Per Wickenberg
Professor emeritus
Legal norms and social norms at the interface of different socio-cultures
Author
Summary, in English
Norm supporting actors and structures for change.
Education every day effects almost half of the population in Sweden and Nordic countries. Most research on schools and education is based within education science and there is a lack of other social science perspectives. Sociology of law with its focus on social norms, ethical values and legal norms has something different to offer to be able to explore, interpret and understand education and changes in education. Sociology of law are focusing the interplay between legal norms and social (professional) norms in organisations, in institutions and in society.
Implementation of new norms in environmental education (EE), in education for sustainable development (ESD), and implementation of Child Rights Convention (CRC) in education is by central international and national policy-documents pointed out as the most important missions and challenges for schools. To be able to change legal, professional and social norms for new action patterns and action competences there is a need for different types of support on different societal levels. Theories and methods for investigating norms and norm supportive structures at agent- , organisational and systemic levels have been developed the last decade within the research field of sociology of law at Lund University.
In my part of the Conference session 2, the conclusions are based on some different – national and international - empirical research and educational projects on implementation of new legal and professional norms. Norm supporting actors and structures of great importance for change are: leaders and leadership in organisations (schools) are vital to change agents; creating social and professional arenas for communication and real participation; external resources and professional knowledge; and legal documents are needed as a moral support for empowering change agents in their role. The introduction of new social media as Facebook, Twitter etc. are now changing the conventional implementation perspective from a top-down perspective to strengthen bottom-up perspectives. As a conclusion these studies have contributed with new knowledge about the role of schools and education as an arena for change and formation of social, professional, and environmental norms.
Department/s
- Department of Sociology of Law
Publishing year
2012
Language
English
Publication/Series
[Host publication title missing]
Document type
Conference paper
Publisher
University of Oslo, Faculty of Law
Topic
- Law and Society
Keywords
- norms
- legal norms
- social norms
- education
- principals
- environmental education
- education for sustainable development
- values
- steering
- legal standard
- basic principles
- sociology of law
- education science
Conference name
Conference on Education Law
Conference date
2012-04-26 - 2012-04-27
Conference place
University of Oslo, Law Faculty, Norway
Status
Submitted