What do you think about social norms?

Social norms probably dictate what we do more than laws. Despite it being illegal to talk on a handheld phone whilst driving, to many people it is still the social norm to do so, therefore many people still break the law. Think of it as the "everybody else does it" effect. The same is true of other petty crimes, such as speeding.

A better large-scale example: think of the UK riots last summer. Temporarily, it became the norm in the "micro-societies" of some inner city areas to loot shops are behave violently. Many people who were normally not pre-desposed to violence were caught up the riots despite them being blatently against their normal moral code AND illegal.

People are naturally designed to follow eachother of guidence, in effect we are always pre-desposed to follow social norms. If social norms break down or change we often follow them, regardless of morality or legality. If social norms break down, and there is not real guidence or a conflict in guidence, we get events like the UK riots.

That is what I think, any way. I might be, as so often happens, barking up the wrong tree. It makes sense to me though.