Breaking Social Norms

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.

What differentiates American society from other societies is the rules and values that they follow. In sociology, these are called norms. Norms govern our lives by showing us how to behave in a certain ways. Codified norms turn into laws. One such norm is to shake hands when meeting someone. Another norm is when using public transportation, to give up his or her seat to someone who is elderly, disabled or pregnant. William Graham Sumner was one of the first American sociologists to distinguish between norms and folkways. Folkways stem from norms that most often are done unconsciously, and emerge from repetition. They are vital to society, are flexible, and do not provoke strong public responses if broken (Sumner, 1906, p. 1).

The title of this odd social experiment is Parental Permission. The title will make more sense once you become more familiar with the project. The aim of this project was to break an everyday social norm; a social norm is a set of rules or behaviors that are considered acceptable in society or among a group. As citizens of a society we all adhere to many social norms, a very common social norm is tipping a waiter or simply wearing clothes.

A norm is a behavior or unspoken rule that society has deemed as normal or acceptable. Those who do not follow the norms of a group may be shunned or looked at as different. The norm I will be violating for my project is asking people that I am unfamiliar with to do something simple for me. It is not common for a stranger to ask another stranger to do something that they are seemingly able to do. This norm acts as a mechanism of social control by keeping people from talking to those who are unfamiliar. It also puts forward the idea that we should be able to do all simple tasks ourselves. To break this norm, I am going to wear tennis shoes with one of the laces untied and ask strangers passing by to tie my shoe for me.

Norms are constantly changing and different in every culture. Norms are usually unnoticed in our society. There are folkways and mores norms. Folkway norms specify proper behaviors and are less violent and just rude which are stated was “weak”. Mores norms are “stronger” norms which violates more demands. We’re taught wrongs and rights while we’re kids like sneezing into your elbow and using manners. Other things are just common sense like facing forwards the doors in an elevator. In our culture standing backwards in the elevator is not normal. People walk in and turn around to face the door. For this assignment, I decided to break that norm. I was leaving a doctor’s appointment and had to take an elevator down to the first floor. I was about to turn around like a normal human but I remembered this essay and thought it was the perfect opportunity with an elevator full of people.

Norm violations are a form of actions that do not seem right to some people. Let’s say that you are in a public place, you are expected to act respectful and normal. Norms describes the expectation of a behavior. (James M. Henslin) One can perform a norm violation by doing the opposite of that, like invading personal space. There can be different reactions to violated norms which sociologists call sanctions. (Henslin) Mores, folkways, and values revolve around norms as well.

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

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

This week I decided the behavior I’d choose to violate would be physical appearance and space. I decided on violating these specifically because I felt like these specific nonverbal communication behaviors would generate the most amounts of different reactions from those around me. I also took this as a bit of a challenge for myself as I see myself as someone who is very aware of my physical appearance at all times as well as respectful with it comes to others personal space, so breaking two of my own nonverbal behavior “rules” would be something different and out of character for me.

1.What social norm did you select for your breaching experiment? The social norm that we selected for our breaching experiment was invading people’s personal space and creating an instant intimacy with a stranger by saying “I love you” at the end of a short conversation. To breach the norm we conducted a social experiment where we initiated conversations with 16 men and women aged 20+ of different ethnicities to test out their reactions. The reason I chose this social norm is because I have observed that people do not interact with people who don't fit our personal social criteria.

The norms of a culture are the rules that govern behavior. Norms define what behavior is required, accepted, or prohibited in particular circumstances and provide cues regarding how we should act—what people “ought to do” in their daily routine. Because there are cultural norms in society ideas about how we should behave, dress, think, etc. We generally have to meet the expectations of others that we will conform to these norms. Break a norm in public and judge the reactions of others.

A norm is “a rule or guideline regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable and appropriate within a culture” (pg. 84). However, I would say I broke a folkway which is “a loosely enforced norm involving common customs, practices, or procedures that ensures smooth social interaction and acceptance” (pg.84). The folkway that I broke, was standing in another person’s personal space, I stood really close and put my chin on their shoulder and tried not to say a word.

Social norms are an acceptable behavior in society or a group. People who don’t follow these norms could suffer from a consequence. For example, me and my friends decided to walk backwards down the street, where there were many people walking. Thus, people eventually started to stare and laugh as we began to walk into people and into objects. This is an example of social norms and breaking a social norm.

At a very early age, children learn about social norms to help them become proper citizens in society. Examples of some social norms that students learn are: “do not yell in the library,” “do not speak unless spoken to,” “do not talk to strangers,” and “close the door when you use the restroom.” As you grow older, these rules become unspoken because everyone knows how to act like a proper individual in society. The textbook definition of a social norm is something that is a rule of behavior that society accepts. (Bicchieri) Since everyone knows these unsaid rules of society, what would happen when someone decides not to follow these rules? What would people think and react? In this paper, I discuss my violation of the social norm “don’t talk to strangers” and discuss what I learned from this experiment.

Norms are essentially unspoken rules of conduct given by society. These vary and evolve not only through time but also vary from one age group to another and between social classes and social groups. (Becker) It is important to understand how norms dictate our society because breaking any norms can lead to a negative sanctions Sanctions are punishments or rewards one receive when you either abide by a norm or violate it. (Carl, 54) Different types of norms call for different level of sanctions. There are three different types or levels of norms: folkways, mores, and taboos. Folkways are informal norms when violate have lax consequence. An example is picking your nose in class. While it seen as un-hygienic, the sanction for this violation is less severe. The next level of norm is mores. Mores have a much greater value attached to it. Mores distinguish the difference between right and wrong, while folkways draw a line