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What are social norms essay
What are social norms essay
What are social norms essay
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Social norms refer to the way that members of a society are expected to act and behave. These norms provide structure and conformity for individuals within a society. They also provide a sense of “normalcy” amongst individuals within a society. In a society, “we tend to follow our own cultural norms without questioning them, because we regard them as the ‘norm’.” (Henslin,2012). To intentionally break a cultural norm, takes some thought and effort to consciously go against our inbred “culture within us.” When pondering about social norms that I could break and the reactions of others, I began brainstorming various social norms. One in particular norm came to mind. In American society there is a social norm that if you use the drive thru window …show more content…
I felt a sense of guilt which was also heightened by the stares and the turning of heads in the vehicles of the customers still waiting in the line. I proceeded to drive around the customers in the drive thru line and to park. I went inside the Chic Fil A. I walked up to the cashier and informed her that I had ordered in the drive thru line and that I needed to pay for and pick up my order. The cashier seemed confused and I had to restate my intentions. She proceeded to the employee handling orders at the drive thru. She had to explain the situation a few times to this employee. I also overheard a customer in the drive thru line stating, “This is not what I ordered!” The employee at the drive thru window was trying to handle this confusion, as well as deal with her colleague in assisting me. I felt guilty that I had not only caused confusion in the drive thru window, but now had the front service counter window backed up while the employee was attempting to help me. I could feel my body temperature rising, due to the feeling of embarrassment. I also wanted to avoid turning around to make eye contact with the individuals waiting in the line behind me, but felt it would better assist me with identifying their reactions. According to George Herbert Mead “we learn to take the role of the other through play”. (Henslin, 2012, p. 71) This concept caused me to feel guilty and relate to what the others were feeling. I could relate to their feelings of frustration and
In the world we live in today, deviance happens to play an integral role in within the societies that scatter our globe, whether we like it or not. Deviance describes actions or behaviors that violate the social norms of our society. These behaviors can violate formally enacted rules, such as laws that are put into place by government, as well as the informal type of “guidelines” that various cultures have informally established and shaped for themselves. As one may come to understand, norms are essentially expectations that are standard to a certain culture. These norms gently guide people in a society in “what to do,” and “what not to do,” in compliance with their societies' norms. With this said, it is important to keep in mind that social norms differ from culture to culture. One act that may be considered deviant in a particular society, may be generally accepted in another. Three main sociological theories of deviance include the cultural transmission theory (also known as the differential association theory), the labeling theory, and the control theory.
In public there is an unspoken rule of thumb to behave a certain way. this can be referred to a social norm, or rule. We all follow these rules, such as leaving respectful space between persons or chewing with your mouth closed. Social norms comes from a person’s perception and culture of the situation, meaning when social norms are violated everyone reacts differently to the situation.
The gender norm violation that was performed for this observation was swearing, talking very loudly, and burping incessantly. In today’s society and American culture, females are seen as nurturing and submissive. The United States is a patriarchal society so people conform to what men say. Women are judged based upon their looks and being “lady-like.” Having manners and being courteous is expected from everyone, but women portray those habits more than men. The way women talk is expected to be more proper and elegant while men are more assertive. Females do not speak as loudly or aggressive as males. Women are also supposed to be more polite, which means they are not supposed to let out their bodily fluids. There is an expectation of people
In society there are unwritten rules or norms that are hardly noticeable, unless we take a step back to notice it. Norms are, “the basic rules of society that help us know what is and is not appropriate to do in any situation” (12). In society we have a variety of norms such as mowing the lawn, saying “please” and “thank you”, or asking a person’s permission to use their bathroom. There are still many more norms that can be added to the list and I never realized how many norms are in effect until I started thinking about them. We all just grow up knowing that these behaviors where the right behaviors to obey and abide by. For my norm violation I decided to violate the norms of an elevator. The reactions people gave me was not something that
It is 9:00 PM on a Sunday night. Televisions all across America tune into MTV. Millions of viewers will now spend the next thirty minutes watching a television program titled 'Jackass'. While watching this program, the viewers will observe everything from people eating hard boiled eggs in an attempt to purposely vomit, to a man testing out various self defense devices on himself. Next week viewers will tune into the same program to see the same kinds of stunts performed. The reason that America watches these kinds of programs, and the participants in them perform these stunts, are because 'norms' are being broken. A norm is something that is generally accepted by a society as the right thing to do, or the way things are supposed to be. For example, a norm would be to enter an elevator and stand facing the front for the duration of the trip. Breaking that norm would be to enter the elevator and face the back for the duration of the trip. It is not what is expected. Different norms exist in different societies, and when these norms are broken within these societies people pay attention, because it is not an occurrence observed on a regular basis.
Back in my high school days, a friend of mine asked me a simple question which shut down my thought process completely. The question was, ‘What is stopping us from punching the next person that says something?’ Paused for a while looking around the class for a logical answer. After several blinks off to space I responded values. The answer of values literally came out of the blue. For a well educated guess I was not too far off. Politically speaking norms are the reason we chose whether to do something or not, with a combination of values of course. Norms are defined as shared rules of conduct that specify what people ought or ought not do in specific settings. Everyday people violate many norms both knowingly and unknowingly. For example:
Society needs norms. Norms are unwritten rules that make life predictable. We have been trained to know these rules and what society recognizes as acceptable and unacceptable behaviors (Remle, Functionalism, 2016). When we act in an unexpected way, one of these norms is violated, society reacts, and sanctions are imposed. These sanctions can be positive or negative, formal or informal (Remle, Labeling Deviance, 2016).
Personally, I didn’t feel social deviance when breaking this norm but I have before. Social deviance and social norms essentially are the guidelines for society because individuals follow social norms such as not interacting with strangers while experiencing social deviance if they think about or break said social
Our society has programmed us in such a way that we create values that pertain to our unique culture and social life. Norm violations sometimes make people feel uncomfortable, ashamed or embarrassed whether they themselves are violating a norm or witnessing someone violate one. The reactions people have during committing a norm or viewing someone do so is what makes it a violation. The feelings and reactions themselves can be a type of sanction whether it is a positive sanction or negative sanction. Negative sanctions are described as, “expressions of approval given to people for upholding norms or expressions of disapproval for violating them” (Henslin, 2015, p.49).
Gish Jen’s In the American Society is, on the surface, an entertaining look into the workings of a Chinese American family making their way in America. The reader is introduced to the life of a Chinese American restaurant owner and his family through the eyes of his American-born daughter. When we examine the work in depth, however, we discover that Jen is addressing how traditional Chinese values work in American culture. She touches on the difference in gender roles, generation gaps between immigrants and their American-born children, and the hesitance of these immigrants to conform to the American way of life.
The social norm I chose to break was eating with my mouth open. I wanted to do something that I know wouldn't be too out of the ordinary but would still receive good responses. I spent time eating with my mouth open for two days, both in public places on campus and at meals in my fraternity house. The observations I made were very interesting and helped me gain a better understanding of how others react when someone breaks a social norm.
The social norm we will attempt to violate would be talking loudly, singing and dancing in public places. The social norm acts as an mechanism of social control because when the norm is being broken within a group of people they would most likely show a specific reaction and response to the behavior that we would be demonstrating.
A social norm is a behavior that society deems acceptable or normal. These can simplify our lives by providing us with scripts and costumes. Not all social norms are based on logic. For example, I never understood why certain swearing was bad. Why is it more acceptable to say crap than shit if they have the same meaning? Recently, I broke the social norm of eating food with the designated cutlery. I did this once in public with a group of friends and once in private with one friend. While at lunch with a group of three friends in the cafeteria I ate soup and salad, but used a spoon for both. Later, a different friend and I got a pizza and I ate it with a spoon. After each incident, I pretended to text, but was recording their reactions.
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.
Norms are a part of everyday life. Without norms the world would be in total chaos. Norms by definition are rules of behavior shared by members of a society and rooted in the value system. ( ) Norms are held at a high standard in a society and are valued by its members. Norms vary from society to society. What is considered normal in one society may not be acceptable in another society. Norms are a societies way of living if a member of society breaks that norm they may be looked at as strange or even penalized depending on what kind of norm is broken. Norms are broken into three categories which are folkways, mores, and laws. Folkways are customs or desirable behaviors that are not strictly enforced. Violating a folkway is not criminal, but violating a folkway may have you looked at as weird. Mores are the strongest form of norms they have great moral significance in a society. Violating a more is considered immoral or borderline criminal. The strongest form of mores are taboos which are unthinkable action within a society. Laws are the third category of norms that a...