Kelley dearest,
You said you don't understand what I am talking about. Okay, I'll take you at your word. The problem is there are multiple definitions for 'norm' and 'moral'. I wondered through a intro/sociology course on line to see why you would flip out.
(http://www.cudenver.edu/public/sociology/introsoc)
Here are some quotes:
"Norms: rules governing behavior.
Norms are in effect the expectations that we have for the behavior of other people.
Norms can be quite formal, that is stated (written) as rules. The syllabus and a contract are such formal statements of norms... Norms are also very informal, developing as mutual understandings of what is and is not to be done as a consequence of the continuing interaction among those who are participants in the group...
Folkways, customs, mores and laws are all related to norms. Norm is the general term, these others are variants used to describe the more or less formal nature of particular norms. Folkways and customs are very informal and do not carry particularly severe sanctions (punishments) for their violation."
In plant physiology or other observational work (usually called phenomenology), the word 'norm' is used as short hand for a Gaussian distribution (bell curve) and means average behavior.
In my post, I used the words social norm to mean the measurable conduct of people, as in a statistical norm. This sort of terminology makes perfect sense in observational work and means what 'is seen most of the time'. I used the word moral to mean the prescribed conduct as in a rule, law, common expectation, which presumes ethical conduct and usually has the quality of good attached to it. Then putting these together, statistical norms are obviously not necessarily moral conduct. Norms in that sense are simply what most people do, most of the time, good, bad or otherwise.
If I take the above quotes as examples of what sociology means by 'norm', then it seems to me, sociology has elided norm to mean all sorts of quite different ideas and categories.
Now, when you come back from your time out, maybe we can continue this discussion.
Chuck