What Is Breaking A Norm

with and just asking them questions about what their everyday is like. I explained what I was

As a little girl I was always the one who would hide behind her father’s leg. At the dinner table I would be quiet so I would never be brought into the conversation. The older I got, the more I came out of my shell. I still could never break free, though. It wasn’t until I became involved in organizations, that I was able to interact with people and take initiative.

In this paper I will explain my process of breaking a norm. I picked what I consider to be a most modern American societal norm. In my personal opinion economic issues are predominantly prevalent currently. The opinions range, but the strength of each conviction seems to hold considerable weight. As a slight Segway, I feel it is important to emphasize the strength of American norms throughout the history of our country.

When one goes to college you are expected to socialize and make friends. The media portrays college as a new experience where students should engage in opportunities outside of their comfort zone. Being at UCLA is such an accomplishment because individuals like myself who are from low socio-economic backgrounds are often not expected to get this far. However for many Caucasian folks, going to college is what is expected.

When researching the topic of social norms and norm violations, there is an ongoing list. This is because almost everything we do in society is based on these social norms. If/when these are broken it can be punished as little as someone giving a dirty look, or as large as severe jail time. Social norms come into existence when a society does a specific task over and over until it becomes a normal occurrence. One of the biggest concerns is the war on drugs. Marijuana use is harshly punishments yet causes little to none negative effects. On the other hand, we have tobacco which there are barely any laws on yet it is killing thousands of Americans.

As we know, norms are social expectations that guide our behavior. In this paper, I will discuss norm violations that I’ve observed, and my own personal norm violation that I committed. I will describe what happened, what was done, and the reactions of the people around when these norms begat. I will also discuss the significance of folkways, mores, values, and sanctions to my observations.

I was the type of person who isolated myself from all that college had to offer. I didn't make friends my first week like everyone else or didn't attend the social events planned for us. I took this project as an opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and break the social norm of opening up to random strangers in their dorms at 11 p.m. without the fear of rejection. Looking back at the positive responses I received even though I barged into my floor-mates rooms unannounced, I assume that their positivity was because we had similar struggles, and they could relate to me. If the tables turned and I was not in FSP and a minority, their reaction would have not been so receptive. If I was white the reaction of my peers would have not been the

Breaking social norms is something I shy away from. I refrain from breaking social norms because I know what it can do to a person’s reputation, but also because I was taught not to. Those are the reasons this assignment was particularly challenging for me, so I kept it small and just chose to sit next to people. To get various reactions I sat next to my family, friends, and finally strangers. Each group reacted differently to me sitting next to them and only the strangers reacted the way I thought they would. I started by first sitting next to family members as they were the easiest to reach.

) Before I violated this norm, I felt perfectly fine riding elevators because I knew what was acceptable and appropriate. While I was violating the norm, I felt extremely uncomfortable and embarrassed because I knew better, but this was my assignment and I had to do it. After I violated this norm, I understood more about folkways because I experienced them first hand. It was extremely difficult for me to violate the fourth Way in front of strangers, but simple in front of my friends because that is my personality.

Besides the actions of a few, society has laid a clear set of guidelines regarding acceptable social behavior. Obviously there are always exceptions, and the purposeful breaking of these social norms can be seen as humorous. Although, not all people find the breaking of these norms as comical. Someone could become offended, uncomfortable, and possibly question the perpetrators sanity. Some of these social norms are such common practice that most don’t realize they follow them in everyday activities. This past weekend I personally broke one of these norms and as predicted the social responses that followed were both awkward and uncomfortable for both parties. In America the socially appropriate beach etiquette would involve proper attire such as a swimsuit, towel, possibly some kind of bag, etc… Also in America the only socially acceptable time to wear a costume is usually restricted to Halloween or planned events, but the overall consensus of the costume is to be a humorous and fun. This past weekend I decided to incorporate both of these norms in my experiment. My experiment involved wearing my halloween costume (Cat In

Social norms, expected behaviors that are acceptable within society, have continued to be an important part of peoples’ everyday lives whether they are intentional or automatic. The violation of a social norm was studied through field research, a method used to collect data that occurs outside of the laboratory (Conley, 2011, pgs. 58-61, 91-92). At Weis, a grocery store in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I attempted to buy one grape from the produce department. I approached the check-out counter and tried to purchase this item. As I did this, I received many reactions from customers, the cashier, as well as a manager of the store. There were many different ages and races present, providing me with a variety of responses. One example is the

The way I started to violate the norm was by waiting that most of the people get into the elevator including my partner, and then I was the last one in get into the elevator. The elevator was full, so I placed myself in the middle of the door facing the people and most of the people were facing where I was.

I aim to be a role model that influences both people around me to create an optimistic community. When I was an upcoming sophomore, I was accepted to MYEEP, a job-readiness program that provides a short-term internship. On the first workshop of the program, I had to play an icebreaker to relieve tension between everyone in the room. I thought that joining this program can help me learn more about how to socialize with people because before joining MYEEP, I was shy and couldn’t talk to anyone. I tried becoming more social with others in MYEEP by starting small talk, like asking how their day was like.

Individuals who want to succeed in western culture need conform to the mainstream norm. Most of those individuals who want to receive achievements stay closed to the western mainstream because the mainstream is the cultural values, authorities, and leaderships, and comprises successful individuals. In the job market, the mainstream can be the trend or uniform standard that defines the quality or qualification. Individuals conform to the requirements made by the mainstream to compete with others who reject to do that. Yoshino mentions that “If you want to be central, assimilate to the white norm” (305). In America, the white culture guides the interactions with others and the social operations and management strategies. Conforming to the white

If I had to tweak my attempt to break a social norm, I would have spiked my hair all the way up while wearing sunglasses that were oversized. This change most likely would have given me more amusing reactions to analyze and react. Holding hands possibly with someone while skipping would have attracted more attention and made scenes interesting. If this was done, many would ponder about my attitude and continue to question why I was being awkward. I also would consider asking the appropriate people to tag along and skip with me throughout the aisle and observe how they would provide me with an answer. In society today people decide what is normal and abnormal, when I reflect back I realized that people will not appreciate unusual behavior and showed signs of anger. Breaking this social norm helped understand how the community reacted to unusual behavior and changed my view of how I would interpret the situation if another person attempted the same