Social Norms In Society

In the sixth grade, I realized that I looked different. The years before had hinted that I was ugly and different, but it became confirmed in my head by this time. It was the 60's, and all the other kids had long, straight, and flowing hair. Then there was my hair, fluffy, wiry, kinky, and when I tried to grow it long, it grew out, not down like all the others I saw. The other kids had beautiful, long, straight hair that laid down in which I admired, but my hair fluffed out like a ball. When in the 2nd grade, one of the ladies in the Fountain told mom she could fix my hair cute, and she cut my hair to be 2 inches all over. This haircut was the beginning of my nightmare about how I looked. Can you imagine a round-faced girl, with a ball

The five social norms that I am glad exist are the standards of personal space, the expected standard for personal hygiene, the expected standard for manners in public i.e. avoiding belching or flatulating in public areas, the norm of individual choices, and the social norm of education being a standard.

Never had I felt a more intense slap in the face as I did at that moment. She laughed, turned around, and left. I just stood there, my eyes stung, and my cheeks were burning. I wanted to hide. I did not want anyone else to see the “nest” that was my hair. Her comment really dug a home for itself in my mind since she pointed out an insecurity of mine, which only reinforced the negative feelings I had towards it. From that day on, my hair was always in a bun because I thought if people saw my natural hair, they would think the exact same thing, my classmate did.

He started lathering my beard, but was constantly questioning me about what I’m going to do in the day, and what we soldiers do to the rebels if any were caught. I told him that all rebels deserve to be punished. We both glanced at the clock and noticed that it was two twenty in the afternoon. He realized that the soap on my face was getting dry, which caused him to cover my beard once again. With the chilling thought in my head that this might be my last day to live, I remembered my objective of which was to find out if will kill me or not. Due to this, I must act as if I’m blind to the fact that a potential killer is behind me, and who has the perfect opportunity to slice my neck. I could not see it but I could feel that most of my beard was gone, and only the area under my chin was left. He soon began to grab the appropriate sized shaver to reach the sensitive area which was my neck. Few minutes later, the beard was completely gone and I sat up, looked at the mirror, and rubbed my hands over my new and fresh skin. I went to the hanger for my coat, pistol, and cap, then paid the barber the cost of the

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

Sophomore year of high school, I needed a change. I decided to cut off six inches of my hair off. I was no longer the girl who hid behind her hair, I was ‘edgy.’ Even though I love my new short hair cut, there’s not much that can be done with short hair. Therefore, when my brother was planning to get married

that straight hair was the style I was not made fun of for having; I blame it on

There is a reason behind almost everything that humans do during everyday life. However, we do not think about why we waved back at the person across the street, we just do it. Interpreting that person’s wave and reacting to it by waving back, smiling, or nodding is a part of sociology. After taking a sociology class you realize all these everyday behaviors have meaning. Now, all of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I get into an elevator, wait in line at the grocery store, or even how I view myself.

When I was 10- 12 years old I begged my mother to let me get a perm. She denied my request daily. On my 13th birthday she took me to the beauty shop and told me, I was getting a perm. I screamed so loud. You would’ve thought I had won the lottery. The reason why I wanted a perm was because every one of my friends at my school had one too. After a year or so of having a perm and getting them touched up, I told my mom that my hair started to come out. She instantly decided to let the perm grow out and stop there. I then started doing them myself the older I got, until one day my hair started to fall out again. I started doing research on healthy hair for black women. I came across articles about other women hair falling out because of perms. I started to notice my hair was so uneven and different textures and such, I became so intrigued in the topic I decided to do study this more seriously. It almost was my after school job. My junior year of high school, I decided to perform the “big chop” on my hair. Which is where a woman cuts out all of the damage hair and start from scratch. My friends turned on me, and I was an outsider for that next year. But I had the support of my family. I stuck with it from then to present day. This item represents my adolescence because it taught me so much about myself, which has still been a leading cause in my life even now. I have been natural since 2009 and I do not regret my decision at

Social norms have always played a major role in today's society. A social norm is how we consider behaviors to be appropriate. However, norms are the rules and guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable (Mills 1959). Social norms are essentially the means by which any given society may construct and organize itself. They are the ways in which a society defines what tends to be acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to an individual. Different views change over time whether it is through history or an individual themselves who tends to age. Sometimes staying up to date with society and keeping up with the new trends can be unhealthy and have an effect on individuals and the public. The social norm I choose to break was walking into a public men's restroom at a restaurant while out with friends. I choose this social norm because it shows the men's reactions and behaviors once I entered their restroom. However, their behaviors showed how society acts toward certain situations in certain places and what roles are played during the process.

Dr. V. Chandra-Mouli, a leading World Health Organization (W.H.O) expert and representative, in a video posted on You Tube (2015) explained the numerous challenges towards educating the youth on how to achieve a happy sexual and reproductive life. Martinez, (2009) was of a similar opinion as Dr. V. Chandra-Mouli that the teenage sexual life needs to be enjoyed; however as it is, too much focus is paid on how to educate the youths about reproduction, sex or how to avoid problems. Schalet et al. (2014) identified that societal norms and values were to blame for not creating a platform for the youth to be educated on how to enjoy their sexual life.

It may be hard to believe, but I wasn’t always this bald and beautiful. I, like many other young men, was a victim of a vicious receding hairline. Me being so young, I fell victim to a plethora of cruel jokes, I mean let’s face it, not many sixteen-year-old girls swoon over a young boy with the hairline like their fathers. I was constantly ragged on by family, friends, strangers, and anyone else with a working pair of eyes. Thus, I grew to be very self-conscious about my hairline, or lack thereof. Then that all changed one day with a mirror and a razor. Looking back at it, I can’t help but laugh and smile when I think about the days when all I wanted was a full head of hair.

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.

I brewed coffee and iced tea. I brewed some decaf. I ate a package of oyster crackers and sucked on an ice cube. I went into the kitchen and got two soup pots from the cooks, the clam chowder we had every night and salmon bisque, the soup du jour. One of the cooks asked me what happened, pointing to the bandage on my chin. I looked at the cook whose name I didn't know, studying his bushy mustache and the toothpick hanging from the corner of his mouth. I wanted to tell him that I had cut myself because I was distracted by my decision to grow a mustache, but knew any man with such a healthy mustache would never understand.

Don't ask what business an Indian girl with my hair had getting a white American pageboy 'do. It was wrong, I realize that now. But I remember after getting that cut, my hair began to freely express her emotions and moods. It was like she had woken from a long, deep slumber. Maybe it was the shorter length, maybe it was a natural development phase. It's not clear why she chose to stage her debut at that point. But one thing was clear, she was not going to do whatever I wanted her to.