Breaking The Social Norm Analysis

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.

For my breaching social norm experiment I was determined to do something I would never do even if it was a dare, especially since my ability to interact with strangers is not the best. So, I decided to make people feel uncomfortable by holding their hand. What I would do is walk up to the person from behind and slowly make my way to their hand to make them feel even more uncomfortable. People normally hold hands with their significant other, or with someone they know like a friend or family member, so to be holding hands with a stranger is out of the ordinary and awkward.

During the social norm violation experiment, my partner and I found that by violating simple social norms people can react either calmly or highly confused. The social norm we chose to violate was asking for someone else’s seat in class and at lunch. My partner and I believed that most of the participants would react either confused or just give up their seat to be nice. To follow through with the experiment, my partner went up to ten different students while either in lunch or in class and politely asked to switch seats. I observed the whole situation, I watched the difference in each person’s body language, tone, attitude, and their answer. Most of the time, whenever my partner asked a student for their seat, they looked at her confused at

In these dorms, the initial interactions that socially code us throughout college are initiated. These social interactions create and solidify bonds between students that can continue for the rest of their lives. A change to the demographics of the freshman dorms doesn’t just create an immediate effect, but also affects every current and future resident of UC Davis. A freshmen social group that is initially less diverse will lead to a less diverse group of friends throughout the remaining years of their undergraduate studies. This reduces their social group to a less diverse group of individuals, which reduces the chance for them to interact with other cultures and overcome any form of culture shock that they are affected by, whether it be here in UC Davis or later in their careers. Freshmen dorms are the only place that nurtures cultural interaction to create a UC Davis community that is ultimately more unified, accepting, and respectful of all people and their different cultures.

For my breaching social norm experiment, I was determined to do something I would never do even if it was a dare, especially since my ability to interact with strangers is not what I consider advanced. So, I decided to make people feel uncomfortable by holding their hand. What I would do is walk up to the person from behind and slowly make my way to their hand to make them feel even more uncomfortable. People normally hold hands with their significant other, or with someone they know, like a friend or family member, so to be holding hands with a stranger is infrequent and abnormal.

Adam Gorlick in “ Got an hour? Boost your grades. Stanford psychologists design 60-minute exercise that raises GPAs of minority student” talks about the transition from high school to college and the difficulties many students face. In his article Adam Gorlick brings up various questions many freshman ask for example, will they fit in but also brings up the issue of being a minority in a new college campus. He later goes on to talk about how these situations during the transition to college are situations that everyone goes through.

To break the social norm, I went trick or treating in the mall, wearing a Halloween costume. I broke the social norm by not trick or treating on Halloween. The social norm is to trick or treat on Halloween. To break this norm, I went to the mall and went trick or treating in three stores. I said “trick or treat” to any customer and worker who was in the store as well as wore a Wonder Women costume. At the mall, people walk around, look in stores, and buy clothes or any kind of merchandise. The typical norms at the mall are that when you see a person or an employee in a store, you say “Hello”, “Good Morning”, “Good Afternoon”, or “Good Evening”. Trick or treating and wearing a costume not on Halloween and at the mall is considered to be deviant.

Harry Patel 9/03/2008 Sociology 101, section 8 Social Norms: Conformity and Deviance One of the norms I broke was talking to someone in a public bathroom, while peeing. It was very ocward talking to the guy next to me. One of the reason I felt ocward talking to him was because, you are not suppose to talk to the guy next to you. While you are doing your business you look at the wall in front of you. When you are done you wash your hands, and leave. No one talks to anyone they don’t know, even if they do know the person next to them they won’t talk to them while they are peeing. No one was taught to do this, you learned by observing. But when the guy next to you starts talking you don’t know how to react. That’s how the guy next to me

Pelina and Nicole were less hesitant to blame their college struggle on race directly. While they both understood that race creates barrier in the society they did not attribute that to their hardships faced in college. They listed other outside sources such as income, network, motivation, and one’s brain capacity. But both emphasize that class, not race, is the main contributor to student’s performance in college. Although it may not be direct, there is no doubt a relationship between class and race that we cannot ignore. In his article, Race, Socioeconomic Status and Health: Complexities, Ongoing Challenges and Research Opportunities, David Williams explain that while looking at the data from 1998 -2006 “Both blacks and Hispanics have levels of overall poverty that are two to three times higher than those of whites. Asians have poverty levels that are generally comparable to those of the white population” (pg. 6) . He goes further in explaining these disparities and mentions that “Among persons with income in the bottom 20% of all US households, for every dollar of

Laws are the written rules that are used to create a functioning society and avoid chaos and anarchy. As a society, we also have unwritten “laws” that we follow in order to live peacefully among each other. These unwritten “laws” are called social norms. For example, you wouldn’t be breaking any laws by wearing pajamas to work, but you would be breaking a social norm. Different races, cultures, genders, age, and sexual orientations have different social norms that are expected to abide by.

When offered the opportunity to shake someone’s foundation a bit by testing social norms I was initially hesitant. I thought to myself what could I possibly do that would meet the requirements for the assignment and not utterly embarrass me in the process. As luck would have it I was stuck in yet another endless meeting at work. I found my mind wandering to my “to do list” as often happens in these situations. I remembered this assignment and thought to myself…why not. I then opted to never break contact with people I worked with for an entire day. What better place to start then in a meeting where my victims were essentially trapped.

Besides the actions of a few, society has laid a clear set of guidelines regarding acceptable social behavior. Obviously there are always exceptions, and the purposeful breaking of these social norms can be seen as humorous. Although, not all people find the breaking of these norms as comical. Someone could become offended, uncomfortable, and possibly question the perpetrators sanity. Some of these social norms are such common practice that most don’t realize they follow them in everyday activities. This past weekend I personally broke one of these norms and as predicted the social responses that followed were both awkward and uncomfortable for both parties. In America the socially appropriate beach etiquette would involve proper attire such as a swimsuit, towel, possibly some kind of bag, etc… Also in America the only socially acceptable time to wear a costume is usually restricted to Halloween or planned events, but the overall consensus of the costume is to be a humorous and fun. This past weekend I decided to incorporate both of these norms in my experiment. My experiment involved wearing my halloween costume (Cat In

There are different types of social norms that are constantly being broken, such as not saying “excuse me” after burping, not holding the door for the person right behind you, or not saying “thank you” for every gesture that is being made to you. However, there is one specific social norm that I have violated that always makes others wonder why I  don’t follow the rules.

Don’t know what people want, or what is expected, I want to walk this life bare-naked, to remain undetected, Questioning why people want me to act normal, to conform, I feel puzzled and broken, not knowing the social norm. I want to find the answers, so I am pondering, Do not interrupt me, in my mind, I’m wandering. When my thoughts are burning, itching, Don’t want wounds that need stitching, Sometimes when I am on the edge of safe, At those moments, it’s love that I crave.

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.