Social Norms Determine What We Think About The Behaviors Of People

Have you ever done something so odd and so weird that you got hundreds of funny looks in your direction? Usually, when you get these looks, you are breaking some sort of social norm. Social norms are rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in a society during certain situations, but breaking the social norms can be highly frowned upon in the social world we live in today. Certain social norms that are universally known include driving on the right side of the road, keeping a pinky promise and living by the golden rule. Social norms can keep a community together and running smoothly if used, but many people like to push the boundaries of normality to see what happens and how others will respond. Although, I do not embarrass easily, I thought it would be interesting to see people’s reactions if for just one day I violated a social norm.

Misfit. Rebel. Troublemaker. These are all names that may be given to people who go against the social norm. According to Andersen, Taylor, and Logio, the authors of Sociology: The Essentials, norms are defined as the specific cultural expectations for how to act in a given situation (2016). When someone disrupts the expectations, they commit a norm violation and may display deviant behavior. Since norms are so automatically built into our everyday lives, the rules of social interaction can be subtle and may be imperceptible to the people who participate in them. Therefore, sociologists often purposefully commit a norm violation in order to study what the rules or norms are. This approach, known as ethnomethodology, interprets society as being

In these cultures young people learn from their parents about drinking and the responsibility that comes with it. Engs suggests that we need to change the current prohibition law and teach “responsible drinking techniques” for people that choose to consume alcohol. Engs states facts, suggests alternative solutions, and relates the past from the present; this is why her article is believable.

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.

Binge drinking is one of the third most preventable causing deaths in the United States (McGinnis & Foege, 1993). At the micro level most teens do it to seek acceptance from within their group of peers and we also undergo peer pressure and think they need to drink to be able to be accepted and then at the mid-range level most college males students drink to seek their masculinity from within a friend group. Then once at the macro level different countries with different culture values may drink alcohol more than others even though they may drink more there still is a chance that someone may develop alcoholism.Such things as symbolic interactionism, conflict, and functionalist perspective are all associated with binge drinking

In sociology, norms are social expectations that guide behavior. Norms explain why people do what they do in certain situations. For example, in the United States, it is a norm that people shake hands when they are introduced. This expectation is why a job candidate extends a hand toward the interviewer when they meet instead of giving the interviewer a hug. A few norms are enforced by legal penalties. For example, walking nude in public is often a legal offense that could result in arrest. My goal in this paper is to explain to you what social norm I broke and the reactions of others.

“Sticks and stones may break bones, but words make psychological scars that never heal”(Mr. Turner). A play on the common idiom, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me.” Which was once used by parents universally to justify name calling and harsh words, now sheds light on the darker, often unseen wounds of words. These wounds and scars, both psychological and physical fall under abuse and can be ensured, worsened, or inflicted further by harmful social norms. Social norms are pushed on children from birth and throughout their life as an unwritten set of rules that all people must live by in their society. This string of abuse has left a countless number of victims in its wake and continues to do so till this day.

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.

Those in favor of lowering the drinking age also claim that social norms play a major role in perception of alcohol, which is believe to end in the justification of binge drinking. Key social constraints such as community acceptance and perceived influence of the political power of the alcohol industry that work to divert attention from commercial sources of alcohol for those that are underage. Other social aspects of the cultural and policy environment in communities affect the issue of alcohol use in youth. Exposure to billboards, magazines, and

Media has a lot to do with adolescent substance abuse. Many times in advertisement, adolescents see people drinking alcohol and having a great time. Media spends over $25 billion dollars on advertisement yearly. Many celebrities are seen smoking or drinking alcohol in movies, TV, and on commercials. This makes adolescents think that drinking, smoking, and taking drugs are cool and will make them popular. Over 5000 deaths yearly are caused by alcohol consumption. (Strasburger, 2010)

I do not identify with a religion that holds any strict expectations regarding dating and marriage, however I do hold personal expectations regarding the values that I look for in a romantic partner. These personal expectations to look for someone with values such as honesty, respect, and similar socioeconomic class influence my romantic relationships by assisting in who I choose to pursue a relationship with. As referenced in Rice, N. Stinnett, N.M. Stinnett, & DeGenova (2017), the needs theory, which is based on the idea “that we select partners who will fulfill our own needs—both complementary and instrumental” (p. 121) also influences my beliefs and values regarding dating and marriage. For example, I am a nurturant person so when looking

Social media gives the impression that alcohol usage is normative among young individuals. Adolescents may develop a perceived social norm of alcohol use among peers of varying ages because ages of individuals on social networking sites vary greatly. In an experiment conducted by Dana M. Litt and Michelle L. Stock, they examined the roles and impact of social networking sites perceived social norms of alcohol usage of adolescents. Their results show

What’s appropriate behavior is a social construct (Chamberlain, 2005). Evidence that supports this claim stems from a study in Puerto Rico where a representative group of students were assessed for having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using U.S norms (Chamberlain, 2005). The findings state that one-third of these students would be identified as having ADHD based on U.S norms (Chamberlain, 2005). Moreover, the overall rationale is that most of the observed behaviors wouldn’t be acceptable based on U.S norms, as there was more acceptance of students being out of their seats, louder classrooms, and higher degree of expressive exuberance in Puerto Rican classrooms ( Chamberlain, 2005). If the same behaviors were exhibited in U.S classrooms, students would be seen as having ADHD, or having characteristics of ADHD (Chamberlain, 2005, p. 9). Similarly, here in the United States, African American boys are often over-represented for having emotional/behavior disorders. This stems from a lack of engagement in the educational process, different perspectives on what it means to be emotionally disturbed/behaviorally disordered, and how one evaluates appropriate behavior (Chamberlain, 2005).

     Teenagers and young adults are constantly bombarded with alcohol. From the funny beer commercials with the beautiful women who drink and from

Social and cultural factors play roles in to establishing drinking patterns and the development of alcoholism. In some cultures, there is conflict between abstaining and accepting the use of alcohol as a way to change moods or to be social, thus making it difficult for some people to develop stable attitudes about and moderate patterns of drinking. Society tends to aid in the development of alcoholism by making alcohol seem glamorous, showing that by drinking, you will become more popular, more glamorous and more worthy of respects from others.