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Questions about social norms
To what extent does society shape an individual
Human behavior sociology
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Recommended: Questions about social norms
Social norms are the boundaries that our culture places on people in regards to our behavior in public settings. These guidelines help shape what conduct is acceptable in everyday situations, such as minding others personal space or following line etiquette. From the moment we enter kindergarten, we are taught how to keep our hands to ourselves and learn the importance of patience by waiting in line until it is our turn to be helped. Therefore, for the purpose of this assignment, I have chosen to invade the highly coveted personal space of others to gauge their reactions. It is just after nine in the morning with snow in the forecast over the next 48 hours. Although schools are already closed in observance of Presidents Day, several businesses are closing their doors to encourage people to stay home and many individuals, including myself, are heading to the …show more content…
Instead of people directly asking me to back off, all four people adjusted their positions to regain some level of their personal space or walked away. Even more shocking, two men who ultimately were concerned with my behavior, inquired if I was feeling alright and or needed medical assistance. I am assuming this is like due to me being obviously very far along in pregnancy (in my 38th week) and crowding those in front of me like I was in a rush. Culture is outlined as a groups shared commonalities, beliefs, norms and behaviors (Chambliss & Eglitis, 2016, p. 56). To gauge the reactions of others, I adjusted my actions to act outside of American culture; a culture that values their personal space more so than other cultures. Although there are no written laws or rules established that entering one’s imaginary bubble, it makes most other uncomfortable and can be described as breaking the sociological concepts of values, norms, folkways, and in extreme cases, mores in our
Culture often means an appreciation of the finer things in life; however, culture brings members of a society together. We have a sense of belonging because we share similar beliefs, values, and attitudes about what’s right and wrong. As a result, culture changes as people adapt to their surroundings. According to Bishop Donald, “let it begin with me and my children and grandchildren” (211). Among other things, culture influences what you eat; how you were raised and will raise your own children? If, when, and whom you will marry; how you make and spend money. Truth is culture is adaptive and always changing over time because
The Interaction Order of Public Bathrooms, written by Spencer E. Cahill, is an article that does a fairly well job at analyzing interpersonal relationships and individual practices in restrooms. Cahill used ideologies of Emile Durkheim, Erving Goffman, Margaret Atwood, Horace Miner, and Lyn Lofland to help construct his perspective on the individual’s expectations of bathroom etiquette through our experiences with others and how we internalize these behaviors.
Deviance is any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs (Kendall, 2012). Our experiment will study the behavioral deviance of a social norm. Sociologists use symbolic interactionism to study face-to-face interactions. We are expected to follow these certain unwritten rules of behavior telling us the way that we should act in certain situations. The social norm or folkway I chose to break was that of invading an individual’s personal space. See Figure 1.0 showing the proximity generally utilized by Americans, according to Edward T.Hall. Personal space is the region surrounding a person, approximately 18 inches, which they regard as psychologically theirs. People value their personal space, and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their personal space is encroached (Personal space, n.d.). We walked around to find the best scenario and individuals to interject our teammate in purposefully invading their comfort zone.
The next social norm I analyzed was sitting in someone’s assigned seat. This was chosen because I felt it would be engrossing to observe the different reactions fellow high school students retaliated with, all being different races. At Liberty High School I took someone’s assigned seat five different times, three times being on February 9th. While breaking the three social norms, there was one feeling that I felt was mutual throughout.
Today in society, people follow these “cultural myths”, which tells us what is and what is not acceptable in life because these morals have been instilled in us since childhood. People created cultural myths as a set of social norms they expected people to follow. In Kenneth A. Gould’s and Tammy L. Lewis’s article, The Sociological Imagination, they talk about society and the way or how it affects us. It examines the relationship between an individual and society. Everything we do and how we do it is affected by society and others around us. Everything that happens with society in turn affects us and those around us. The way we live and we respond to society can have a major impact on the rest of the world.
Lets start by understanding that cultures are a melting pot of people’s beliefs, language, behaviors, values, material objects, and norms. Norms are written and non-written “expectations of behavior” that govern a certain location, place, or culture (26). These norms also vary from culture to culture meaning what is a norm in the U.S may not be a norm in India. For example, a norm in America would be tipping a waiter after a meal. Another would be acknowledging someone as you walk past him or her, typically done at work or in a public place. In all, norms are folkways, mores, taboos, and written laws that are an established standard of one’s behavior.
One big implicit social norm involves personal space. In our society it is implicitly know that you give people enough space when waiting in line or when sitting next to them as not to invade their personal bubble. I thought it would be particularly interesting to see what people did the moment you crossed that “bubble line.” Periodically throughout the day I would intrude upon people’s bubbles. For varied results, this occurred in classrooms, the elevator, the lunch line, the lunch table, and at work. During classes and at lunch I would move my chair really close to that of the person next to me. While in the lunch line and in the elevator I would stand really close to the person, even if there was plenty of space to spread out. At work, again I stood really close to the person when talking to them.
Social work has long recognized the relationship between the behavior of an individual and the environment in which the individual interacts (Hutchison, 2008). Human behavior theories offer a framework to organize, interpret and understand this relationship (Hutchison, 2008). For this case study, the following three theories will be examined for relevancy: Life cycle theory, role theory and resiliency theory.
Experiencing a society of multi-cultures is beneficial through a variety of concepts to epitomize each individual identity. A person may vary in the degree to which he or she identifies with, morals, or...
Respect is a behavior that shows another person moral and ethical acceptance. Showing respect for another, even when not deserved, is considered to be a good sign of breeding in times past, but now as where society has changed, dissing "show disrespect for" has become more accepted, this behavior suggests a cultural shift from rewarding kindness and self-restraint to applauding a more open expression of hospitality through rudeness. Perhapes there is a lessening of concern over being respectable, along with an increased vigilance oto make sure one is respected.Concludeing that Civility must beging with the individual person making small sacraficiesfor others.
Culture has a big impact on how we all fit in as individuals in today’s society, and since this assignment is about that I decided to include some of my own experiences to illustrate my point of view and compare it with those of my classmates and some of the readings.
Strict or relaxed, all human beings are part of the human race, the largest “community” consisting of every culture and every country. And in this human race, individuals thrive on interaction with others. However, this interaction is affected by one’s experiences in a community. The politics, religion, status, age, and social standards of people determine acceptable boundaries for personal space. What is acceptable in the United States differs from what is acceptable in Europe or the Middle East when interacting in each other’s space. Indeed, despite biological similarities as a human race, the social influences that surround an individual affect behavior (Trolley, “Personal Space”). Therefore, each culture must be sensitive to others’ established boundaries, knowing that personal space is just that: personal.
Social interactions are the manner in which we socialize and react to other people. Social interaction has been around humanity since the beginning. It is so important that without it, settlements and groups wouldn’t have formed the way we know it today. It is the building block of society, people get together and design rules, institution and select officials to guide their way of living. It means interaction is social relationship among the individuals. It is a sort of action and reaction position among the people. It involves the acts that people do to others and the return the expect. Social interaction consists of many concepts which are: Exchange, competition, cooperation, conflict and coercion.
In the end, what we learn from this article is very realistic and logical. Furthermore, it is supported with real-life examples. Culture is ordinary, each individual has it, and it is both individual and common. It’s a result of both traditional values and an individual effort. Therefore, trying to fit it into certain sharp-edged models would be wrong.
Socialization is the process of passing down norms, customs, and ideologies that are important to the society by the previous generations to the younger generations. The school system is a social agency that was created to enhance the processes of socialization through education. The importance of school as an agent of socialization can be best explained by the amount of time students spend in school and in activities happen around school. The manifest functions of school are to educate students the social norms, and the knowledge and skills that help them become economically productive in order to benefit the society. But students not only learn from the academic curriculum but they also benefit from socialize with their teachers and peers.