Norm Violation Exercise-5 PDF

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Norm Violation Exercise Norms are an element of culture, and all societies have unique social norms that encourage people to act in particular ways. Often times we follow these norms without even thinking about them, and sometimes may not even realize that they exist. The purpose of this assignment is to encourage students to think about the role of social norms in society by conducting a social experiment: violation of a social norm. To conduct this social experiment, you need to first choose a particular social setting (because each social setting may have different social norms). The options are limitless for this assignment – classrooms, restaurants, public spaces, libraries, dormitories, and work environments all have social norms that can be violated. Once you have chosen a particular setting, observe this setting and take note of the normative behavior in this environment. After you understand the social norms in this setting, violate one of these norms and detail your experience in this exercise. Be as specific and detailed as possible in your answers. Be sure to think sociologically when conducting this experiment and when answering the attached questions. You should incorporate concepts and ideas we have discussed in class when analyzing your experiences. You are also encouraged to incorporate information from the texts as well as outside sources (although this is not required). If you choose to use information that is not your own, be sure to fully cite these ideas both within the text and on a separate reference page (see “citation guide” on Canvas for full details). All responses must be type-written on the attached sheet. The font should be normal (Times New Roman or Arial) and no larger than 12-point font. There is no minimum length for each question response; the assignments will be graded on how well you answer the questions. It is expected that you proofread your writing, and that all spelling and grammar errors have been corrected. While grammar and spelling will not be explicitly graded, extensive grammatical errors can make it difficult to express your thoughts and ideas, which may lead to a lower grade. Other Key Requirements  You may not violate a law for this assignment! The norms you choose to violate should be folkways, not mores. If you violate a law for this assignment, you will receive a zero.  If you are not able to fully observe the reactions of others while violating the norm, you must bring a friend along to help observe and record the reactions of others. Be sure to detail that you met this criteria (if necessary) in your answers to the questions.  You must violate a norm by yourself. Do not recruit friends to help you violate a norm so that you feel more comfortable. The purpose of this assignment is to gain an understanding of what happens when a social norm is violated, which is best done without the support of others.  The social setting of an elevator is off-limits for this assignment. This example was used in class. Use of the elevator as a social setting will result in a major grade reduction.  Norms involving moving cars should be avoided. It is often difficult to observe reactions of others in a moving car, and it can be dangerous to violate many of these norms. This assignment is intended to be fun, so I encourage you to be creative in choosing a social setting and norm to violate. If you have questions about whether something is a social norm, whether you might be violating a law, or whether a social setting may be appropriate, please come and talk to me. I am happy to provide feedback on ideas you may have or just to brainstorm if you are having trouble coming up with ideas. Career Readiness Competencies and Transferable Skills In completing this assignment, students will demonstrate competency in critical thinking/problem solving. Specifically, students will demonstrate an ability to obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data to make decisions, and may demonstrate originality and inventiveness. Students will also demonstrate competency in written communications by articulating their thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively in writing. Students will also demonstrate competency in global/intercultural fluency by demonstrating openness and sensitivity and understanding individuals’ differences. Students will also develop the transferable skill of comprehend group dynamics and social institutions by exploring how various social forces and structures impact outcomes.

NORM VIOLATION EXERCISE Please type your responses to each question. Be as detailed as possible, and remember to think sociologically when analyzing your experiences.

1. What social setting did you observe? What are the social norms within that setting? I observed the social setting of a restaurant (Olive Garden). The social norms that are within restaurants is that people wait to be seated, not burping or making any kind of noise, talk loud enough so just the people at their table can hear them, dress accordingly to the restaurants dress code, thank the server, don’t talk with your mouth open, and to eat off your plate only.

2. Describe the social norm that you violated and how you actually violated that norm. The social norm that I violated was burping obnoxiously loud so that everyone would hear. When I had arrived at the restaurant, I had asked to be seated somewhere in the middle of the room so that there was someone on every angle of me. When looking through the menu I had decided to get a pop so that I could get a better burp and reaction from everyone. After I had received my food and ate for about 15 minutes, I finally mustered up the courage to let it go. I took one final sip of my drink and burped as hard as I could.

3. How did others react to you when you violated this norm? Were the reactions positive or negative? When I belched unnecessarily loud, it felt as if the entire restaurant had stopped just to turn their heads and look at me. By the look on everyone’s faces, I could tell that these were, in fact, negative reactions. There was one woman, in particular, that sat at the table next to me that looked me up and down for a particularly long period of time like she was ABSOLUTELY disgusted with everything about me. After she had turned around, I kept seeing out of the corner of my eyes, her family looking at me and the whispering to one another. The people that were in front of me had all turned their heads to look at me and when they had all gotten an eyeful, they looked at each other and proceeded to talk, about me I had assumed. On the other hand, I had gotten some positive reactions from two small children who sat a couple of tables away from me who laughed hysterically for about 30 seconds. 4. How did you feel when violating this norm? Why did you feel this way? Violating this norm or burping in the restaurant made me feel extremely disrespectful and rude. It literally made me feel like I wanted to crawl into a hole, cover myself up, and die because I was just that embarrassed. I think the violation made me feel this way because that’s not the way that my parents brought my siblings and I up, we were always taught to use our table manners no matter where we were, and burping was never allowed, under any circumstances. I also know how I feel when I hear other people burp in public places, it drives me up a wall because most of the time I feel like its intentional

knowing that we all have the ability to hold things like that in, so I definitely know how everyone else felt in that situation.

5. How has this experience shaped your understanding of social norms and social structure? What role do social norms play in society? How/why are norms important? What would happen if there were no social norms? Social norms provide us with the expected idea of how to behave in a specific social group or culture; human beings need norms to guide and direct our behavior, we need norms to provide order and predictability in social relationships and to make sense of each other’s actions. If there were no social norms I feel as though we would have a more primitive and chaotic society. If we didn’t have social norms, everyone would be doing whatever they wanted neglecting what actually needed to be done, everyone’s manners would be out the window, and no one would have respect for anything except for themselves. This experience has really help me understand social norms and structure by having me venture out, observe a setting and its norms, and then violate one and see others reactions. Everyone practices these norms and when someone comes in and disturbs the flow of everything it can cause people to wonder why you don’t know the rules or how to act....