Violating Cultural Norms Essay

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The first lesson we have learnt from violating the norms is that one will feel uncomfortable when his or her personal space is invaded. At first, we will select a target student before we violated the norms so that our acts will not affect others in the same area. While one of our members was trying to approach the particular student, he started to get uncomfortable as a stranger that he does not know was invading his personal space. Based on structural functional approach, which is a framework pointing out the importance of social structure and social functions in promoting the solidarity and stability of society (Macionis, 2005), the manifest function of personal space is that it is the key element of self-communication (Horner, 1983). One’s …show more content…

There is a conflict in personal space, which there are different reactions showed by different cultures when one’s personal space is invaded. According to Briar et al. (1996), culture is about an element that determines who a person is. In some non-dominant culture orientations, the residents require less personal space than those with Euro-American orientations. Hugging, hand-shaking and cheek-kissing are actions that frequently observed in this culture orientations. In the experiment of intruding one’s personal space, there are different reactions shown by different students. Some students would stay there although they felt awkward while some would just walk away no matter what our member told him or her. This reaction indicated that different culture reflects different personal space size as well as how one would react to the situation. When one is living in culture with smaller-sized personal space, he or she would stay calm when a stranger is approaching. On the other hand, when the size of personal space in that culture is relatively larger, one will feel uncomfortable and walk away to prevent any unforeseen

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