We live in a society where one abides by social norms, if not you may be looked at funny or people will even talk about you. So let’s begin, what’s considered a “social norm”? According to Your Dictionary, “Social Norms are said to be the laws of behavior that are acceptable to a group or society. Norms tend to change depending upon the environment, but If broken one could be looked at differently or face consequences. Social Norms are also group-held beliefs about how members should/ should not behave in a given context. Some examples of social norms are: Saying hello when you answer the telephone, respecting others personal space, stopping at a red light and driving when its green, chewing food with your mouth closed, etc. Social norms are important because it sets the stage of how people are expected to act in society. Growing up your parents, teachers, and care- givers are the ones who inforce these unwritten rules in you. Social norms relate to ethnocentrism and cultural relativism because one’s ethnic group, religion, and race all play a part in how one behaves in society. For example if I’m said to be a Christian women, I know that it wouldn’t be okay for me to come to church dressed in a tight mini-skirt with high heels on. That wouldn’t be appropriate for a church setting instead a club, or bar setting.…
We see norms in our everyday life but ones stand out more than others. That is exactly what I wanted to do with my experiment, make everyone remember my norm by the humor and awkwardness it brings. To get a better understanding of a norm Simone Isadora Flynn states in her article that “Norms refer to conditions for social relations between groups and individuals, for the structure of society and the difference between societies, and for human behavior in general. Norms are shared rules, customs, and guidelines that govern society and define how people should behave in the company of others.” Although that there are many different types of norms the one I have committed is a folkway “Folkways refer to norms that protect common conventions. Most people in a society follow traditional folkways but failure to conform to them is considered neither illegal nor immoral.”…
When I broke the norms I actually broke two and didn’t even know it until I was done with my acting. The two social norms that I broke were, wearing pajamas to the movie theatre with my boyfriend and being rude to authority such as elders. When my boyfriend picked me up for the movies, he just looked at me strangely. I know he wanted to ask why did I have on pajamas but he just kept quiet. By the way I did bring a extra pair of clothes with me, so I wouldn’t look like an idiot that whole night. Well anyway, on our way to the movies, my boyfriend just kept staring at me, but mind you he never said a word. When we went to get the tickets I received many looks from people and…
In the film Volver we were introduced to several different social norms from the Mexican culture that we were unfamiliar with. Raimunda and her mother have a wounded relationship in the film that is rebuilt when her mother (Irene) is, so say, brought back to life to rekindle their relationship. There were several themes in this film but I think the one that stood out the most was the sacrifice that mothers are willing to make to protect their child and the small misunderstandings that can break a relationship between families.…
folkway, the face reactions I received were quite humorous. Some ignored which was pretty acceptable on account of mid-terms, but the majority stared followed by questioning and maybe laughter. Understanding my violation how could you blame them, walking backwards is not only a walking folkway it is also dangerous to myself as well as my fellow class mates. As childern we grew up learning to speak a certain language or dress a certain way. When natural motor skills come in to play such as walking and running heading in the forward motion is a judgment of what ought to be.…
The reactions you receive typically fluctuate based on the type of norm you break. In this experiment of invading people’s personal space, I had people distance themselves, along with giving me judgmental looks. These people were not the only ones in an uncomfortable situation, but I also felt very uncomfortable as well. I felt this way because I’m not one to invade one’s space. While invading one’s personal space, I knew I was going to receive reactions like the ones I got. I was aware of these reactions because I would have done the same if it were people invading my space.…
In order to understand our adherence to social norms we must understand what they are and the various ways in which they can be broken and violated. These violations can vary greatly and be anywhere between quirky and frightening. The intensity of discomfort associated with these violations depends not only on the violation itself but on the individual performing, experiencing, or witnessing it making the spectrum of reactions widespread and interesting. There are two ways to truly explore norm violations, to observe others both performing and reacting to violations and to perform them yourself and observe the reactions of others.…
BE NICE – Explain you were doing a social experiment for class and ask if you can ask them some questions.…
#2 Look up all the time – Monday during lunch in my roomates common area, there were five other participants all of which were my friends.…
For my norm violation, I decided to go out into a public place and briefly interact with complete strangers. To achieve this, I decided to simply say hi to individuals as they passed by me. In picking my location, I wanted to be somewhere with a lot of foot traffic. Ultimately, I decided to go to Fred Meyer on a Saturday, when I knew it would be busier, and start saying hi to unsuspecting shoppers. Even though this was a minor norm violation, it still made me feel very uncomfortable. Each time I went to speak I became nervous and scared people would respond to me negatively. After pushing through the awkwardness, however, and saying hello to large handful of people, I seemed to be getting a handful of the same reactions. People would either…
Sarah Shaffer Social Norm Violation Extra Credit A norm present in American society is not verbally communicating with other unknown individuals in public bathroom stalls. A violation of this norm would be attempting to communicate with other individuals in the stalls. Through an ethnomethodological investigation, I discovered certain aspects revolving around this specific violation.…
Like with most Deaf events, I was nervous about going so I didn’t want to walk in without the friends I was meeting there walking in with me. As we entered I not only saw a lot of signing but I heard a lot of conversation and people casually talking. This comforted me a little as I paid and took the program.…
Speak clearly, respectfully, and politely to take control of the crowd’s attention and not worry about offending your listeners.…
This week the group’s task was to create a proposal for our performance. During class we decided to create a Google doc, which allowed all us to collaborate using our laptops at the same time on the document. As soon as Olivia made the Google doc, we started to assign each group member with his or her responsibility. My responsibility was to write about the project development ideas. I wrote about how we included the Brechtian technique into our performance along with audience participation. Since we were required to perform a scene during our proposal, each group member played a role. Josh was the drunken frat guy, Luke was an oblivious, dumfounded teenage girl, Stan was the narrator, and Olivia, Kim, and I were portrayed the audience for this particular scene. Since my responsibility was to write about the project development idea, I elaborated on how we used various techniques. The audience participation comes into effect when Stan asks the audience to tell us what is wrong with the picture and what the characters are doing. This also ties into the technique known as breaking the fourth wall, where the barrier between the actors and the audience is broken when Stan directly address to the audience.…
The audience was respectful, for the most part. Everyone set quietly during the performances, and clapped after each one. Some people did use their cell phones, but that did not bother me as I set in the front row. Between the acts, people around me made small talk about what project they were doing or what professor they had. The stage was set up like a normal small stage would. It was on ground level, and the light eliminated the small but versatile stage. The large piano was the center of the stage, but when someone would play a different set of instruments, they would stand in front of the piano and the piano would almost disappear as your attention was now focused on the performers.…