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. For this assignment, I decided to observe a fitness center (gym) setting and break the “workout equipment is not a toy” norm. I conducted my observations at my local Anytime Fitness center that I actually frequent. Ironically, I missed my normal workout time that morning and decided to go later in the day. This worked out perfect for the observation because I arrived at around 5:00 pm, the busiest time for the establishment. The gym is relatively square with widows covering half of the room. The other half of the room has a wall of mirrors with the last wall having a hallway to bathrooms as well as the fitness trainer’s office. On one of the window walls it has a row of cardio equipment (that has attached TV’s on them) facing the outside. In the back corner near the cardio equipment is a stretching and body exercise area (kettle bells, mats, exercise balls, medicine balls, and stepping stands). In the center are weight machines that range from leg, arm, and abdominal equipment. The wall with the mirrors contains the free weights and other bench press and weight machines. Overall... ... middle of paper ... ... to do next while the others glanced occasionally at the show. I bounced around for the entire song before I stopped and then gave a bow. To conclude, breaking the norm inside the gym was mixed with positive and negative sanctions. I was given a displeasing gesture (negative; the look) and was rewarded with smiles and laughs (positive). I’m sure most of the members enjoyed it better than I did, simply because I was nervous, embarrassed, and almost busted my but a few times. I was rather pleased with the trainer’s reaction because he maintained control yet didn’t freak out towards my actions. I was over all satisfied with everyone’s reactions and glad that I’m not banned from the gym (I did tell my trainer after that it was a social experiment). Works Cited Henslin, J.M. (2012) Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. (10th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Entertainment has been an established part of the American culture almost since its founding. The types of entertainment that most Americans enjoy in today's world are going to the movies, going out to eat, and exercising. Different forms of exercise vary from running and playing sports to weight lifting. Those who enjoy weight lifting can choose to do so in the privacy of their home, in a community center like the YMCA, or in a health club. At a health club one can expect to find a wide variety of people; however, some of these people add to the downside of working out at a local health club because they can be annoying and obnoxious. Three types of these annoying, obnoxious people found at the weight room of a local health club are the show-off, the know-it-all, and the wanderer; these types can be identified by their physical appearance, their social behavior, and their attitude.
The culture of a community invariably determines the social structures and the formation of a society. Developed over time, culture is the collection of beliefs and values that a group of people maintain together. Culture is never constant, and thought to be continually renewed over years as new ideas and concepts become mainstream. It ranges from how people live, day to day topics for conversations, religion, and even entertainment. It is analogous to guidelines, or the rulebook of the said group of people. Society, on the other hand, emanates from the social structure of the community. It is the very institutions to which create a regulated and acceptable form of interaction between peoples. Indeed, culture and society are so perversely intertwined in a
customs and moral ideas differ from country to country and from age to age, but
...hat the facilities are at best decent and nothing relatively superior, is for the use of a gym that isn’t over crowded, and filled with like-minded individuals of the same age and race. My research methods such as an inductive method including participant-observation allowed me to observe the members and how they interacted amongst each other. Most of what I learned came from the women’s locker room, where many of them felt as ease as they discussed diets, workouts, and health issues. The one aspect that did change after using the facilities was that the price included within the membership was not for high end machines, or for state of the art locker rooms with luxurious amenities. The price is paid to be part of a network of older individuals, with like-minded ideas of staying fit for the sake of being healthy, and to work out in a crowd-free, judgment free area.
It is often social norms and behaviors that are ingrained in a person. In comparison to explicit culture, tacit examples of the Narcirema culture includes how they communicate and the belief that the human body is ugly is the basis for most of their rituals and ceremonies. Most people in American culture don’t think too deeply about why they say “bless you” when someone sneezes or why it is considered polite to refer to an authority figure as Mrs. or Mr. Additionally, there are stark differences in tacit culture between people differing cultures that leads to culture shock. Culture shock is feelings of confusion and disorientation often resulting from cultural misunderstandings. For example, people in some parts of Japan consider physical touching inappropriate and may consider a U.S. citizen’s offering of a friendly handshake, instead of a bow, offensive. This simple interaction reveals their cultures differing views on personal space and what is considered friendly.
57, 2016). Social norms can vary from walking on the right side of the sidewalk, not standing to close to people when talking, eating with your mouth closed, etc (Society and Culture). In addition, laws are formal norms present in our society and this culture and are “recognized and enforced by governing institutions” (Macionis, Jansson, Benoit, & Burkowicz, p. 58, 2016). They are considered to be the most defined type of norms present in Canadian society that everyone must obey and surely influences society’s behaviours and beliefs. Many other countries that follow a different religion or understand appropriateness differently will have their own distinct cultural norms and laws (Society and
When it comes to choice of where to workout it is a complete personal preference. Some people do not like the thought of people staring at them or watching them workout because they are not at the place they wish to be at yet. This is only one other thing that sets people in this discourse community apart from themselves. In some instances, this can become a disadvantage for the person pushing towards a specific goal. Certain goals can be pushed to the side or completely forgotten about because of the discomfort people feel placing themselves in a place like a gym for the first time.
I went to X-treme Athletics Gym, which is a CrossFit gym. I’ve only known what CrossFit was for about a couple years and I had only seen it in videos or in pictures. I had never seen it in person or have done it myself, so going to X-treme Athletics was a new experience for me. I have been to different gyms that have a variety of workout machines, weights, and usual things that you would normally see at the SJSU gym. But at X-treme Athletics it is a whole different layout then I have seen at other gyms, what you see when going in are free weights, barbells, assaults bikes, rowers, and Gymnastic rings, but most of the gym is open space to workout.
... day. The hardest part of the experiment was going against social psychology; it was very uncomfortable going against the social norms. We also found that it was difficult to match all of our schedules to be able to do the experiment all together when the gym was full. Overall the experiment taught us that social norms have molded society to believe that they should restrain their original thoughts and actions when in a public place. Lastly, individuals should not disturb other social norms that occur within the range of accepted actions, especially in the area of clothing.
Belief is the idea that an individual can consider to be true around him or the exterior world. I always considered beliefs to be controversial, not because you believe in a certain religion for example, means that it is true. Everyone has different beliefs; it varies depending on where you are from, the religion that you follow, etc. Values refer to what individuals from a particular culture believe that is right, good, fair, just, valuable, beautiful, appropriate, kind or the opposite of these. Within a culture, values are taught through generations. They are enduring and remain important during long periods of time. Norms can be defined as changing behaviors. They consist in good manners and greeting behaviors. Norms vary within cultures too. The best example that I can give is the greetings between an American and a Latino. Latinos have the tendency to kiss on the cheeks when greeting someone. On the other hand, Americans are more of a handshake type and a hug when it comes to acquaintances, friends or family. Social practices refer to the different behaviors pa...
Automated doors slide open revealing a multitude of fitness machinery and flooding the air with the sound of weights clinking and the synchronized rhythmic stomping of twenty pairs of Nikes hitting the floor simultaneously in the step aerobics class; it’s time to get physical. On any given day, at any time, in gyms all across America the same scene is played out, (Guy). A handful of muscle bound jocks, serious about competitive weight lifting, can be seen spotting each other in the free weights area. Mirrors in the bathrooms, dressing rooms, and on the fitness center floor are consumed by pimped out prima donnas and jewelry adorned divas alike; preoccupied with primping and flexing their way to personal greatness/fitness. Normal, average, everyday people just trying to fit an hour or so workout into their busy schedule; they want to get in, get pumped, and go on with their day - these are the best types of gym dwellers.
There are many stereotypes about the gym and what occurs while people workout. I chose to observe some norms of our gym here at South Dakota School of Mines. I thought it would be interesting to see how gym behavior here stacked up to what might be considered “normal” in other gyms. I thought it might be considerably different due to the gym belonging to a STEM school and many students here being somewhat socially awkward. In an attempt to be inconspicuous, I made sure to wear average gym attire (black shorts and a grey t-shirt) and was using a stationary bike the entire time. I hid my note sheet by having my differential equations homework on the first page of my notepad and my observations on the second. Whenever anyone was close I would
"Norms are expectations of "right Behavior(s)"(Henslin,2011 ) I will be further more exampling different types of norms ive witnessed. I watched two different norms but through the process I also committed one of my own. Violations of a norm is when the character, of a person is breaking the expectations of the correct behavior. What is the exact "right behavior"?; because a mores is a norm that is strictly enforced because they thought essential to core values or the well being of the group. Which means that what my culture thinks is acceptable can be unaccepted by their culture values. Each culture have different values. Everyone 's different aspect on life varies the absolute "right behavior". The Mormon and Pakistani cultures can be referred to a folkway norm group. They have strict guidelines on how they should eat, drink, meet, their way of dress, and the manners of life they are being withed too. Everyone 's moral and values differ because of the value system. "Values are the standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly"(Henslin,2011)
The gym where I train and workout, the Dubuque Martial Arts Group, is a place where I know who I am. It is a place I can go to escape my problems for a while and release some stress. It's not the actual physical building, but rather the events that have occurred there over the years. It's where I have formed some of my closest friendships. It is the place I have invested years of hard work for many of my accomplishments. To some it may seem odd that a place associated with sweat, blood and physical pain mean so much to someone. However, in my eyes it's almost like a second home.
and humanities that refers to a set of social and behavioral norms that, within a specific culture,