Folkways
E53604
Folkways is a foundational sociological work by William Graham Sumner that analyzes the origins, functions, and social power of customs, norms, and moral codes in human societies.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Folkways canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T424594 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Folkways Context triple: [William Graham Sumner, notableWork, Folkways]
-
A.
Colored Town
Colored Town was the early 20th-century African American neighborhood in Miami that later became known as Overtown, historically serving as a major cultural and residential center for Black residents during segregation.
-
B.
A Fair Country
A Fair Country is a non-fiction book by Canadian philosopher and writer John Ralston Saul that argues Canada’s identity and political culture are fundamentally shaped by Indigenous, rather than European, traditions.
-
C.
The Citizens
The Citizens is the commonly used nickname for Manchester City Football Club, a prominent English Premier League team based in Manchester.
-
D.
The Sisters
"The Sisters" is a Caroline-era stage comedy by English playwright James Shirley, known for its witty exploration of family, marriage, and social manners.
-
E.
Twenty Years at Hull-House
Twenty Years at Hull-House is Jane Addams’s influential autobiographical account of her pioneering social reform work and the development of the Hull House settlement in Chicago.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Folkways Target entity description: Folkways is a foundational sociological work by William Graham Sumner that analyzes the origins, functions, and social power of customs, norms, and moral codes in human societies.
-
A.
Colored Town
Colored Town was the early 20th-century African American neighborhood in Miami that later became known as Overtown, historically serving as a major cultural and residential center for Black residents during segregation.
-
B.
A Fair Country
A Fair Country is a non-fiction book by Canadian philosopher and writer John Ralston Saul that argues Canada’s identity and political culture are fundamentally shaped by Indigenous, rather than European, traditions.
-
C.
The Citizens
The Citizens is the commonly used nickname for Manchester City Football Club, a prominent English Premier League team based in Manchester.
-
D.
The Sisters
"The Sisters" is a Caroline-era stage comedy by English playwright James Shirley, known for its witty exploration of family, marriage, and social manners.
-
E.
Twenty Years at Hull-House
Twenty Years at Hull-House is Jane Addams’s influential autobiographical account of her pioneering social reform work and the development of the Hull House settlement in Chicago.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ sociology book ⓘ |
| argues |
customs persist through group approval and disapproval
ⓘ
moral codes grow out of folkways ⓘ |
| author | William Graham Sumner ⓘ |
| authorNationality | American ⓘ |
| contribution |
foundation for later norm-based theories in sociology
ⓘ
systematic classification of types of social norms ⓘ |
| describes |
folkways as habitual ways of acting
ⓘ
mores as morally sanctioned norms ⓘ |
| discipline |
anthropology
ⓘ
sociology ⓘ |
| examines |
relationship between custom and law
ⓘ
relationship between custom and morality ⓘ stability and change of customs over time ⓘ variation of norms across societies ⓘ |
| field |
cultural sociology
ⓘ
social theory ⓘ |
| focusesOn |
functions of customs
ⓘ
origins of customs ⓘ social power of norms ⓘ |
| genre | academic monograph ⓘ |
| hasNotableConcept | ethnocentrism (as discussed by Sumner) ⓘ |
| historicalContext | early development of American sociology ⓘ |
| influenced |
American sociology
ⓘ
the concept of mores in sociology ⓘ the study of social norms ⓘ |
| intendedAudience |
scholars
ⓘ
students of anthropology ⓘ students of sociology ⓘ |
| keyConcept |
distinction between folkways and mores
ⓘ
group pressure in maintaining norms ⓘ non-rational origins of customs ⓘ relativity of moral codes ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
customs
ⓘ
folkways ⓘ moral codes ⓘ mores ⓘ social control ⓘ social norms ⓘ |
| theoreticalApproach |
cultural evolutionism
ⓘ
evolutionary sociology ⓘ |
| usedIn |
history of social thought courses
ⓘ
introductory sociology courses ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Folkways Description of subject: Folkways is a foundational sociological work by William Graham Sumner that analyzes the origins, functions, and social power of customs, norms, and moral codes in human societies.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
William Graham Sumner