it to recall the individual code of morality of one of the heroes of L.N.’s novels. Tolstoy - Vronsky: “Vronsky’s life was especially happy because he had a set of rules that undoubtedly defined everything that should and should not be done... These rules undoubtedly determined that the sharper must be paid, but the tailor does not need to; that men don’t have to lie, but women can; that you can’t deceive anyone, but you can deceive your husband; that one cannot forgive insults and one can insult, etc.” It is clear that such “individual” legal norms cannot exist.

According to the operating principle. It has long been noted in the legal literature that the rule of law is based on formal equality between those people to whom it applies. Law in this sense is the application of equal scope to different people. For example, in modern society there are principles of universal and equal suffrage, according to which all voters have one vote, although some are educated and some are not, some are well versed in political problems and some are worse, etc. . But law cannot act otherwise, because it protects and expresses the interests of each - in this case - the voter, and the interests of all voters are equal. Morality does not recognize this equality. According to its canons, to whom more is given, more is required.

The differences between law and morality serve as the basis for their interaction and cooperation. They serve high goals - the ideals of goodness and justice, the achievement of harmony and prosperity, the development of the individual and society, and the provision and maintenance of public order. The implementation of legal norms and their execution are largely determined by the extent to which they comply with moral standards. For legal norms to be effective, they at least must not contradict the moral values ​​of society. In some cases, law helps rid society of outdated moral norms. For example, it was through law that the process of overcoming blood feud, one of the postulates of morality of past times, took place. At the same time, a number of legal norms (in particular, criminal norms) directly enshrine moral norms in law, supporting them with legal sanctions.

In this regard, it cannot be categorically stated that the law is enforced only by coercive methods. After all, most citizens comply with legal norms voluntarily, and not under pain of punishment. Of course, the implementation of the law is a complex process in which methods of persuasion, prevention, and education are used in order to induce subjects to obey the law. Psychological research has shown that factors such as trust, honesty, truthfulness and a sense of belonging are much more important than coercion in ensuring compliance with rules. As noted by G.J. Berman, it is precisely when the law is trusted and coercive sanctions are not required that it becomes effective: whoever rules the law has no need to be present everywhere with his police apparatus. Today this has been proven to the contrary by the fact that in our cities that section of the law whose sanctions are most severe, namely the criminal law, has turned out to be powerless and cannot create fear where it has failed to create respect by other means. Today everyone knows that no amount of force that the police can use can stop urban crime. Ultimately, crime is restrained by the tradition of law-abiding, and it, in turn, is based on the deep conviction that law is not only an institution of secular politics, but also relates to the highest goal and meaning of our lives. Being in close contact, law and morality, as a rule, support each other in regulating social relations, positively influencing the individual, in forming a proper moral and legal culture among citizens, and in preventing a number of crimes. Crimes such as gambling, prostitution or drug addiction generally do not involve a conscious desire to cause harm, but are referred to as “victimless crimes.” In this case, it is not enough to abolish the usual criminal sanctions associated with imprisonment or fines, thereby freeing up a lot of time and energy of the police, courts and penitentiary authorities. Here it is more appropriate to create new legal procedures, both within the criminal courts themselves and outside them: new public services such as liturgies - to make decisions (as long as the behavior of such persons is antisocial), including the participation in them of psychologists, social workers, clergy, and also family members, friends, neighbors - before, during and after the hearing. Most offenders are not sick people, and we must approach these cases more humanely and creatively, condemning not people, but their behavior and the specific conditions that give rise to this behavior.

So, in the process of carrying out their functions, law and morality must help each other in achieving common goals, using their own methods for this. And the task is to make such interaction as flexible and deep as possible. This is especially important in those relationships where there are lines between what is legally punishable and what is socially condemned, where legal and moral criteria are closely intertwined. Moral and legal criteria are basic concepts - good, evil, honor, dignity, duty, etc., as well as principles - justice, humanism, respect, openness, formal equality, etc.

This complex interdependence of law and morality is expressed in the fact that these fundamental principles are still common, universal for the entire normative and regulatory system of society. However, it is in law that justice as a formal expression of equality in freedom characterizes mainly external commitment to morality, connection with it only through a regulatory form, and not internal content. V.S. shares approximately the same opinion. Nersesyants: “... justice is included in the concept of law... law is by definition fair, and justice is an internal property and quality of law, a legal category and characteristic, not extra-legal... only law and fair. After all, justice is actually fair because it embodies and expresses universally valid correctness, and this in its rationalized form means universal legality, i.e. the essence and beginning of law, the meaning of the legal principle of universal equality and freedom. Both in meaning and etymology (iustitia) goes back to law (ius), denotes the presence of a legal principle in the social world and expresses its correctness, imperativeness and necessity.”

Law and morality fruitfully “cooperate” in the field of administration of justice, the activities of law enforcement agencies and justice. This can be expressed in various forms: when resolving specific cases, analyzing all kinds of life situations, illegal actions, as well as the personality of the offender. Often the law cannot qualify this or that act as an offense (crime) without corresponding moral criteria (such an act is evil), since otherwise it is impossible to correctly determine the signs and degree of responsibility for such, for example, acts as “hooliganism”, “insult”, “ slander”, “humiliation of honor and dignity”, evaluative concepts of “cynicism”, “special cruelty”, “self-interest”, “base motives”, “personal hostility”, “moral harm”, etc., which act as motives and elements of many offenses.

The close interaction of legal and moral norms does not mean that this process is smooth, smooth and conflict-free. Sharp contradictions, collisions, and discrepancies can quite often arise between them. Moral and legal requirements do not always agree in everything, and often directly contradict each other. For example, in Rus' mutual assistance was widely known when catching a criminal at the scene of a crime, a thief during a theft, or an adulterer in the arms of another man's wife. Punishment followed immediately and did not entail consequences - blood feud, since it was considered as a matter of course (committed according to conscience, according to custom). Even in the Soviet period, polygamy was condemned both by morality and was prosecuted by the Criminal Code (punishable by imprisonment). Meanwhile, the modern Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is simply silent regarding such acts, i.e. completely neutral, and in the moral sphere this offense refers to very serious immoral behavior that destroys the family union as the basis for the moral socialization of the individual and the foundations of society.

The reasons for the emerging contradictions between law and morality lie in their specificity, in the fact that they have different methods of regulation, different approaches, and criteria for assessing the behavior of subjects. What matters is the inadequacy of their reflection of real social processes, the interests of various social strata, groups, classes. The discrepancy between law and morality is caused by the complexity and inconsistency, the imbalance of social life itself, the endless variety of life situations that arise in it, the emergence of new trends in social development, the unequal level of moral and legal development of people's consciousness, the variability of social and natural conditions, etc.

Morality by its nature is more conservative than law; it inevitably lags behind the flow of life, from the trends in economic, scientific, technical and political development of society, and, accordingly, from the novelties of legislators who seek to reflect them in normative legal acts. Morality has been formed over centuries, and the content of legal norms has changed to one degree or another with each new political system. And now the law is more flexible, dynamic, active and flexible in responding to ongoing changes (problems of gender reassignment, homosexuality, euthanasia and abortion, changing the sex of a child in the early stages of pregnancy at the request of parents, etc.). Law, with its irrepressible temperament and youth, novelty and revolutionary nature, formality and utilitarianism, seems to push morality in its development towards changes that correspond to the modern level of development of society.

Conflict situations can also arise between the norms of law and morality, which are negative not only for the individual, but also for the entire society as a whole. Much of what is permitted by law may be prohibited by moral norms, and vice versa, what law prohibits is permitted by morality. For example, the norms of Russian legislation (Law of 1992 “On Transplantation of Human Organs and (or) Tissues”) establish the presumption of “individual consent to transplantation.” Meanwhile, a number of citizens, due to various moral and religious beliefs, are categorically against their deceased relative being a donor, but the rules of law require transplantation to save the lives of other people, if the deceased during his lifetime did not express in the prescribed form his unwillingness to be the subject of a transplant. The problem of euthanasia is equally acute. Some believe that a doctor’s moral duty is to humanely end suffering, while others believe that it is immoral for others to interfere in matters of life and death. There are supporters and opponents of euthanasia both in countries where it is officially permitted (law permits, but morality condemns), and in countries where it is officially prohibited (law prohibits, but morality permits).

Also ambiguously assessed by law and morality, for example, cloning (repeating the genotype from stem cells) of animals and humans, multiple marriages and divorce by the same person. Meanwhile, it is obvious that another more acute problem arises here - moral goals and guidelines for science itself, scientific activity and scientific experiment. Can science, moving along the path of progress and evolution, even for the most noble purposes of enlightenment and knowledge of scientific truth, violate moral imperatives?

The consequences of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the creation in 1953 of A.D. Sakharov's hydrogen bomb, capable of destroying all life within a radius of several tens of kilometers, was supposed to sober up humanity and put an end to this issue for all science. And the point here is not in immoral and unprincipled politicians who can use it for their own selfish interests, but in science itself, which, deifying itself, has become detached (partly through the fault of the state) from society, its moral and spiritual environment, its vital interests. . It cannot be outside of moral principles, but, on the contrary, must observe, affirm and even fight for them together with the active part of society, indicating the direction of balanced, and not pathological progress of civilization. And, unfortunately, the law, being at the forefront of social changes, does not cope with the difficult task of containing spiritual and moral pathologies in all spheres of society, and sometimes it itself strengthens them.

Thus, the specific weight, the scope of action of one or another regulator in different historical eras either expanded or narrowed. In the current conditions of crisis in Russian society and the entire civilization, the contradictions between law and morality have become extremely aggravated. The threshold of moral demands placed on individuals and society has sharply dropped. The legalization of many dubious forms of enrichment, the unrestrained pursuit of profit and the pleasure of undeveloped souls have greatly undermined the moral foundations of society.

Social and spiritual values ​​have changed. The morality of the undeveloped majority of society has become more tolerant and lenient towards all sorts of cunning and illegal actions. As a result of the massive criminalization of society, the law does not effectively carry out its regulatory and protective functions, and sometimes simply “does not notice” many dangerous antisocial phenomena.

It should be noted that the optimal combination of ethical and legal has always been an intractable problem for all legal systems. And, as experience shows, ideal harmony cannot be achieved here - contradictions inevitably persist, new ones arise, and old ones get worse. They can be reduced, weakened and smoothed to some extent, but not completely removed.

Not a single society has reached the heights of morality, since morality is not an absolute constant, but a relative one. This is an endless search for ideal and harmony, balance and conformity, adequacy and proportionality, justice and expediency, humanism and retribution. This is a movement towards development, improvement and self-improvement, infinity and progress.

§ 1. Concept and types of social norms.
§ 2. The relationship between law and moral standards.
§ 3. Law and socio-technical norms.
§ 4. Legal consciousness: concept, structure, role in public life.
§ 5. Features of social norms in force in the armed forces.

§ 1. CONCEPT AND TYPES OF SOCIAL NORMS

The most important means of organizing social relations are social norms: legal norms, moral norms, norms of public organizations, norms of traditions, customs and rituals. These norms ensure the most appropriate and harmonious functioning of society in accordance with the needs of its development.

Social norms are rules that govern the behavior of people and the activities of organizations in their relationships (“Social” comes from the Latin word socialis, which means “public.”).

As noted earlier, the need for social norms arose at the earliest stages of the development of human society due to the need to regulate people's behavior by general rules. With the help of social norms, the most appropriate interaction between people is achieved, tasks that are beyond the power of an individual are solved.

Social norms are characterized by a number of features:

1. Social norms are rules for people's behavior. They indicate what human actions should or can be in the opinion of certain groups of people, various organizations or the state. These are patterns according to which people conform their behavior.

2. Social norms are general rules of behavior (as opposed to individual rules). The general nature of a social norm is expressed in the fact that its requirements apply not to a specific person, but to many people. Due to this property, the prescription of the norm must be fulfilled every time by everyone who finds itself within the scope of its action.

3. Social norms are not only general, but also mandatory rules of behavior for people in society. Not only legal, but also all other social norms are binding for those to whom they apply. In necessary cases, the obligatory nature of social norms is ensured by coercion. Therefore, depending on the nature of the violation, state or public measures may be applied to persons who violate the requirements of social norms. If a person has committed a violation of a legal norm, then measures of state coercion are applied to him. Violation of the requirements of a moral norm (immoral act) may entail the use of measures of social influence: public condemnation, censure and other measures.

Thanks to these characteristics, social norms become an important regulator of social relations, actively influence people’s behavior and determine its direction in various life situations.

All social norms operating in modern society are divided on two grounds:

According to the method of their formation (creation);

by means of protecting them from violations.
Based on this, the following types of social norms are distinguished:

1. Rules of law - rules of conduct that are established and protected by the state.

2. Norms of morality (morality) - rules of behavior that are established in society in accordance with people’s moral ideas about good and evil, justice and injustice, duty, honor, dignity and are protected by the power of public opinion or internal conviction.

3. The norms of public organizations are rules of behavior that are established by public organizations themselves and are protected through measures of social influence provided for by the charters of these organizations.

4. Norms of customs are rules of behavior that have developed in a certain social environment and, as a result of their repeated repetition, have become the habit of people. The peculiarity of these norms of behavior is that they are fulfilled due to habit, which has become a natural human need in life.

5. The norms of traditions appear in the form of the most generalized and stable rules of behavior that arise in connection with the maintenance of time-tested progressive foundations of a certain sphere of human activity (for example, family, professional, military, national and other traditions).

6. Norms of rituals are a type of social norms that determine the rules of behavior of people when performing rituals and are protected by measures of moral influence. Ritual norms are widely used during national holidays, marriages, and official meetings of government and public figures. The peculiarity of the implementation of ritual norms is their colorfulness and theatricality.

The division of social norms is carried out not only by the method of establishing them and protecting them from violations, but also by content. On this basis, political, technical, labor, family norms, cultural norms, religious norms and others are distinguished.

All social norms in their totality and interrelation are called the rules of human society.

§ 2. RELATIONSHIP OF LAW WITH MORAL STANDARDS

As a type of social norms, moral institutions are characterized by general generic characteristics and are rules of behavior that determine the attitude of a person to another. If a person's actions do not affect other people, his behavior is indifferent from a social point of view. Therefore, not all scientists consider moral standards to be an exclusively social phenomenon.

Since the time of Kant, there has been a belief that the sphere of morality covers the purely inner world of a person, therefore an action can be assessed as moral or immoral only in relation to the person who committed it. A person, as it were, extracts from himself the norms of his behavior, in himself, in the depths of his “soul,” he evaluates his actions. From this point of view, a person, taken separately, apart from his relationships with other people, can be guided by moral rules.

There is also a compromise position in assessing moral regulation. According to it, moral norms have a dual nature: some refer to the individual himself, others refer to the individual’s relationship to society. Hence the division of ethics into individual and social.

The most widespread and well-reasoned idea is the absolutely social nature of moral norms and the absence of any individual factor in them.

Shershenevich, for example, believed that morality does not represent a person’s demands on himself, but rather the demands of society on a person. It is not the individual who determines how he should treat others, but society that determines how one person should treat another person. It is not the individual who evaluates his behavior as good or bad, but society. It can recognize an act as morally good, although it is not good for the individual, and it can consider an act unworthy from a moral point of view, although it is completely approved from an individual point of view (See G.F. Shershenevich, General Theory of Law. M„ 1911. P. 169- 170.).

There is a point of view that moral laws are inherent in human nature itself. Outwardly, they manifest themselves depending on a particular life situation in which the individual finds himself. Others categorically argue that moral standards are requirements addressed to a person from the outside.

Apparently, there is no reason to draw a divide between the individual and social nature of moral requirements, since elements of both are organically intertwined in them. One thing is clear that any social norm is of a general nature, and in this sense it is addressed not to a specific individual, but to all or a large group of individuals. Moral norms regulate not the “inner” world of a person, but the relationships between people. However, we should not lose sight of the individual aspects of moral requirements. Ultimately, their implementation depends on the moral maturity of a person, the strength of his moral views, and the social orientation of his individual interests. And here the primary role is played by such individualized moral categories as conscience and duty, which guide human behavior in the direction of social morality. An individual’s internal conviction of the morality or immorality of his action largely determines its social significance.

The unity of legal norms and moral norms, like the unity of all social norms of a civilized society, is based on the commonality of socio-economic interests, the culture of society, and people’s commitment to the ideals of freedom and justice.

At the same time, legal norms and moral norms differ from each other in the following ways:

1. By origin. Moral norms are formed in society on the basis of people's ideas about good and evil, honor, conscience, and justice. They acquire mandatory significance as they are realized and recognized by the majority of members of society. The rules of law established by the state, after entering into legal force, immediately become mandatory for all persons within the scope of their actions.

2. According to the form of expression. Moral standards are not enshrined in special acts. They are contained in people's minds. Legal norms are expressed in official state acts (laws, decrees, regulations).

3. According to the method of protection from violations. Moral norms and legal norms in a legal civil society in the overwhelming majority of cases are observed voluntarily on the basis of people’s natural understanding of the justice of their instructions. The implementation of both norms is ensured by internal conviction, as well as by means of public opinion. Such methods of protection are quite sufficient for moral standards. To ensure legal norms, measures of state coercion are also used.

4. According to the level of detail. Moral norms appear in the form of the most general rules of behavior (be kind, fair, honest). Legal norms are detailed, in comparison with moral norms, rules of behavior. They establish clearly defined legal rights and obligations of participants in public relations.

Legal norms and moral norms organically interact with each other. They mutually condition, complement and mutually support each other in regulating social relations. The objective conditionality of such interaction is determined by the fact that legal laws embody the principles of humanism, justice, and equality of people. In other words, the laws of the rule of law embody the highest moral requirements of modern society.

Accurate implementation of legal norms simultaneously means the implementation of moral requirements into public life. In turn, moral norms have an active influence on the creation and implementation of legal norms. The requirements of public morality are taken into account in every possible way by rule-making government bodies when creating legal norms. Moral norms play a particularly important role in the process of application of legal norms by competent authorities when resolving specific legal cases. Thus, the correct legal decision by the court on issues of insult to personality, hooliganism and others largely depends on taking into account the moral norms operating in society.

Moral principles have a beneficial effect on the accurate and complete implementation of legal norms, on the strengthening of law and order. Violation of a legal norm causes natural moral condemnation on the part of morally mature members of society. The obligation to comply with the rules of law is a moral duty of all citizens of a rule-of-law state.

Thus, law actively promotes the establishment of progressive moral ideas in society. Moral norms, in turn, fill the law with deep moral content, promoting the effectiveness of legal regulation, spiritualizing the actions and actions of participants in legal relations with moral ideals.

§ 3. LAW AND SOCIO-TECHNICAL NORMS

Technical norms are the rules for the most appropriate treatment of people with objects of nature, tools, and various technical means. The purpose of technical standards in the correct use of the forces of nature and technology in the most economical and environmentally friendly way.

Technical norms are of particular importance in modern social life. The widespread introduction of complex and high-precision equipment into production significantly increases labor productivity and the level of material security for people. Using the achievements of scientific and technological progress in the interests of social development requires strict adherence to the rules for the operation of technical means. The rule of law is forced to constantly take care of the introduction of scientifically based, progressive standards for the operation of technical means into the production of material goods.

Technical standards include rules for performing construction work, operating instructions for machines and mechanisms, consumption standards for raw materials, fuel, and electricity.

Technical standards are social in nature. But unlike social norms, which regulate relations directly between people (person - person), technical norms regulate people's behavior in connection with the use of technology (person - technology - person). Economic theory has proven that relations arising in the production process always act ultimately as social relations. “In order to produce, people enter into certain connections and relationships, and only through these social connections and relationships does their relationship to nature exist and production takes place” (Marx K. Engels F. Soch. T. 25. Part II. C 357.).

The specificity of technical norms is thus expressed in the fact that they act as social norms with technical content. Socio-technical norms are an effective regulator of that aspect of social life that is associated with the use of technology.

Technical norms are not some special type of norms, but a set of different types of social norms with technical content. These norms can take on different forms: legal, moral, customary, and others. An example of technical norms developed by public organizations are norms establishing the size of sports equipment, rules of competitions, etc. Technical norms that have taken the form of customs include the rules for executing the “guard” command with weapons, the rules for posting guards in the armed forces .

The most important technical norms for society are given legal form. The consolidation of technical rules in legal norms gives them legal significance. Because of this, they become not only expedient, but also mandatory rules that are protected by the state from violations. Failure to comply with these standards entails legal liability. Thus, the criminal legislation of many countries provides for liability for violating the rules of driving and operating vehicles, for violating safety rules during construction work, navigation rules and others.

Legal norms with technical content are called technical-legal. In modern society, all its members are interested in strict adherence to technical standards. Therefore, the rule of law gives them legal force and takes them under its protection. By including technical standards in legal acts, the state has a stimulating effect on the efficiency of using technology and on the organization of social production.

Military-technical norms are included in the general system of social norms with technical content. They represent the rules for the appropriate use of military equipment and military weapons by military personnel. These include rules for the technical operation of combat, special and transport vehicles, rules for the use of various types of weapons, combat installations, systems, flight rules, navigation and others. In the conditions of scientific and technological progress, the role of military-technical standards in the armed forces increases immeasurably. In turn, the constant improvement and development of military equipment and weapons increases the requirements for the technical training of troops.

With the increasing complexity of military equipment and its computerization, the quality and quantity of individual techniques, actions, and operations, which are enshrined in military legal norms, increase. Naturally, specialists servicing equipment must professionally know and comply with the requirements of these standards in the shortest possible time. That is why increasing the technical knowledge of military personnel and their deep understanding of the rules for handling equipment and weapons are among the most important events in the troop training system.

Military-technical norms, as a rule, are enshrined in acts of military legislation: charters, manuals, regulations, instructions (for example, Manual on Small Arms, Manual on Automotive Service). The norms that are enshrined in these acts are called technical military legal norms. As a type of technical and legal norms, these norms reflect the specific requirements that apply to the use of military equipment and weapons.

§ 4. CONSCIOUSNESS OF LAW; CONCEPT, STRUCTURE, ROLE IN PUBLIC LIFE

There are various forms of social consciousness through which people perceive (reflect) the world around them. This is political, moral, national, aesthetic, religious consciousness. Legal awareness also belongs to the forms of social consciousness.

Legal consciousness is a set of ideas, views, feelings, traditions, and experiences that express people’s attitude to the legal phenomena of public life. These are ideas about legislation, legality, justice, about lawful or unlawful behavior.

The peculiarity of legal consciousness, as a specific form of social consciousness, is expressed in the following.

1. Legal consciousness reflects only those phenomena that constitute the legal side of the life of society. It covers the process of creating legal norms and implementing their requirements in public life. Political, moral and other ideas and perceptions also actively influence the formation and implementation of legal norms. But before they receive expression in legal norms, in the practice of their application, they must pass through legal consciousness, that is, receive a legal form in the form of legal ideas and concepts.

2. The peculiarity of legal consciousness is also expressed in the way of reflecting the phenomena of social life. Awareness of the legal phenomena of social life is carried out through special legal concepts and categories. These include, for example, concepts such as legality, illegality, legal relationship, legal responsibility, legality. Moral consciousness evaluates the world around us with the help of its own concepts: good, evil, justice, injustice, honor, dignity.

Structurally, legal consciousness consists of two elements: scientific legal consciousness (legal ideology) and ordinary legal consciousness (legal psychology).

1. Legal ideology is a system of views and ideas that in theoretical form reflect the legal phenomena of social life. Theoretical reflection of legal ideas and views is contained in scientific research on issues of state and law, their essence and role in public life. Since they contain objective conclusions and generalizations, this allows the state and its bodies to effectively use them in law-making and law enforcement activities.

2. Legal psychology is a set of feelings (habits, moods, traditions, which express the attitude of various social groups, professional groups, individuals to the law, legality, system of legal institutions functioning in society. Legal psychology characterizes those feelings, feelings , thoughts of people that arise in connection with the publication of legal norms, the state of current legislation and the practical implementation of its requirements. Joy or sadness after the adoption of a new law, a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the implementation of specific norms, an intolerant or indifferent attitude towards violations of legal regulations - all this belongs to the field of legal psychology.

Public and individual legal consciousness. Public legal consciousness generalizes legal views, ideas, traditions that are developed by individuals. Scientific legal consciousness and legal psychology do not exist outside the consciousness of individuals. They include everything typical, the most essential that is contained in the legal consciousness of individuals.

Individual legal consciousness is the feelings and ideas about the law of a particular individual. Public legal consciousness develops through the legal consciousness of individuals. However, it is immeasurably richer than the legal consciousness of the individual, since it reflects the legal life of society as a whole. Individual legal consciousness cannot cover the entire diversity of legal phenomena in different periods of the life of society - it reflects only individual, essential features. The legal consciousness of a particular person is influenced by the conditions in which he lives and works. And since the living conditions of individuals are different, this also affects their sense of justice. That is why one person’s legal consciousness can be deep and contain a scientific assessment of legal phenomena, while another can be limited, lagging behind the general level of public legal consciousness. It is very important to take into account differences in the level of legal awareness of individual people when organizing work on legal education.

The role of legal consciousness in public life. Legal awareness plays an important role in the improvement and development of the legal life of society.

Firstly, legal awareness is a necessary factor in creating rules of law. After all, legal norms are formed in the process of conscious volitional activity of law-making bodies. Before being expressed in legal norms, certain interests and needs of people pass through the will and consciousness of individuals who create legal norms. Therefore, the quality of legal norms, their compliance with the needs of social development is inextricably linked with legal ideas, the level of legal consciousness of those who create legal norms.

Secondly, legal awareness is an important and necessary condition for the accurate and complete implementation of legal norms. The requirements of legal norms are addressed directly to people. These requirements are also fulfilled through their conscious volitional activity. And the higher the level of legal awareness of the citizens of the state, the more accurately the requirements of legal norms are implemented. A developed legal consciousness ensures the voluntary, deeply conscious implementation of legal requirements, understanding of their correctness and reasonableness. It makes people feel intolerant of violations of law and order.

Thus, legal consciousness is an important factor in the development of legislation, the stability of the legal order, and the reality of the rights and freedoms of citizens. Perfect legal awareness also indicates a high general and legal culture of the individual, making him a full participant in various legal relations.

§ 5. FEATURES OF SOCIAL NORMS IN ACTIVITY IN THE ARMED FORCES

In the armed forces there are uniform norms of law, moral norms, norms of public organizations and other rules of social behavior that are common to all members of society.

In addition, the special nature of the activities of the armed forces determines the existence of social norms that take into account the specifics of the military organization. These norms regulate the behavior of only those participants in social relations who are directly related to the life and development of the armed forces.

Let us consider how the features of social norms operating in the specific conditions of a state military organization are expressed.

1. Rules of law. General legal regulations do not regulate all social relations developing in the armed forces. There are special legal norms that regulate social relations arising in the army as an organization intended for armed struggle. Such norms are called military legal norms, or norms of military legislation.

Military legal norms establish the mandatory requirements of the state for the construction and organization of armed forces, regulate the life, everyday life and combat training of troops. In particular, military legal norms regulate social relations that are associated with the management of the armed forces, their recruitment, military service, and the organization of logistics for troops.

Military legal norms have all the features that are inherent in general legal norms. They are established and protected by the state, are generally binding, and express the interests and needs of military personnel. But they also have a number of features.

Firstly, military legal norms reflect specific principles of military organization: centralization of leadership, unity of command, unity of command, unconditional military obedience and others.

Secondly, the objective laws of armed struggle have a significant impact on the content of military legal norms. The rules of law that regulate combat operations of troops take into account the objective nature of these laws. Comprehensive reflection in military legal norms of the laws of war and armed struggle contributes to the achievement of the necessary results in war.

Thanks to these features, military legal norms are characterized by increased categoricality, greater detail of the rules they contain, as well as stricter liability for their violation.

2. Moral standards. In the armed forces, moral standards reflect the uniqueness of the conditions in which military personnel live and operate. They establish moral requirements for defenders of the Fatherland, which have developed in society in connection with people’s ideas about military duty, officer’s honor, valor, heroism, courage, and military camaraderie. Moral standards place particularly high demands on those moral qualities of military personnel that they need in war, in armed struggle. To defeat a strong enemy, every warrior must be brave, courageous, capable of heroism and self-sacrifice.

The peculiarity of the moral norms in force in the armed forces is expressed in the fact that many of them are enshrined in military legal acts (military oath, regulations, manuals). Therefore, they are at the same time legal norms. Compliance with such moral norms is ensured not only by internal conviction and the strength of public opinion, but, in necessary cases, by measures of state coercion. The organic merging of legal and moral requirements in them increases the responsibility of military personnel for fulfilling their military duty.

3. Norms of public organizations. This type of social norms has an active impact on various aspects of the life and activities of the armed forces. They develop social activity and creative initiative among military personnel, which contributes to the successful solution of combat training tasks. Thus, participation in the work of military scientific societies increases the technical level of the members of these societies. The activities of organizations of innovators and inventors in the army ensure more efficient use of military equipment and weapons and increase their reliability in operation. Military personnel - members of creative unions (writers, journalists, artists, filmmakers), various public organizations and associations - do a lot of work on the patriotic education of military personnel and raising their cultural level.

4. Norms of customs. This type of social norm is becoming widespread in the daily life of the armed forces. Military personnel, by force of habit, observe those norms of behavior that have become common to them in civilian life. At the same time, in the army and navy there are norms of military customs that reflect the characteristics of the military organization of the state. They do not become a habit of military personnel immediately, but gradually, during the course of military service. Particularly strong skills in observing the norms of military behavior are developed by professional military personnel as a result of their repeated repetition of the same actions and actions. The norms of customs that have become natural for many military personnel include accuracy, composure, smartness, neatness, restraint, and diligence. The positive role of such habits is undeniable: in modern warfare, only strong skills will allow you to make the right decision in the shortest possible time and successfully complete a combat mission in a rapidly changing environment.

5. Norms of tradition. Those traditional rules that reflect the experience of training and combat activities of troops, features of military life, are called military traditions. Depending on the areas of activity of military personnel they occur, they can be divided into the following types:

Norms of combat traditions (sphere of combat activity);

Norms of military labor traditions (sphere of educational activities);

Norms of traditions of military life (sphere of military life).

The norms of tradition operating in the armed forces are an important means of improving the combat skills of troops and increasing their combat effectiveness. They play a big role in the patriotic education of soldiers, in the formation of high moral and fighting qualities in them.

6. Norms of rituals. The norms of military rituals are widespread in the armed forces. These are norms that define the rules of conduct for military personnel when performing military rites, solemn and mourning ceremonies. The norms of military rituals, as a rule, are enshrined in regulations and other acts of military legislation. These are the rules for taking the military oath, the rules for displaying the unit’s banner, the rules for conducting drill reviews, changing military guards, and others.

Thus, social relations in the armed forces are regulated through general and special social norms that reflect the special needs of the military state organization. Thanks to this, a comprehensive regulation of the life and activities of military personnel is achieved.

RELATIONSHIP OF LAW AND OTHER SOCIAL NORMS

LEGAL AND TECHNICAL STANDARDS

LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS

STRUCTURE OF LEGAL CONSCIOUSNESS

QUESTIONS TO CONSOLIDATE KNOWLEDGE

1. What is the significance of normative regulation of social relations? How is it different from other regulators of public life?

2. Basic generic characteristics of social norms.

3. Criteria for the classification of social norms.

4. Give a brief description of the system of social norms.

5. Types of social norms: unity, difference and interaction.

6. What are the moral foundations of legal norms?

7. To what extent does law interfere with technology? Technical and legal norms and their specifics.

8. Legal awareness as a form of social consciousness. What are its features?

9. The structure of legal consciousness: legal ideology and legal psychology. How do they relate to individual legal consciousness?

10. What is the importance of legal consciousness for effective legislative activity?

11. The role of legal consciousness in the field of practical implementation of legal norms.

12. The relationship between legal consciousness and legal culture. Professional legal consciousness of a lawyer.

1. Law is a system of generally binding norms of behavior established and sanctioned by the state and ensured by its coercive force.

Law is a type of social norms.

There are many social norms in society.

They are classified according to three bases.

I basis: in the sphere of regulation of social relations, which, in turn, are divided into:

a) rules of law – generally binding rules of human behavior established and protected by the state;

b) moral norms - rules of behavior that are established in society in accordance with people’s moral ideas about good and evil, justice and injustice, honor, and dignity. They are protected by the power of public opinion or a person's inner convictions. For example, alms;

c) norms of customs - a rule of behavior that has developed as a result of long-term repetition of certain actions by people, thanks to which they have become established as stable norms. For example, blood feud;

d) norms of traditions - historically established and passed down from generation to generation generalized rules related to the maintenance of family, national and other foundations. For example: exchange of rings;

e) political norms are general rules of behavior that regulate relations between classes, social groups related to the exercise of state power, the method of organization and activity of the state (Chapter 3. Federal structure. Constitution of the Russian Federation);

f) economic norms are rules of conduct that regulate social relations related to the production, distribution and consumption of material goods. (Constitution of the Russian Federation, Article 8. Guarantee of the unity of economic space - that is, the state ensures freedom of economic activity, proclaiming the equality of all forms of ownership);

g) norms of public organizations - rules of conduct that regulate social relations within various public organizations between their members. These norms are established by public organizations themselves and are protected through measures provided for by the charters of these organizations.

II basis: according to the method of formation, social norms are divided into spontaneously formed (for example, norms of rituals, traditions, morality) and norms formed as a result of the conscious activity of people (the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993, adopted by popular vote on December 12, 1993).

III basis: according to the method of consolidation, the rules of behavior are divided into written and oral.

Moral norms and customs are passed down from generation to generation orally. In contrast, legal norms acquire a mandatory nature and state protection only after they are formalized in writing and published in special acts (laws, regulations, decrees, etc.).

Signs of entitlement:

1. General obligation.

Law is the only system of generally binding norms that is binding on the entire population living in the territory of a certain state.

2. Formal certainty.

This sign indicates that, firstly, legal norms are not thoughts, but represent reality embodied in legal acts; secondly, they are able to accurately, in detail, reflect the requirements for people’s behavior; thirdly, only the state can establish legal norms in official legal acts (laws, decrees), which are the only source of legal norms.

3. Ensuring execution by coercion and force of the state. If the instructions are not complied with voluntarily, the state takes the necessary measures to implement them. For example, violation of the prohibitions of criminal law entails the application of criminal liability to the offender.

4. Multiple uses.

Legal norms have a certain inexhaustibility; their application is designed for an unlimited number of cases. For example, the provisions of the US Constitution of 1787 still successfully regulate legal relations in a developed industrial country.

5. Fairness of the content of legal norms.

The right is recognized to express the general and individual will of citizens and to assert the dominance of the principles of justice in society.

No one can be held accountable without guilt, and every innocent person must be released.

In its essence, law is a normatively established and elevated state will into law, which expresses the measure of freedom and responsibility in society. Law is determined by the socio-economic, spiritual, moral conditions of life of a given society.

Law differs from other social phenomena and social norms in a number of specific features. In its internal structure, it consists of norms, that is, rules of behavior and general regulations, which within the country constitute a single system. The peculiarities of the law in force in a particular state cannot be deduced from the content of just one, individual legal norm. The content and principles of law, the patterns of its development can only be discovered by analyzing the entire system of law as a whole.

Legal norms are binding on everyone who falls within their scope, regardless of the subjective attitude of certain persons to these norms.

Law is inextricably linked with the state. Legal norms are established by the state and guaranteed by it. The possibility of using the coercive force of the state is a specific feature of law.

A deep meaning is invested in the concept of the state will being elevated to the law. Firstly, this means the unconditionality, categorical, indisputable will of the state. Secondly, the state will externally takes the form of laws, other regulations or other sources of law. The latter expresses the formal certainty of law, which also means a clear, precise indication in legal norms of the rights and obligations of subjects, the legal consequences of their non-compliance, and the circumstances upon the occurrence of which legal norms begin to apply.

According to its social purpose and functions, law acts as a regulator of social relations. In this capacity, law, firstly, consolidates social relations, secondly, contributes to their development, and thirdly, displaces relations that are alien to a given society. Thus, law is a socially conditioned measure of freedom and responsibility in society, expressed in a system of generally binding, formally defined, established and state-protected norms that act as a regulator of social relations.

Etiquette is the rules of behavior of people in society, which determine what can and cannot be done in certain situations. Knowing etiquette helps you make a good impression on people and build effective communication. This knowledge is especially useful when attending special events.

Many of us feel awkward when we go to an expensive restaurant or attend an important business meeting. This happens because we don’t know exactly how to behave correctly. Basic rules of etiquette will allow you not to fall on your face in any situation.

Rules of conduct in society

1. Never come to visit without calling. And if you are visited without warning, you can afford to wear a robe and curlers.
   
   
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2. If you accept the invitation, show punctuality - do not say the famous: “I may be a little late.” Be on time. Only a very important person or a star can be more than half an hour late: as you know, they are not late, but delayed.
   
   
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3. It is always better to come to visit or to a party with a gift. It doesn't have to be expensive. Win-win options - wine and desserts. If there are small children in the house, bring something for them too.
   
   
4. The format of greetings upon entry - kisses, hugs, handshakes or other signs of respect - is determined by older guests. Whoever you are - a director, an academician, an elderly woman or a student, when entering the room, say hello first.
   
   
5. The usual rules apply at the table. Eat at the same pace as everyone else.
   
   
6. Certain uncomfortable topics of conversation are best avoided. It is believed that one cannot talk about salary, politics, health, religion. Good topics for casual conversation: sports, weather, cooking, pets, art, science, travel and the like.
   
   
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7. While eating, place the napkin on your lap, and then to the left of the plate. In turn, leave the cutlery on the plate and not on the table.
   
   
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8. Do not place your smartphone on the table in public places. By doing this, you show how important a role this gadget plays in your life and how uninteresting you are in the conversation taking place nearby. It's better not to use your phone at all during dinner.
   
   

Always turn on silent mode or turn off your phone completely in the theater, library, cinema, or at a lecture. If you need to make or receive a call, move two or three meters to the side so as not to disturb your friends' conversation.



9. When receiving guests, make sure that the size of the table matches the number of guests. The tablecloth must be spotless.
10. The dishes must be from the same set. It is worth choosing all the plates and other items according to material and color.
    
    
11. If the menu has 2 types of dishes and 2 fundamentally different wines, give each guest an extra glass. Don't forget about water glasses.
    
    
12. If someone comes to you for the first time, first show the guest where they can wash their hands and clean themselves up, and then invite them into the living room.
    
    
13. If there are strangers among the guests, you should definitely introduce them to each other. When meeting, they introduce: a man to a woman, those younger in age and position to the elders, those who came later to those already present. In this case, the person you introduce the stranger to is mentioned first, and the one you introduce is mentioned second.
    
    
14. Representatives of the fair sex are not recommended to check or apply makeup during a conversation or at a table, and men are not recommended to comb their hair or touch their hairstyle or beard.
15. Don't forget to say thank you! Say thank you to the host and, if possible, to others with whom you spoke for an interesting conversation. The host should thank all the guests, mentioning that it was their arrival that made this event special.
    
    

Nothing costs us so little or is valued so much as politeness. Rules of etiquette are quite simple and based on common sense. You show politeness to another person, he shows it to you. This way everyone wins.