According to Maclver and Page “When the folkways have added to them conceptions of groups welfare, standards of right and wrong they are converted into mores”.

Characteristics of Mores are:

Mores are the regulators of social life: Mores represent the living character of the group or community. They are always considered right by the people who share them. They are morally right and their violation morally wrong. Hence they are more compulsive in nature. They put restrictions on our behavior.

Mores are relatively more persistent: More are relatively long lasting than ordinary folkways. In fact, they even become conservative elements in society. They also put up resistance to change.

Mores vary from group to group or time to time: What is prescribed in one group is prohibited in another Eskimos for example- often practice female infanticide, whereas such a practice is strictly forbidden in the modern societies. Mores not only differ with culture but also with time. What is right at one time may be wrong at another and vice versa. Ex:- the practice of “Sati” was “moral” then, but today it is illegal and immoral.

Mores are often backed by values and religion: More normally receive the sanction and backing of values and religion. When this occurs they become still more powerful and binding. Mores backed by religious sanctions are strongly justified people.