Rules Of Society 's Society

A social norm is a behavior accepted and expected by society. We learn social norms from feedback, called sanctions, we get from our peers and elders. A sanction can be positive or negative; if it is positive it is a sort of reward that encourages the behavior and if it is negative it is a sort of punishment meant to discourage the behavior. For example, when children fart in public they break the social norm and are scolded or negatively sanctioned by their parents with yelling or are bullied by their peers. However, if the child were to hold a door for someone else they receive a positive sanction of that person’s thanks.

The social norm that I decided to break was involved with human interaction. I chose to break the norm of eye contact when speaking to others. The purpose of this norm is to show engagement to another individual when communicating to them. The focus of maintaining eye contact is to show that you are paying attention to them and actually listening to them, it demonstrates to the speaker or listener that you are taking them seriously and are engaged with them. It can also be taken as a show of respect, a notable example of this is the classic line of “Look at me when I am talking to you.”. By not maintaining eye contact when someone is speaking to you it shows them that you do not care for what they have to say and they interpret that as disrespect.

Two different elements of culture are language and norms. Language is a central element of a culture and shaped how we interpret and shape our society. Norms are the guidelines that shape our behavior. Norms are widely shares and help keep our society operating soothly.

Lets start by understanding that cultures are a melting pot of people’s beliefs, language, behaviors, values, material objects, and norms. Norms are written and non-written “expectations of behavior” that govern a certain location, place, or culture (26). These norms also vary from culture to culture meaning what is a norm in the U.S may not be a norm in India. For example, a norm in America would be tipping a waiter after a meal. Another would be acknowledging someone as you walk past him or her, typically done at work or in a public place. In all, norms are folkways, mores, taboos, and written laws that are an established standard of one’s behavior.

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

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.

Cultures around the world have their own set of behaviors and actions that are considered acceptable and appropriate to humanity. Because of the differences between cultures, some may experience the idea of deviance without realizing they are doing so. The term deviance is any behavior that violates rules or cultural norms. A norm is a social expectation that guide human behavior. When one violates cultural practices, he or she may seems like everything would be okay but there are people who may not be appreciate of such behaviors and/or think that one is acting social norm. Understanding culture practices require one to be involved and participating in the culture. Sometime the best method to truly comprehend a practice is to act upon it and realized that it may or may be “right” behavior within a particular culture.

The social conventions of one region can differ throughout the world, this culture affects how we live and requires us to conform to the norms of the society we live in.

Harry Patel 9/03/2008 Sociology 101, section 8 Social Norms: Conformity and Deviance One of the norms I broke was talking to someone in a public bathroom, while peeing. It was very ocward talking to the guy next to me. One of the reason I felt ocward talking to him was because, you are not suppose to talk to the guy next to you. While you are doing your business you look at the wall in front of you. When you are done you wash your hands, and leave. No one talks to anyone they don’t know, even if they do know the person next to them they won’t talk to them while they are peeing. No one was taught to do this, you learned by observing. But when the guy next to you starts talking you don’t know how to react. That’s how the guy next to me

The social norm I violated was leaning or being near the sides or corners of an elevator. I volunteered in a hospital during my spring break so I decided to violate the elevators social norm, because I have to constantly take the elevator. In my nature, I am very timid, so violating a social norm required guts and perseverance. When I entered the elevator, I stood in the middle of the elevator while everyone else were leaning on the sides or corners. After a quick few seconds of standing in the middle of the elevator, the nurses were not taking their eyes off of me and were murmuring. The doctor literally asked me if I was feeling okay and politely asked me to go to the volunteer office right away so I can be sent for a checkup with one of the doctors. The patient stared at me for a few moments and looked away because he looked really ill. While walking out of the elevator, the two nurses continued to murmur and constantly looked at me until I was gone from their vicinity.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World explores the concept of change in societal norms, examining whether it is a result of definitive morality, or simply relevancy. Written in 1931, the novel has a backdrop of a rapidly changing society, being recorded following the Roaring Twenties and the start of American Consumerism. This period was a time of social innovation, old values tossed out for being too sentimental and chivalrous. The new era would hold a contemporary way of life, afar from the prudeness of the past. Huxley delves into these ideas throughout the novel, especially in Chapter 17 which is closing in on the end. There lies the debate of morals and ideals between one of the leading protagonists, John and the antagonist, Mustapha Mond.

These rules for any culture allow for a more stable society, but for those issues that

There are these things in sociology called social norms. From the class lecture, social norms are defined as shared expectations or unwritten rules of society. What is odd about social norms is that they are not typically taught to us. An example of a social norm would be how I act on an elevator. I thought back to the last time I got onto an elevator alone. I was at the doctor’s office and at first I was the only one on the elevator, which is ideal. However, on the third floor the elevator stopped to let other people on. I, myself, gave a soft smile to the people getting on, then immediately looked down at my phone. The 3 other people on the elevator either did the exact same thing or just looked straight forward. I then noticed where everyone stood in the elevator. Everyone kept a fair amount of space between one another and stayed to the sides of elevator as much as possible. Once we reached our floor number everyone exited without saying a word. The way we all behaved is the social norm, it is expected, common behavior. No one was taught in school or by their parents the proper way to act on an elevator, we all just know.

The social norm that I wanted to perform an experiment on, was a social norm of only wearing CSS or affiliated programs apparel at practice. This norm is easy to follow, but I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I wore an opposing team’s apparel. As a transfer soccer player from St. Catherine University, I decided that would be a perfect opposing team to represent. So, at practice, I decided to have all of my CSS practice stuff on and have a St. Kate’s sweatshirt on instead of our typical warmup. The school colors are completely different, so I really stood out with my dark purple and yellow sweatshirt.

Society, without even saying a word, has given us rules and guidelines that we have to abide. Social norms are rules or guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable or appropriate within a culture. They are so embedded within our daily life that often we do not notice them. Because norms are so ingrained within our society, deviation of social norms can lead to be ostracized or even arrested depending on the situation. Violating norms, like promoting hate message about poor people, in society can be explained through the functionalism theory.