Societal Norms: Unbreakable or Breakable?

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Running head: Unbreakable breakable norm 1 Unbreakable breakable norm 6 Unbreakable Breakable Norms Gladys Sanchez Student ID: 00522506 Bakersfield College Unbreakable Breakable Norms In today?s society we live by the norm and we chastise those individuals who do not live by the guidelines or expectation of society. We as a society praise those who follow our folkways in public and private. Folkways is a guideline set my society that we follow for the sake of convenience or tradition. As part of my Sociology 1B course I had to go out and observed two norm violations and violate one myself in order to understand the society I live in. In my job I was able to observe two norm violations one was a member who was passing out candy who violated …show more content…

On the first Saturday of February, after my lunch, I was given the task of cleaning the front area of the store, when I overheard a member and his wife who were around 30 years of age, complaining to the cashier about a male member who was shopping and was giving out candy to whoever he came across. The member and his wife made negative comments calling the other member a creep, weirdo, and crazy for trying to give their child a piece of candy. The cashier?s reaction was to apologize on behalf of the other member. The couples, who were about 30 to 40 years of age with children, rejected the candy, sanctioned the member and expressed their disapproval for the offer to the cashier and went as far as complaining to management. A few minutes later, I saw the member who was passing candy out in the caf? area asking a couple around their early to mid-20?s if their 2 year old daughter was able to have a piece of candy. Without hesitation, the couple took the candy and allowed their 2 year old daughter to eat a piece of candy from a complete stranger and made positive comments such as ?That?s a nice guy?. I was baffled by the different reactions and as I began to think about the norm that was violated by the member who was passing out candy. It became clear that the couples in their 30?s to 40?s with children felt like a personal space norm …show more content…

It?s amazing how by breaking a social norm I was given a warning that I could potentially lose my job for not acting the way members expect me to. The folkways of today?s society has made it difficult to live a life out of the norm. We as a society tend to sanction those who violate norms and those who mores are not equal to our own. In many ways folkways and values get in the way of accepting, without judgment those who?s ways and values are different from our

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