Breaking Norms : A Society

“Etiquette is all human social behavior. If you’re a hermit on a mountain, you don’t have to worry about etiquette; if somebody comes up the mountain, then you’ve got a problem…” This quote from American journalist, Judith Martin, illustrates the concept that the presence of others creates or inspires expectations. Social norms, or specific cultural expectations for how to behave in a given situation, are practiced throughout various societies and cultures across the planet. People relay on social norms to provide order and predictability in social situations. Social roles are the part people play as members of a social group. With each social role one plays, the behavior changes to fit the expectations both you and others have of that role. It is most common for people to conform to the guidelines provided by the roles we perform. When one does not conform to the social norms, it is considered abnormal behavior. For this assignment, I faced the challenge to disregard expectations of social roles and norms in society.

Have you ever wondered why we hold the doors for those behind us? How about the reason we use utensils when we eat? What about why we always stand facing the doors in the elevator? These are all examples of what are known as social norms. According to Dr. Ward social norms are “basic rules of society that help people know what is and is not appropriate to do in any situation.” These basic rules of society are usually unwritten and unspoken and many of us pick up on them over time. Although, some social norms are very common throughout many cultures, there is a lot of them that vary depending on which culture you are apart of. For example, here in America, a major social norm that we have is when eating, the polite thing to do is to use spoons and forks, instead of digging in with your hands. For instance, we would not eat spaghetti with our hands but we would use a fork. In some Thiland cultures it is considered rude to put most foods in your mouth with a fork. Then there is also some cultures such as Chile in which it is impolite to use your hands for anything, even foods such as french fries, they use forks while eating.

The five social norms that I am glad exist are the standards of personal space, the expected standard for personal hygiene, the expected standard for manners in public i.e. avoiding belching or flatulating in public areas, the norm of individual choices, and the social norm of education being a standard.

Anomie, first developed by Emile Durkheim, is very evident in today's society. The concept of anomie, according to Durkheim, is a state of normlessness, where individuals are succumbed to deregulation in their lives and through out their society brought on by a social change. Robert K. Merton, following the ideas of Durkheim, developed his own notion of anomie, called Strain Theory. Merton argued that anomie was a day to day function in society, seen as a social structure that embraces the same goals to all of its members without giving them equal means to achieve them. In the name of progress, modern society has promised a better world, yet in modern society anomie has not become the exception but instead the norm.

After this experiment, I learned that it is frightening to go against the unspoken rules of society. It is uncomfortable to participate in deviant behavior, especially when you are cognizant of how others are viewing you. Conducting this norm violation taught me that it is much easier to conform. Deviance can be functional to society, as the functional theories of deviance hold, and deviance can also be the cause of labeling and stigmatizing others, as some symbolic theories of deviance hold. In general, it can be agreed that no one wants to be the person committing the deviance because it will be accompanied by criticism. Anyone who breaks society’s norms is a very brave individual. For certain rules in today’s society, we need more courageous people who will challenge the norms. However, as far as staying quiet in the library goes, I think that rule can

When looking at the American Society, it’s interesting how everything seems to just work and run a certain way. Society is built on a set of social norms that set standards for everyday living. A norm can be defined as a way of thought or action that is acceptable by the majority of society. Individuals might not be sure why exactly they do something, but if everyone else is doing it, then why not? The social norm we’ve decided to break this semester is the idea of only taking what belongs to you. We plan on going to different dining areas on the Northern Illinois campus, and joining tables with complete strangers. While starting a conversation, we will have one girl begin sharing food off of the stranger’s plate and seeing how they react to this unconventional social interaction. Many individuals would not share their food with their friends, let alone total

Sociology can be used to explain the social norms and sanctions that are associated with everything that we do. In order to examine social norms, we must use the sociological imagination to make the familiar strange. To do that, we must critically think about the social interactions that take place around us and look at them from different points of view. I observed students interacting with each other and with dining hall employees in Campus Center Dining Hall (CCDH) in order to determine the social norms and sanctions that occur there.

I brainstormed and contemplated about what social norm I should break in order to achieve this assignment. I fathom the idea that some social norms and expectations would be quite difficult to accomplish. Surprisingly, without much thought I knew exactly what norm I wanted to break. I decided to break the well known concept that each gender must go to the restroom in their designated restroom area. I planned on starting the assignment by choosing a few public restrooms in which I would enter the men’s restroom. That particular behavior breaks a social norm because with most public restrooms; genders are separated by signs or names. Thus, there should be no reason why men or women end up going into the same restroom. I personally believe that

In society people are expected to follow many unwritten rules that are thought to be the “norm”. When one decides to break one of societies unwritten rules it puts not only the rule breaker but everyone around in positions where they are forced out of their comfort zones and must adjust to the abnormal. For this assignment the task was to choose multiple norms to break in front of various audiences then analyze the experience both as the norm breaker and reactions of the unknowing audience. This paper will discuss breaking of an interpersonal behavior norm by standing too close to others while browsing various stores in a mall. Also a social etiquette norm will be evaluated by choosing to sit on the floor at a food service establishment to

Everyone in the Brave New World is conditioned to conform to the societies rules: Community, Identity, and Stability. In the world we live in today, are we not conditioned the .same way? We are taught to follow the rules of society by example of our parents, churches, and even celebrities. We don’t describe the process as conditioning, but essentially they are the same thing. In Brave New World, conditioning is used to control the minds of the population, and in modern times, social norms control the population.

The social norm I violated was leaning or being near the sides or corners of an elevator. I volunteered in a hospital during my spring break so I decided to violate the elevators social norm, because I have to constantly take the elevator. In my nature, I am very timid, so violating a social norm required guts and perseverance. When I entered the elevator, I stood in the middle of the elevator while everyone else were leaning on the sides or corners. After a quick few seconds of standing in the middle of the elevator, the nurses were not taking their eyes off of me and were murmuring. The doctor literally asked me if I was feeling okay and politely asked me to go to the volunteer office right away so I can be sent for a checkup with one of the doctors. The patient stared at me for a few moments and looked away because he looked really ill. While walking out of the elevator, the two nurses continued to murmur and constantly looked at me until I was gone from their vicinity.

In society, we are accustomed to the normative social influence of rules for us to follow, from how we act in public to what we wear. Whether it was visible to us at the time or not the general public does follow this social norm that governs us for one simplistic reason, we don’t want to be embarrassed for being out of the social norm. The need for social acceptance is presented in our everyday behaviors, actions, and reactions to social normalities. Even with the acceptation of the many people who pretend not to notice a change in a person social norm, when a social norm is broken, the majority will notice it. However I did learn something during the time I was the social norms breaker, “individuals will tend to either fully conform to the

Today, in 2015, I would argue that the typical average college student’s reason for being in college is to get a decent job that will yield to an adequate income. Money has an extremely high standing for many people in today’s society. The desire for a well-paying job paired with our well-advanced technologies have contributed to the industry’s need for specialized workers. The competition in the job market is often times overwhelming, which forces students to focus on their field of study as best as possible in order to become the well-trained specialist a company is looking for. In addition to specialization in the professional environment, I have experienced that many people put a great effort in conforming to society’s social norms and

It would be in order to first examine the connotation and exact meaning of culture. Sociologists differ wide in their perceptions in explanting culture and its inter-related concepts. The best definition from the military view point is given by Leslie A. White, who quotes famous sociologists Frank Boas and Melville J. Herskovits. He writes “culture may be defined (as per Boas), as the totality of the mental and physical reactions and activities that characterise the behaviour of individuals composing a social group….”. He further quotes Herskovits and says, “When culture is closely analysed, we find but a series of patterned reactions that characterise the behaviour of the individuals who constitute a given group. Another writer Sapir quoted by Leslie white classified culture as the mass of typical reactions.’ Culture is best summarised as a way of life of the people. It is manmade part of environment. Cultures includes beliefs, ideas, religion, art, customs and other habits which the people acquire while living in a society. Another very important aspect of culture is that it is ever changing by learning and transmitting from one generation to other through a

Society, without even saying a word, has given us rules and guidelines that we have to abide. Social norms are rules or guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable or appropriate within a culture. They are so embedded within our daily life that often we do not notice them. Because norms are so ingrained within our society, deviation of social norms can lead to be ostracized or even arrested depending on the situation. Violating norms, like promoting hate message about poor people, in society can be explained through the functionalism theory.