Breaking Social Norms

507 Words2 Pages

Social Norms are the specific cultural expectations in a given situation and when these norms are violated people may act in a variety of ways. Some may be surprise and not know how to react while others may want to enforce the social norms. When the social norm of walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side, people reacted in absurd ways. As I walked back on “wrong” side of the side walk I received many different reactions from people as I passed by. One girl gave me the dirtiest look, she seemed disgusted in the fact that I was getting in her way. She showed a negative sanction with the dirty look. She was showing that it was wrong for me to walk on that side of the sidewalk going in the directions I was heading. I also came across a group of three students. I was walking on the very …show more content…

They would of rather walked into the grass then break the social norm of walking on the right side of me as I walked passed. The harshest reaction that I got was when I was shouldered from a guy that did not agree with the way I was breaking the social norms. I was walking and he was not going to walk around me as I walked passed him. He lowered his shoulder and let me have it. It was a more aggressive sanction but still a sanction that I got the message from. His mechanics of social control were more violent than expected but he did get is point across. He was proving that walking on that side of the side walk was wrong and not to do it. Other people that I walked past seemed to not know how to react. They were very surprised and tripped all over themselves as I walked by. They did not expect someone to be walking on that side of the sidewalk, by them not knowing how to react reinforced the idea that few people walked on that side of the sidewalk facing that direction. My favorite reaction that I got was when someone followed me onto the opposite side of the sidewalk, they seemed to agree

More about Breaking Social Norms

Open Document