Commercial Gym Norm Violation

American culture has been referred to as a “melting pot.” Different cultures have added their own distinct aspects to society, making America a diverse country. Despite the plethora of cultures, certain norms, mores, and folkways are evident in American society. These ideas are vital to the function and stability of America. They provide guidelines for what is acceptable and not. In virtually every society, there are people who engage in deviant behavior and do not abide by the values that the rest of society follows. Theorists have debated if people are socialized into acting this way and if it is a social or personal problem. The sociological study of culture focuses on norms, mores, and folkways.

“Norms are written and unwritten rules that specify behaviors appropriate and inappropriate to a particular social situation (Ferrante, 2015, p. 50).” There are two types of norms; folkways and mores. “Folkways are norms that apply to the mundane aspects or details of daily life (Ferrante, 2015, p. 50).” The folkways included in survivalism involve moving to Idaho, attaining a swimming pool fish farm, and developing a grasp on the language that the survivalists use (Walsh, Vandici, Itz, & Collins, n.d.). “Mores are norms that people define as critical to the well-being of a group. Violation of mores can result in severe forms

To begin, only one person that was in the gym when I first arrived left before the observation began. Every person, excluding the one trainer that was present, had earphones in. Listening to music while working out is typically a custom inside the gym. There were a few patrons that stayed on certain equipment the entire time they were there. Unless someone is asking about equipment or advice, there is little to no conversation going on. One unique thing I realized is that there is no eye contact made between patrons unless you are working out together or asking questions. For example, when I would catch someone’s eyes they immediately looked away (this also happened between other members as well). If I were to

Another observance that I made regarded the male and female distributions throughout the day at the UNC Asheville gym. During the morning there was a disproportionate amount of females, with an estimated 65% of the makeup of the gym being females with most using the cycling machines. However later in the day males were the most populous demographic in the gym, and by far the majority was occupied using the weight room or the weight machines. I propose that this may be due to the main motivation differing between males and females using the gym. Society tends to put more pressure on females to lose weight and be in shape, while there is more pressure on males to have large amounts of muscle and generally be larger, with less emphasis placed

In sociology, the term “norms” can be described by a set of objectives where someone does to another person in a society that is normal to do in a culture or a country. There are many variants of types of norms in different countries, depending on what you are located has different norms. Just like shaking somebody’s hand, or making eye contact while talking to another person is proper etiquette in the American culture. In other countries like Vietnam, it is disrespectful to touch someone’s shoulder while talking to them. In American culture, that is allowed because we see it as a respectful interaction. An example of violating a social norm is, how president Trump expresses himself and what he is thinking of each major topic, whether it is the election or

Mores are behaviors or rules that should not be broken under any circumstances. These can not be overlooked. Such as rape or

While observing deviance, one will realize deviance comes in many forms of behaviors and characteristics. Most think of deviance a bad behavior, which is true, but deviance is much more boarder than that. Deviance can be defined in many different ways, however according to (Adler 2012), deviance is the violation of social norms. (p.11) To get a better understanding, Norms is considered as a way of life for many people, basically what is acceptable in society’s eyes. There are three types’ of norms, folkways, mores, and laws. Folkways are norms that which is strongly constructed more so of traditions, etiquette, and customs. Next you have, Mores, it is constructed

However, once I added on weight and was able to do multiple sets with a high amount of reps, people began to take notice. A few guys stared at me, and some gave me quizzical looks. One of the male employees of the recreation center even approached me and asked me if I needed any assistance, despite my boyfriend being directly next to me. I noticed that no one else in the gym was getting any of this attention, simply because everyone else in the weight room at that time was male. Had they seen a man benching, they would have not given it a second thought.

A social norm is expected rules that govern behaviors in today’s society and the expectation of what is appropriate or acceptable. I personally believe if my currently generation does not practice or acknowledge social norms, we most likely would not pass them on to the next generation. Over time “Behavior is largely influenced by our social roles, norms, and scripts. In order to know how to act in a given situation, we have shared cultural knowledge of how to behave depending on our role in society. Social norms dictate the behavior that is appropriate or inappropriate for each role” (Bell, 13.3). When members of a society disobey social norms or go against them they might receive odd looks or comments because they do not fit in with typical

How does an individual decide what is appropriate? How does society decide what is inappropriate? Guidelines are established through the consensus of members in a society. Eventually an individual comes to learn and accept the guidelines, or social norms, of a society through the process known as socialization. Socialization is, “the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs, and norms of a given society and learn to function as members of that society.” (Conley 2015: 114) When looking at social norms in a society two major concepts may be applied, ethnomethodology, “this approach to studying human interaction focuses on the ways in which we make sense of our world, convey this understanding to others, and produce a shared social order” (Conley 2015: 139), and dramaturgical theory, “the view of social life as essentially a theatrical performance, in which we are all actors on metaphorical stages, with roles, scripts, costumes, and sets.” (Conley 2015: 135) The ideology of dramaturgical theory gives insight as to why wearing a track jacket in 90-degree weather to stay cool can denounce the norms of society due to the fact that in hot weather, society says adding more clothing increases one’s temperature.

Our current lesson tells us that folkways are expected behaviors and/or attire but that they are not usually required of the individuals/community at question. Some of the folkways that I observed were that the men and women were dressed appropriately for their age, gender, and the weather. In addition to this, babies were dressed appropriately for their gender

The concept of Sociological Perspective of Deviance also known as “rule-breaking” behavior or “counter culture” can be defined as culture norms, values, and morals which shape the social acceptance of individuals or group through their actions or “unmoral or illegal” behavior.

One of the main questions psychologist have is what a specifically makes a certain behavior a social norm. McLeod (2008) classified social norms to be un-written rules on human-behavior. Because these rules are unwritten, it is almost impossible to give a specific number of how many social-norms there are. Social-norms are guidelines humans follow in certain social-groups or cultures. Social norms influence public and private sanctions. For example, what kind of music one listens to or what kind

The violation of the social norm can be meant to be utilized as a way of sustaining power, position, and influence of a specific group of people or organizations. In most cultures, the idea of deviance is based on the values, deeds, and beliefs that are achieved through interaction among people that have influence in the society and from the understanding that culture is passed on from member to member. Societies are also comprised of the subculture and the culture itself. The huge cultural forces depict what deeds are appreciated and which are unaccepted or discouraged. On the other hand, the subculture in a certain setting creates a resistance to the dominating culture and in doing so, they give a hand in the behavior that violates the large culture social norms. Therefore, the deviation from the cultural norms can be attributed to the social classes and financial classes. For example, prostitution in regions of the developing world is deviant in most cultures, however poverty pressure pushes young girls toward it for survival.

Whether one realizes it or not, the world we live in is governed by certain expectations and unwritten rules that our society creates. These expected behaviors are called norms. When one establishes the role that they play in society, they are governed by the expectations that society places on that specific role. Norms give order to a society, but is that enough to say that they are good for citizens? Are these norms needed to govern our behavior in a way that our government cannot? Social norms and the effect that they can have on a person or group of people is shown through Shakespeare's The Tempest. The characters in The Tempest are negatively affected by the unwritten social norms that they are expected to follow, and today these