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As society we set standards for how an individual should present themselves in any setting they may be attending. A professor named James M. Henslin (2015), explained that a norm is an expectation that we set of “right” behavior within any setting (49). A norm violation can vary in many situations from affecting a person’s hearing, sight, smell, taste, personal space or just making an individual uncomfortable. Presenting a different type of behavior that is “enforced because they are thought essential to core values or the wellbeing of a group” (51) may be a different view of defining a norm violation.
Putting it to the test I went out to observe two norms and also committed one myself and evaluated people 's reactions to different events that occurred in public. It was difficult to detect some norms that occurred out in public, but I was able to find a violation at a park as I went to hang out with friends. As the weather begins to warm up, society tends to excuse males and females when they wander off the court or athletic activity they were participating in as they walk around shirtless and relax to cool down. But when we see an individual who is overweight from either gender shirtless, people begin to react or stare a little more at the individual due to the way they are presenting themselves in the setting they are in. A "norm that is not strictly enforced" (51) in other words Folkways, this action of many individuals that aren’t really affected by what other people do as they carry on through their day ignoring this type of activity. This woman in particular stood out more than anyone else who was at the park, majority of the eyes were on her. As I began to observe the woman as she walked around the park, several parents at the park didn 't make a huge sense, but instead began to distract their child from looking the direction of these women who strolled around the park wearing a sports bra. Some individuals who were looking at the woman made it obvious they were making fun the young lady as a group of young teenagers about the age of 14 or 16 year old girls began to look over at the woman constantly glancing over and taking pictures of the overweight woman in the sports bra. When I observed this event at the park it showed the maturity of the group of young girls who were laughing and taking pictures versus the parents who were distracting their children from looking over at the norm violation the overweight woman wearing a sports bra was committing. The norm gave an obvious reaction from both groups showing sanction from the parents not welcoming the shirtless women walking around a park while children were present making it uncomfortable to people who were at the park. Unlike this situation norms can occur in any location you are at. There are unique, outspoken and confident people everywhere we go no matter the location, whether it’s in a formal setting, social gathering or an everyday event we do. This confident young man who appeared to be in his early 20’s, was alone walking very fast throughout the mall with his earphones in singing to the music that he was listening to, going along his day as people turned to look at him as he passed by. Several people as they walked by the gentleman would just look at him and smiled in amazement of how loud he was singing to the …show more content…
I decided to take my norm to a busier location and started testing it at the mall. The mall I choose to attend is much busier than the grocery store as I went on a Friday. There were many groups of people. I began to walk and say hello to different age groups as I would stumble upon as I walked throughout the mall. Majority of the groups I said hi to just smile and said hello, I rarely had people say nothing at all and just walk by me. There was a situation where I said hello to a group of about three young ladies and one of the girls from the group walked up to me and had asked me about an item I was wearing. As I continued I didn’t get many expressions, reactions besides hello, but of the facial expressions I did get many people looked at me
As society we set standards for how an individual should present themselves in any setting they may be attending. A professor named James M. Henslin (2015), explained that a norm is an expectation that we set of “right” behavior within any setting (49). A norm violation can vary in many situations from affecting a person’s hearing, sight, smell, taste, personal space or just making an individual uncomfortable. Presenting a different type of behavior that is “enforced because they are thought essential to core values or the wellbeing of a group” (51) may be a different view of defining a norm violation.
Putting it to the test I went out to observe two norms and also committed one myself and evaluated people 's reactions to different events that occurred in public. It was difficult to detect some norms that occurred out in public, but I was able to find a violation at a park as I went to hang out with friends. As the weather begins to warm up, society tends to excuse males and females when they wander off the court or athletic activity they were participating in as they walk around shirtless and relax to cool down. But when we see an individual who is overweight from either gender shirtless, people begin to react or stare a little more at the individual due to the way they are presenting themselves in the setting they are in. A "norm that is not strictly enforced" (51) in other words Folkways, this action of many individuals that aren’t really affected by what other people do as they carry on through their day ignoring this type of activity. This woman in particular stood out more than anyone else who was at the park, majority of the eyes were on her. As I began to observe the woman as she walked around the park, several parents at the park didn 't make a huge sense, but instead began to distract their child from looking the direction of these women who strolled around the park wearing a sports bra. Some individuals who were looking at the woman made it obvious they were making fun the young lady as a group of young teenagers about the age of 14 or 16 year old girls began to look over at the woman constantly glancing over and taking pictures of the overweight woman in the sports bra. When I observed this event at the park it showed the maturity of the group of young girls who were laughing and taking pictures versus the parents who were distracting their children from looking over at the norm violation the overweight woman wearing a sports bra was committing. The norm gave an obvious reaction from both groups showing sanction from the parents not welcoming the shirtless women walking around a park while children were present making it uncomfortable to people who were at the park. Unlike this situation norms can occur in any location you are at. There are unique, outspoken and confident people everywhere we go no matter the location, whether it’s in a formal setting, social gathering or an everyday event we do. This confident young man who appeared to be in his early 20’s, was alone walking very fast throughout the mall with his earphones in singing to the music that he was listening to, going along his day as people turned to look at him as he passed by. Several people as they walked by the gentleman would just look at him and smiled in amazement of how loud he was singing to the …show more content…
I decided to take my norm to a busier location and started testing it at the mall. The mall I choose to attend is much busier than the grocery store as I went on a Friday. There were many groups of people. I began to walk and say hello to different age groups as I would stumble upon as I walked throughout the mall. Majority of the groups I said hi to just smile and said hello, I rarely had people say nothing at all and just walk by me. There was a situation where I said hello to a group of about three young ladies and one of the girls from the group walked up to me and had asked me about an item I was wearing. As I continued I didn’t get many expressions, reactions besides hello, but of the facial expressions I did get many people looked at me