Social Norms in America

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Social Norms in America

They hold us together as a culture, while separating us as unique individuals at the same time. Folkways, which are based more on custom and etiquette are the most broken of all norms. This can be explained because worst case scenario our only reprimand may be someone staring or talking about us. Mores, while a little more serious than folkways, still don’t have a very serious punishment, just maybe a little more than weird looks, double takes and bad mouthing. Mores are usually based on social morals, which can sometimes make people get a little uneasy, but not much more than that. Laws are the most serious or formal norms, with standard punishment respective to the type of law that is broken. The norm that I have chosen to discuss, in my opinion, hits a little bit of all three of these categories. I have chosen to analyze a television talk show and the guests they attract. Maury Povich, while previously known as one of the more serious talk shows with fairly reasonable guests and topics has become more of a “Jerry Springer” type of talk show. It is almost so vile that you just have to watch it kind of a show; at least that is my roommate’s excuse. Monday, March 14th, the show aired the topic “My Boyfriend Controls My Every Move.” Since Maury was straying from his almost everyday topic of “Who Is My Babies Daddy”, I decided to give it a gander. I was absolutely appalled at the things these couples were saying. There was one couple in particular that really had my undivided attention that had been married twenty some odd years. This woman was made to do everything her husband said, or she would be punished. Her duties included cleaning, cooking, shopping, grooming and washing her husban...

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...t the feminist theory best fits this behavior because it is strictly applied to one gender, and is very stereotyped to be that way. In a close second, the labeling theory also fits well because an overwhelming majority of people believe that their actions are wrong and deviant and even though these men may not accept their deviant status, they still realize that what they are doing to their girlfriends is viewed as deviant to most people. Differential association relates to this topic, because the behavior was learned from someone close to these men. In most cases it could be generalized to be learned from their fathers engaging in this aggressive behavior towards their mothers. Although it may be a little off topic, I think that even though domestic violence is a form of deviant behavior, coming to national television to brag about it to the world just as bad.

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