Creating A Social Norm

I am glad personal space is a norm mainly because of sanitary reasons and safety reasons. If this norm didn’t exist I believe we would have more difficulties with spread of infectious diseases. I also believe that the standards of personal space have set an undefined precaution sense. I appreciated the expected standard of personal hygiene because its sanitary. If this norm did not exist I believe it would influence decreased health and comfort. I am also glad for the existence of a standard for manners in public settings. I believe that having a standard etiquette promotes more positive interactions and comfort. The norm of individual choices, and the social norm for education being a standard in the united states are my most appreciated social norms that exist. Without individual choice I do not believe we would be as progressive as we are in this point in time. The standard that we have for education is important. Knowledge is power, so living in a society where children/adolescence/adults are not required to learn, and pursue higher educations would completely alter and impede our societies progression.

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.

A problem that affects the daily life of more than a hundred million people is inadequate sanitation and a lack of proper sanitation facilities. For example, only 87% of Indians in urban areas have access to a sanitized latrine, while only 33% of Indians in rural areas have access to a toilet, (The Guardian). This statistic is alarming, as it increases the susceptibility to diseases such as

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 believe that the talk of toilet habits or one’s bodily waste is not a present conversation in any social situations. Moreover, the incontinence sufferers have to face the social stigma of the symptoms of the this condition and that intensifies the stress of the condition.

For our Social Norm Project Caitlin Avery and I decided that we would get onto an elevator and press all of the buttons. We choose this experiment because we both are a little bit shy and felt that this experiment would be stepping out of our comfort zone without making either of us feel too uncomfortable. When we conducted this experiment we made sure to get on the elevator when there was a good crowd of people riding (around 10-15 people) and then the two of us pressed all of the buttons until they were all lit. As we rode the elevator we watched to see what the other passenger’s reactions were. Most people did in fact notice that we had pressed every button and had a puzzled expression on their face, but you could tell that they didn’t think much about it and went back to looking at their phone. I did notice a few people who had

For my social norm project, I chose to relax in a strange location. Initially I had planned to lie down on a beach towel next to a stop sign but, I changed my mind and decided to lie next to a walking path so that it would be easier to observe people’s reactions. The location that I chose was next to the walking path behind the Dairy Queen in downtown Brighton specifically the place where the path branches off to a boardwalk over the mill pond. I placed my beach towel right next to a sign that detailed prohibited activities, which did not include loitering. Behind me were some trees, the lake, and a particularly noisy group of geese. Across the sidewalk was a graveyard, making my relaxation spot even less ideal. When I first laid down, my feet

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.

#2. Using a Port-O-John is a tragic experience for the majority of humanity. Whenever I have to use one I wait in line sometimes for ages trying my best to be patient. Then after waiting for what seemed like forever I open the door and are hit with a waft of an indescribable. After my long wait it’s quite depressing to find out the middle aged man ahead of you filled the Porta potty with his own personal scent. It’s even worse at state fairs or amusement parks when you’re forced to use the restrooms. I honestly can’t wrap my head around how someone ever thought Port-O-Potties were an excellent invention. Maybe they didn’t think through the process of their idea. The fact that a pile of strangers waste sits in the same plastic box as you well

Stripping people of the basic right to a toilet and sanitary living conditions is degrading, and inhumane. In India, the people are forced to publicly pass waste like wild animals. Public restrooms are common in America, but the public is India’s restroom. The Indian government has lax sanitation standards and does very little to fix the issue. Instead, these people are dehumanized for a naturally occurring process. Due to a lack of sanitary measures, disease is a widespread problem and the people without access to running toilets are more susceptible to these different ailments. Some common diseases from constant fecal contact include Hepatitis A, E-coli, and various infections. People perform daily tasks next to the waste products and eat near it, walk in it, and are constantly exposed to the waste. Additionally, exposure to these unsanitary living conditions perpetuates the stereotype that all Indians are

Some challenges and barriers can exist on either one of the approaches on the development and implementation of the proposed policy. On the top-down approach, it might be difficult to engage the partners and target group. The community might also see it as a violation of their rights because the top-down approach is considered dictatorial. Personal biases such as their beliefs, attitudes, and values may lead to lack of support to the change. In addition, naturally, people who are forced to change will have the initial reaction to resist.

However, toilet provision has remained inadequate in most communities, which lack even rudimentary toilet access (Gershenson & Penner, 2009; Molotch & Noren, 2010). According to Kitchin &

Aziz, S., Di Lorenzo, C., & Fakih, H. A. M. (2011). Bowel habits and toilet training in rural and urban dwelling children in a developing country. The Journal of Pediatrics, 158(5), 784-788.

Mahatma Gandhiji once said “We can no more gain God’s blessing with an unclean body than with an unclean mind. A clean body cannot reside in an unclean city”. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was a dream, dreamt by Mahatma Gandhi the father of our nation.

Another area that needs consideration is the horrible condition of public toilets. The shortage of public toilets is a big challenge, hence people are compelled to use open spaces to answer the call of nature. The toilets that do exist are in such pathetic condition that one cannot use them.