Social Norms Of The Mall Food Court

The social norms of the mall food court were examined and studied for the purpose of this research study. In order to understand the intention for my research— social norms can be defined as “social standards of behavior and/or thought that (a) indicate what people should or should not do or think under some circumstances and (b) are at least in part enforced upon individuals by external pressure” (Dequech 2006: 473). My interest in this study was to analyze whether the demographics associated with norms coerced the way people interact with family and friends and to what extent of social control is there. Furthermore, I wanted to investigate what the specific norms of the mall food court were and point out acts of deviance, which can be formally defined as, “nonconformity to a set of norms that are accepted by a significant number of people in a community or society” (Appelbaum, Carr, Duneier, Giddens 2009: 173). Essentially, the way people act was based on the public location, essentially, the social norms that were followed are influenced by the location and the people around them. Subsequently, it can be summarized as followed: “They regard a social norm as a rule governing an individual 's behavior that third parties other than state agents diffusely enforce by means of social sanctions. A person who violates a norm risks becoming the target of punishment..." (Ellickson 2001: 3). This specific topic was important for me to analyze because normally I do not spend long periods of time at the mall court. I usually purchase what I need and leave quickly after, it is very rare that I take my time to shop, sit down, and rest in the food court and grab something to eat. For that reason, I was motivated to see how norms played out in ...

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...o break it down into specific groups to further analyze how norms are socially constructed. Through my observations, I came to the revelation that it was polite to minimize phone use at the table when with friends as well as the fact that it was socially normal to sit next to each other as opposed to sitting across.
On day two, November 21st, a group of six white friends were sitting close together to enjoy a meal after a day of shopping (assumed based on the many shopping bags around the floor next to their chairs). When they sit down, they filled up the table by sitting next to each other while the other three friends sat across from the other three. In this specific observation, I noticed that although everyone at the table talked and engaged in conversation — the two females in the group talked more than the others. What could be considered deviant was the fact