How To Break The Social Norm

Violating a norm, in society today, can make some people look at you incredibly differently from what is normal. Depending on the norm that is disrupted, some people make react differently than perhaps someone with different views. I decided to experiment with breaking the norm of conversational distance. “Social Distance” has separate zones that are a general rule of a conversation based on how well a person knows the people they are talking to. While defying the norm of social distance, I received two different reactions due to the difference in people I attempted it with. Disturbing a social norm can either make people uncomfortable or act okay with it, depending on different variables.

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.

Deviance is an act that goes against the social norms such as rules or expectations. It can be something small such as running through the stop signs or it can be something big such as hijacking an airplane. Deciding if the act is deviant or not depends on the context (society, environment, etc.). According to Howard S. Becker, it is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act that, makes something deviant. Deviance is not a word that is used for judging people, but it is used to refer to an act to which people respond negatively. Norms vary among different cultural groups, therefore, one deviant act in one group might not be deviant to another. For example, it will be considered deviant or going against the norm if someone decided to

I decided to break a social norm in my house by asking my parents for their permission before doing anything in my own house, for example I would ask to use the restroom or if it was okay for me to get a drink. I only asked for permission to preform those two tasks. After a day it was very obvious to everyone in my home that something was going on with me, but when confronted about what I was doing by my family I refused to conform to their group pressure and inform them. Everyone in my household urged me to conform and stop asking such ridiculous questions; conformity is behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. Examples of conformity can be found everyday in life from the way we dress to the way we talk, a specific example is when one persons’ clapping

After this experiment, I learned that it is frightening to go against the unspoken rules of society. It is uncomfortable to participate in deviant behavior, especially when you are cognizant of how others are viewing you. Conducting this norm violation taught me that it is much easier to conform. Deviance can be functional to society, as the functional theories of deviance hold, and deviance can also be the cause of labeling and stigmatizing others, as some symbolic theories of deviance hold. In general, it can be agreed that no one wants to be the person committing the deviance because it will be accompanied by criticism. Anyone who breaks society’s norms is a very brave individual. For certain rules in today’s society, we need more courageous people who will challenge the norms. However, as far as staying quiet in the library goes, I think that rule can

In today’s social norms or Conformity to fit in with a certain group of individuals you see a lot of “I need to change this or have that” to be accepted. Eating disorder, it’s one of those on the top of the list. You could be in other words Fat or over weight, might be a health condition like a Thyroid. In the other cases, you have someone eating too much. That individual will start eating less or will throw up after each meal to fit in with the society. You could say it for Anorexic individuals also, just the steps would be flipped.

For my nonconformity/compliance assignment I chose to violate a social norm. I felt that doing it only once would not suffice, so I tried it a few times to see if the results varied from person to person. I went ahead and started with refusing a handshake. The first instance was a friend introducing me to a friend of theirs. He reached his hand out and I just looked at it and shook my head. I must admit it was hard to keep a straight face, but I managed. Concerning my personal feelings, I was surprised at how uncomfortable I was, considering that I was aware that it was an experiment. Despite this knowledge, I still felt a mild rush of embarrassment. His reaction was what I had

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

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.

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.

I decided for my social observation the mall would be a good place to start. I came there on a Friday evening when there should be plenty of people to watch. I also sat in the Barnes and Noble café after that to observe. I expected to see a lot of people shopping and conversing. A few things did stand out to me within the few hours I was there. Some things I didn’t expect to see. We are expected to behave a certain way in public determined by our culture as to what is acceptable. Some people stay well within the lines while some might stray outside the norms but never too far typically. Usually the ones to travel to the extremes are adolescents and teenagers. This is what I observed.

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

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

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.

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.