Convention (norm)
A
convention is a set of
agreed, stipulated or generally accepted
social norms,
norms, standards or
criteria, often taking the form of a
custom.
Certain types of rules or customs may become
law, and regulatory
legislation may be introduced to formalise or enforce the convention (e.g. laws which determine which side of the
road vehicles must be driven). In a
social context, a convention may retain the character of an "unwritten"
law of custom (e.g. the manner in which people greet each other, such as by shaking each other's hands).
In
physical sciences, numerical values (such as constants, quantities, or scales of measurement) are called
conventional if they do not represent a measured property of nature, but originate in a
convention, for example an average of many measurements, agreed between the scientists working with these values.
A
convention is a rule or a selection from among two or more alternatives, where the rule or alternative is agreed upon among participants. Often the word refers to unwritten customs shared throughout a community. For instance, it is conventional in many societies that strangers being introduced shake hands. Some conventions are explicitly legislated; for example, it is conventional in
America and
Germany that motorists
drive on the right side of the road, whereas in
England and
Barbados they drive on the left. The extent to which
justice is conventional (as opposed to
natural or
objective) is historically an important debate among
philosophers.
The nature of conventions has raised long-lasting philosophical discussion.
Quine,
Davidson and
David Lewis published influential writings on the subject. Lewis's account of convention received an extended critique in
Margaret Gilbert's
On Social Facts. Another view of convention comes from
Ruth Millikan's
Language: A Biological Model (2005), once more against Lewis.
|
This Reversed map of the earth is considered to be unconventional by the majority of society because culturally north has been at the top, not south |
In every field of
art,
science, or other human endeavor, there are
conventions that may simply be expectations:
*
paintings are rectangular or square
*stock devices (a
comedy ends with a marriage, but a
cowboy film can end with the hero riding off into the sunset)
*strangers being introduced shake hands, as in Western society, but
**
bow toward each other, in
Japan or
China and
*
do not bow at each other, in the Jewish tradition
**in the US, eye contact, a nod of the head toward each other, and a smile, with no bowing; the palm of the hand faces sideways, neither upward nor downward, in a business handshake.
**present business cards to each other, in business meetings
**in Japan, removal of dark eyeglasses when meeting, as dark eyeglasses indicate association with the underworld.
*click heels together, in past eras of Western history
*a woman's
curtsey, in some societies
*in the Mideast, never displaying the sole of the foot toward another, as this would be seen as a grave insult.
*In many schools, even though seats for students are not assigned they are still "claimed" by certain kids, and sitting in someone else's seat is considered an insultThere are
generic conventions which are very closely tied to a particular artistic
genre, and may even help to define what that genre is. Terms such as
fan conventions and
science fiction conventions could be interpreted in this manner, but more often refer to the meaning of "
convention" as a gathering or the physical location of a gathering.
In
government,
convention is a set of unwritten rules which the participants in the government are expected to follow. These rules can be ignored only if justification is clear, or can be provided. Otherwise, consequences are sure to follow. Consequences may include ignoring some other convention that has until now been followed. According to the traditional doctrine (Dicey), conventions cannot be enforced in courts, because they are non-legal sets of rules. Convention is particularly important in the
United Kingdom and other governments using the
Westminster System of government (e.g.
Canada and
Australia) where many of the rules of government are unwritten.
The term
convention is also used in
international law to refer to certain formal statements of principle such as the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Conventions are adopted by international bodies such as the
International Labour Organization and the
United Nations. Conventions so adopted usually apply only to countries that ratify them, and do not automatically apply to member states of such bodies. These conventions are generally seen as having the force of international
treaties for the ratifying countries. The best known of these are perhaps the several
Geneva Conventions.
*
Law-Ref.org index of important international conventions*
Global Business Events Portal
