Breaking Social Norms Research Paper
In a normal functioning society, people are expected to behave and respect social norms. A norm is a set of informal understandings which regulate the behavior of members of a society (Norms). Norms are accepted by groups of members in a society. Folkways are norms that are experienced by all members of society in our daily lives. If a folkway is broken or, society does not make a significant outcome of it. It is still noticed by members. For Example, People wait in lines to purchase goods in every store. If a person were to skip in front of people in the line, the group that is the line will see that as a breaking of a folkway. Someone may speak up and make the person go the back of the line, or people might not say anything. Regardless, skipping the line will be observed by the members of the society. A more is also breaking of a norm, but breaking a more is considered to be significantly unacceptable. Most more that are broken are judge by religious doctrines. For example, followers of Islamic religion are forbidden from eating pork. Breaking of such norm could cause the person to be stigmatized by members of the Islamic society. Other instances of breaking mores could be more severe such as receiving threats or punishment. Breaking of folkways and mores are treated differently, however,
…show more content…
It would be simple to break a social norm. I thought of many different norms to break. After thinking of what I would be doing, I decided to sneeze on a person. This was a serious folkway to break which could cause enormous havoc after the process. After debating on whether I should sneeze on someone or not, I decided to improvise and use water as the sneeze saliva on people. This way I would not have to actually sneeze or approach someone as they are watching me. I could fake the sneeze sound and flick water on their neck using my fingers. Even I was not ready for the reaction I was going to
It would be simple to break a social norm. I thought of many different norms to break. After thinking of what I would be doing, I decided to sneeze on a person. This was a serious folkway to break which could cause enormous havoc after the process. After debating on whether I should sneeze on someone or not, I decided to improvise and use water as the sneeze saliva on people. This way I would not have to actually sneeze or approach someone as they are watching me. I could fake the sneeze sound and flick water on their neck using my fingers. Even I was not ready for the reaction I was going to