Break A Norm Essay

Sociology

Date

Break a Norm

In society we are directed by a set standard of social norms. These norms indicate what is deemed acceptable in social aspects and in the customs and practices we follow. For example, the way we dress and how we speak. Over time, these societal norms evolve from one age group to another and between social class and social groups. However, when this is not followed and people or group members do not follow a norm, they become considered a deviant, someone who does not conform to established societal norms and may often lead to being considered an outcast of society. These deviants can be judged sometimes rather harshly if they fail to adhere to certain norms. By using ethnomethodology, the study of how people use common sense knowledge to get through life, I conducted an experiment based on this concept of deviance and non-conformity to uncover the unwritten rules of a specific norm that is followed in day to day life. For this experiment, I decided to walk into an elevator and face the complete opposite direction of the established norm, which is facing towards the door. I stood in the back corner and stared at the wall for the whole elevator ride until everyone got off.

For the first experiment, I went on the elevator in Tower A in the Glen Complex at Towson University at 9:30 am on September 22, 2014. I got on at the first floor with a group of seven kids coming back from an 8am class, so the elevator was pretty packed. Although I live on the fifth floor, I pushed the top floor button just so I could ride the elevator the whole time the group was in there. After pushing the button, I walked to the back corner of the elevator, took two steps back, and began to stare at the wall. Almost instantly, I could see that two people were staring at me and I could only imagine what they were thinking. They made weird faces and one person even shook their head at me. Others had earphones in or just stood there without noticing. Once the first person got off and the elevator closed again, one person began laughing and when it was his turn to get off, he even tried to high five me. I blatantly didn’t respond and just kept staring at the wall. All those people were probably thinking “what is this kid doing?” or “what a weirdo!” It was extremely difficult to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing. I waited until everyone got off the elevator and as soon as the door shut

I went to the elevator at the Liberal Arts Building at Towson University the next day, September 23, 2014, at 4pm for my second experiment. This time however, there were only three others in the elevator with me. Again, I walked in, pressed the highest floor number (which in this case was the fifth floor), and retreated back to my corner again. This time, after again getting weird looks and stares, one girl asked me what I was doing. Of course, I did not respond, and as a result she began to giggle, which led to her actually laughing, which spread to the other two people in the elevator who also began laughing. This was definitely the hardest part of the experiment because I was so close to breaching my focus due to the amount of laughter in the elevator mixed with a strange awkwardness that was not very comfortable.

For my final experiment, I went to Residence Tower at Towson University at 9 pm on September 24, 2014 to creep some more people out one last time. I got on the elevator and pressed the top floor button. Out of all the experiments, this was the most awkward and the most unbearable one to complete. That is because this time, there was only one person in the elevator with me and she was going to the top floor too. So of course, I went to the back corner, took my two steps back, and stared at the back corner wall. Her reaction was somewhat surprising to me however, because she did not say a single word to me nor did she start laughing like in the last two experiments. She avoided all eye contact and just looked down or at her phone the whole time. The only noticeable reaction I noticed from her was that she occasionally looked up, gave me a brief odd look, and looked away again.

With this experiment, I was able to learn a variety of things about sanctions and the “unwritten rules” that I broke. The people around me unknowingly tried to restore social order in the elevator due to my actions. Most laughed or gave me really weird looks, others questioned me, and some just completely ignored me. This assisted me in helping reveal the “unwritten laws” that are followed. When I chose to face the wall, I chose to defy the social order set by social norms established in society about elevator etiquette. There is a certain established way in society on how to stand in an elevator, and these are unwritten laws that I broke. One includes that you should face in the direction of the elevator door, not the opposite direction. Clearly, if you violate that, you will be judged by society as this experiment showed. People will stare at you or laugh because they are uncomfortable and not quite certain why you are going against the pre-established norms and simple etiquette of standing in an elevator. Another is that you shouldn’t stare at the corner wall, or any wall for that matter, because it is considered weird and completely out of the ordinary. This I learned because of the facial expressions I received from people. An added rule that I learned is responding to people if they ask you a question. For the purpose of the experiment, I kept my mouth shut whenever I was asked anything. By doing that, it goes against the “unwritten rule” that when someone asks you a question or says something to you, you respond. By breaking that rule, I could tell that people became again uncomfortable and awkward. When I didn’t respond to one girl, she looked at me, made weird faces, smirked, and went on with her business. These “unwritten rules” are what we follow each and every day yet are unaware and unknowing to it until someone breaks them, which I did in this experiment.