Personal Norm Violations

Norms are rules for behavior that are based on values, made through society. Breaking one of the norms can sometimes make people uncomfortable, or even disgusted. There are general rules that can make a conversation comfortable, based on how well a person knows others that talking in the conversation (“Social Distance”). As I experimented with the disruption of conversational distance, I experienced two completely different reactions. Depending on the level of comfortability, norms can be accepted behavior or can be

“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

Norm violations are a form of actions that do not seem right to some people. Let’s say that you are in a public place, you are expected to act respectful and normal. Norms describes the expectation of a behavior. (James M. Henslin) One can perform a norm violation by doing the opposite of that, like invading personal space. There can be different reactions to violated norms which sociologists call sanctions. (Henslin) Mores, folkways, and values revolve around norms as well.

It was important to use my sociological imagination to make these familiar actions seem strange and foreign. A trend in all of the norms is that, for the most part, people follow the norms because they do not want to face the negative sanctions or have attention drawn to them. The purpose of the negative sanctions is to discourage you from engaging in the same deviant behavior. We only know we did something “wrong” when we receive negative sanctions. On the other hand, positive sanctions are meant to encourage the acceptable behavior. It was interesting to see how students in the dining hall did not question the unspoken rules that everyone followed. All students and employees blindly followed the norms because that is what they are used to. If they engaged their sociological imagination to look at social norms from a different perspective, they would be able to see how much of our life is influenced by them. We adhere to the norms society has set without even realizing or questioning it.

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.

The social norm experiment that I performed consisted of me violating a social norm and observing people’s reactions for doing so. I did something that is deemed “not normal,” based off from societal standards. The norm I broke was an interesting one. Instead of respecting strangers’ personal space, I invaded their space. I stood in front of them as close as I could possibly get, without touching them. I choose to break this social norm because of how I am with people. Strangers or friends, it does not matter, I do not like when people stand close to me. I feel as if they are invading my personal space. When people stand too close to me, I tense up and feel very uncomfortable. In my eyes, this social norm is necessary, especially for people who are similar to me and need to have their distance from others.

As I have been constantly reminded throughout the duration of this course, deviance can have many definitions. For the purpose of this paper, I will used the relativist definition: deviance is behaviors that illicit a definition or label of deviance. However, behaviors or acts are not inherently deviant. They become so when the definition of deviance is applied. So the focus is not on why individuals violate norms, but instead how those norms are constructed. Norms are rules of behavior that guide people’s actions (Inderbitzin, Bates and Gainey 2015:3). They are society’s rules of appropriate behavior. Norms are generally broken down into three categories: laws, mores, and folkways. Laws are the strongest norms backed by official sanctions or a more formal response. Mores are “moral” norms that may generate outrage if broken. And folkways are everyday norms that do not generate much uproar if they are violated.

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

In our daily lives we come across different situations and different norm violations. We are programed by society to act a certain way in different situations and environments. We come across many different people each day, and that is when the norm folkways plays a role in some of our daily lives,

In the context of India, as in many parts of the world, open defecation is not a social norm but rather a traditional costume that is not perceived as harmful by most of the people. Since is widely practiced by a high percentage of the population, the assumption is that it is an acceptable practice, which has been anchored through multiple generations without being challenged. The problem relates more with the existing taboo in many parts of the world around talking openly about excreta, which is normally not socially accepted and in some cases even punished. It’s often found on health related issues that there is a difference between what people know about the consequences for their health and the change to appropriate practices. So knowledge

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? .

answers to the dynamic relationship between motives for norm conformity and the situational context in which those norms occur.

Norms are essentially unspoken rules of conduct given by society. These vary and evolve not only through time but also vary from one age group to another and between social classes and social groups. (Becker) It is important to understand how norms dictate our society because breaking any norms can lead to a negative sanctions Sanctions are punishments or rewards one receive when you either abide by a norm or violate it. (Carl, 54) Different types of norms call for different level of sanctions. There are three different types or levels of norms: folkways, mores, and taboos. Folkways are informal norms when violate have lax consequence. An example is picking your nose in class. While it seen as un-hygienic, the sanction for this violation is less severe. The next level of norm is mores. Mores have a much greater value attached to it. Mores distinguish the difference between right and wrong, while folkways draw a line

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