Cultural Values as a Source of Normative Sanctions

The relationship between cultural values and social norms is a contemporary sociological problem with extensive classical antecedents. The assumption that a harmonious or integrated relationship is necessary for social order is traced by Blake and Davis (1964: 458) to Parsons from many earlier thinkers, leading to the proposition that institutionalized values shape normative role expectations and sanctions (Parsons and Shils, 1954; Parsons, 1964: 122-123). Many writers conceive of values as abstract, goal-like principles, and norms as means-specific rules guiding behavior in concrete settings (Kluckhohn, 1951; Williams, 1960; Taylor, 1965: 59; De Vos and Hippler, 1969: 366). The degree of integration betwen values and norms is of central concern in much theoretical and empirical work (Merton, 1949; Smelser, 1962; Cloward and Ohlin, 1966; Lerman, 1968; Moore, 1969; Jackson and Santee, 1975; Tiryakian, 1975). In this paper we explore the empirical relationships between the values of different Protestant denominations and the norms regulating members' behavior.