Social fact is a technique of control. Societal norms shape our attitudes, beliefs, and actions. They inform what we do every day, from who we befriend to how we work. It’s a complex and embedded construct that keeps us from stepping outside the norm.
A social fact consists of collective thoughts and shared expectations that influence individual actions. Examples of social facts include social roles, norms, laws, values, beliefs, rituals, and customs.
In sociology, social facts are values, cultural norms, and social structures that transcend the individual and can exercise social control. The French sociologist Émile Durkheim defined the term, and argued that the discipline of sociology should be understood as the empirical study of social facts.
