Breaking Social Norms Essay

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Social norms have become a large part of any modern day society. Often, people will model their behavior to solely conform to the social norm of whatever environment they live in. When deciding on what social norm to break for this assignment I chose to wear an Arizona State University t-shirt and hat for a whole day around the campus of the University of Arizona. I decided to break this particular social norm when the University of Arizona played Arizona State University in a PAC 12 beach volleyball match on Thursday, April 14 at the Bear Down Beach Volleyball Courts. I wore the shirt and hat of the opposing team for the duration of the day. This included the three classes I had that day and also when I attended the beach volleyball match …show more content…

When walking around campus, a majority of the people I walked by noticed that I was wearing clothes of our fierce rival school. I got a few different reactions throughout the day. Some of the most understandable reactions were the looks of disgust and eye rolling from people who love the University of Arizona with their whole hearts while having a deep hate for their rival ASU. Another reaction my outrageous outfit got me was a joke from my chemistry professor asking how the “dark side” was in reference to his previous jokes about how Arizona State University can’t even do basic chemistry. While breaking this norm I felt extremely awkward and as though I was being a traitor to the school I love. It was extremely difficult to put on clothing of the school which I had spent my entire life hating because of my love for the University of Arizona. Even though the assignment was to break a social norm, I felt constant pressure to conform with the rest of the University of Arizona and put back on the recognizable red and blue of our school. I felt extreme pressure to take off the Arizona State University clothing when I was given a University of Arizona Beach Volleyball 2016 Blue Out t-shirt by the ZonaZoo even though I was wearing an ASU hat and

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