Essay On Norm Violation

People are consistently changing the way that they look, act, and even some of their beliefs just to fit in with society. There’s an invariably never-ending desire to want to feel accepted by others. Social pressure is what drives humans to do things that they know are wrong, but yet, they continue to do so. “The Rules about the Rules,” Stephen Carter describes a person of integrity would know right from wrong and would do right at all personally cost. Amy Tan Mother Tongue, was often embarrassed by the broken English her family spoke. She would conceal her accent whenever she could to avoid the embarrassment. Culture and gender play an immense role when it comes to trying to fit in. In America, you have to fit in as an American while keeping the roots of your

Somewhere, on the edge of consciousness, there is what I call a mythical norm, which each of us within our hearts knows "that is not me." ... [T]his norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian and financially secure. It is with this mythical norm that the trappings of power reside within this society. (as cited in Perry, 2011, p. 57)

As someone of Asian race, but adopted into a white suburban family, it has always been hard to reconcile the two. Growing up I never saw myself different than my primarily white classmates. Only when kids, mostly strangers, would sometimes pull their eyelids back or spoke pseudo-Chinese in an attempt to imitate Asian culture in middle school did I realize that I was different on the outside did I begin to understand that the

In Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Power of Context,” this notion is seen at the forefront. Gladwell explains moments in time when crime provoked more crime just because people felt that such actions simply were acceptable in the community. Similarly, in Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel,” Faludi depicts incidents in a military college that are flat out disturbing. She points out that these many incidents of inhumane acts from cadets are seen as acceptable because the community has had such a culture of it that it became

I suppose one can use conformity as a reasoning for these results. Society as a whole has learned to conform to social standards and change their behavior to fit in so they aren't so different from others, so as not to be the odd one out and when they see others behaving differently than themselves, or as the society that they're in, they're labeled as “weird” or “strange.” Behaviorists might say

The article “ The Mythical Norm” by Audrie Lorde, discussed by Barbara Perry, talks about the universal conception of what a “norm” in society is considered to be. Barbara Perry

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

Throughout life, in any society we develop a sense to conform and adjust to our surroundings but why? Our values in our society determines our norms and why we do the things we do. I recently sought out to break these social conformities that violated the values, and norms we hold as a society. Every society is different and, in every society there are different and similar values, norms, sanctions folkways, and mores. Breaking them up and analyzing them we began to understand why these terms and values are so important to us.

As we all have observed, throughout history each culture or society has unique norms that are acceptable to that group of people. Therefore, to establish and come to the acceptance of these basic norms, each society must develop its’ own strategies and techniques to encourage the fundamentals of behavior, which is clear in our modern society. Most do assume that everyone in a society will follow and respect such norms. However, some tend to deviate from the adequate norms and demonstrate deviant behavior. Nevertheless, we are inclined to ask ourselves, why do people decide to violate such important standards of living?

This contagion perpetuates the characteristic mysterious and unknown qualities of taboo because the people who are submitting to them have no idea way, but readily adhere to them, "as though they were a matter of course"(28). The conflicting connotations of taboo are spread through these prohibitions to the people who violate them and then they continue beyond them to people who have not violated a taboo, but are still considered to be taboo themselves.

Within any culture lies an array of definitive demeanors and actions that are deemed socially adequate and inadequate. Depending on the distinguishing behavior of a given individual and the society that they live in, there are invisible “laws” that prevent people from acting a certain way. If the individual’s behavior is adverse to the superior, predominant norms of their society, the actions of that individual are considered to be deviant. Social deviance in shown in a variety of dissimilar faces: within physical appearance, actions done to oneself and others, and religious groups.

Deviance is socially constructed because it is defined and outlined firmly by society’s norms. As a result, a deviant act in one society may not be considered deviant within a different society. Societies define themselves through the shared common values of the individuals and in order for a society to maintain these values and cultural identity they create and maintain boundaries (Erikson, 2005, p17). These boundaries allow individuals to relate to each other in an articulate manner and so that they may develop a position within society (Erikson, 2005, p17). The boundaries are created by individuals’ behavior and interactions in their regular social relations. Deviance then becomes the actions which society perceived to be outside of its boundaries. In other words, an act is viewed as deviant when it falls outside of those commonly shared values and norms which created the boundaries. This is because the society is making a declaration about the disposition and arrangement of their boundaries. Boundaries are not fixed to any society rather they shift as the individual’s redefine their margins and position on a larger cultural map (Erikson, 2005, p20).

In this paper I’m writing about a violation i witness, and one norm violation i committed myself. Before I did this I had to figure what a norm was. “Norms are reality expectations and the right behavior” (Aiken, 1991, p.121). Avoiding a norm violation is to go against the right behavior that you shouldn’t commit if it isn’t the right thing to do. There are many types of norm violations you can break. Mores are the “Norms are very strict to enforce because they are thought different essential to the core values of the group” (Aiken, 1991, p. 132). A folkway is a “norm that isn’t as strict and enforced as mores or values” (Aiken, 1991, p. 136). Norms aren’t the same everywhere, because behaviors that might be legal to do in the United States can be illegal in other countries and they can get offended if you disrespect them. Cultures are a very big thing when it comes to being respectful and disrespectful when it comes to a perspective of behavior. This is due to different type of cultural systems because in the United States we will accept some norm violations but in another country they might find it offensive. Values are considering standards in which people define what is desirable, and undesirable, and also good, or evil, and gorgeous from hideous. When people accept our values in the right behavior, that’s when we approach them with a smile and a handshake, or even better we can approach them with a present. When norms are violated we become angry and disappointed, so

Defining deviance as behaviour, which violates consensual social norms, also raises the questions of whose norms? Why are some norms more important than others? And why do some norms appear to serve the interests of capitalist governments and the powerful? .

What may have been the norm for one may not be the norm to another, especially when it comes to the cultures of foreign lands.   Cultural norms often are so strongly ingrained in an individual's daily life that the individual may be unaware of certain behaviors. Until these behaviors are seen in the context of a different culture with different values and beliefs, the