Herzog, Patricia Snell2025-01-062025-01-062018Herzog, Patricia Snell. 2018. “Social Fact.” In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, Second Edition, G. Ritzer and C. Rojek. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss151.pub2.https://hdl.handle.net/1805/45209A social fact consists of collective thoughts and shared expectations that influence individual actions. Examples of social facts include social roles, norms, laws, values, rituals, and customs. Violating social facts confirms their existence because people who act against social facts are typically sanctioned. Sociology is one of the primary disciplines in which social facts are studied.en-USAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalaltruismclassical theorycultureDurkheim, Émilelife course sociologysociology of educationsociology of familysociology of health and illnesssociology of knowledgesociology of organizationssociology of religionsociology of work and occupationsOther