Breaching Experiment: The Three Social Norms

Breaching Experiment The three social norms I violated were sitting with my own “clique” during lunch, brushing my teeth at home, and not interacting with others as I walk down the street. I chose to do these because once I learned that they’re considered social norms, I wanted to learn how big of a role they play in regards to social control. I conducted the first part of the experiment in the larger cafeteria of Lehigh Career & Technical Institute, as it is my assigned cafeteria. Every table holds six people and is put into sections of four. The room is almost always packed because it’s a mixed period that includes grades ten through 12. Differences in school districts were present as well since majority of schools within the Lehigh County
are accepted and attend. The different types of people that I observed and vice versa, depended on where I was sitting. I broke it down into three days: March 23rd at 12:29pm., March 24th at 12:21pm., and March 25th at 12:31pm. I did the second part on March 24th, 4:50pm. in the women’s bathroom of a Wal-Mart. The last part of the experiment was done around 3:40pm., March 25th on Hamilton street. Sitting with your own “clique” during lunch, in terms of social control, creates a spot in society for an individual, giving them a sense of belonging. This sense of belonging leads to self-assigned seats and allows people with similar interests or ideals to be better connected. To violate this norm, I sat with people who did not know who I am without asking prior to sitting down. There are a lot of possible reactions that could have been a result of violating the norm. Before I began the experiment I figured students would try to focus on their food as a mean of avoidance. If not that, then maybe they would focus on their phones or maybe even move their seat. I also thought that they’d make me leave. However, the primary reaction I predicted was that they’d flat out ignore me and focus on their phones or their own conversation. The first day, there were five boys at the table and they were all on their phones with the exception of the boy I sat next to. For the sake of his privacy I’ll refer to him as “Boy #1”. I gave a few seconds for everyone to react to my presence, but no one looked up so I asked “Boy #1” about his day. He started laughing and asked if someone sent me. To fill the silence, I tried asking about classes and made eye contact with everyone to prompt their involvement. This caught the attention of “Boy #2”. The first boy simply said “good” and went up to throw out his tray. The other boy took off his earbuds and told me about his classes. As long as the subject was school, the conversation moved smoothly. At one point, the second boy tried to get the first one to “be kind” and talk to me instead of using his phone, but he protested that he was shy. What stuck out the most was when “Boy #2” told “Boy #1” to “just be himself.” It implied that he was actually more talkative and that I made him uncomfortable. Despite this it really wasn’t that bad. The first boy even admitted that if I sat there more often it wouldn’t take long to see him “act weird,” which I later learned meant how he normally acts. The second day, I sat down across from a girl at a table that was a lot less populated than the one next to it. I was early for lunch that day so I thought there would be more people coming to sit down, but it turned out that this girl sat alone. It took me a minute or two to come to that realization so by the time I said “hi,” it was awkward. However, we broke that awkwardness and exchanged names soon after. I started to ask more open-ended questions about her family and the day she was having. She told me about herself as long as I asked, but kept it at that. There were no questions directed towards me and her voice was very quiet. For the times she didn’t know what to say she would keep her eyes on her food.The overall conversation was pleasant though, and we laughed off any weirdness before it was time to go. I arrived at lunch late on the third day so I sat at the only table with an empty seat. Unlike the other times I immediately took note of the fact that they were all Hispanic girls who happened to be older than me. I said “hi” and received a couple of dirty looks, but no one paid much mind to me after that, not that I tried to be noticeable. I used my phone mindlessly as “Boy #1” had tried to do, kept my eyes anywhere but in someone's specific direction, and I listened to their conversations. They would whisper or switch to Spanish every time they would talk about something I assumed to be private. Sometimes they would just stop talking altogether. They waited until I got up to leave to joke and burst out in laughter.
The next norm I violated was: brushing my teeth at home.
This social norm limits the amount of places it’s deemed acceptable to carry out the task. It would make people uncomfortable otherwise. The person doing it would also stand out in a negative way and attract unwanted attention. To violate the norm, I brushed my teeth in a public bathroom. I imagined that the people would be grossed out as a natural reaction. This would include grimacing and keeping their distance. I even prepared myself for snarky and disgusted comments. The reaction I expected the most was laughter. If I was on the other end, watching it happen, I have no doubt that I’d either joke about them after they’re out of earshot. My observers were mainly women since I was in the women’s bathroom. The only exception was a little boy probably no older than two years old. The rest of the witnesses were relatively young. There were college students and a surprisingly large amount of elderly women as well. I only kept it going long enough to have encountered about ten
people.
I was setting up my cup, toothbrush, and toothpaste when the first two women walked in. They didn’t seem to notice until they came out of the stall. They raced for the sink farthest from me and the girl who didn’t make it had to use the one next to me. She couldn’t keep her composure and started laughing at me. Her friend joined in and said that it was weird, but she’s seen worse things done, specifically things required for a sociology course. The next four ladies were all older. They didn’t come all at once, but they had the same reaction. They used the sink farthest from me and kept stealing glances when they thought I wasn’t looking. A couple minutes later a mom walked in with her child. When she put him on the changing table he would try to look and point at me and she would continuously redirect him. After she was all done and she walked out of the bathroom, I could hear her say “he kept pointing to some weird girl brushing her teeth in the bathroom.” The next woman to walk in simply walked in, stopped in her tracks, and laughed. She laughed when she came out the stall too. The last woman was an employee. She came in, saw me, apologized, and then left.
The last norm I violated was not interacting with others while walking down the street. This norm promotes social control by eliminating “unnecessary” or unwanted conversation. It does this because we tend to not try for small talk or anything that may lead to it, at least not with strangers. This is because it’s deemed to be a waste of time. I walked down a busy street and asked people for high-fives while greeting them “hello” in order to violate this norm. The possible reaction range was pretty simple. The worst that could happen was that I get made fun of for trying to do such a silly thing. This could be blamed on my youth or stupidity. Another possibility would be for them to actually high-five me. The obvious counter reaction would be for them to leave me hanging. That’s the reaction I expected the most.The busiest street I could choose was Hamilton since that’s the main way people go from picking up their kids. There were way more children than there were adults. There were also more women than there were males. The most prevalent group, however, were teenagers.
The first lady I approached didn’t acknowledge me at all. I know she heard me, but she didn’t bother to stop. The next two adults did the same. After that I focused on kids closer to my age. A group of them stared at me for a little before blowing me off with giggles. I did get three people to high-five me. They were all middle schooler boys and showed no signs of hesitation.
Social norms create moral standards amongst a society. Once these standards are set, the people within that society are expected to meet these standards. Failure to meet these expectations can possibly hinder your reputation and status. Whereas, cooperation and conformity are rewarded with an untouched or even improved reputation and status. It works the same way as returning a favor (Santos). Now that I’ve gone through with the breaching experiment I understand how true this is. Even before the experiment, a good friend of mine would sit with people who didn’t know him as a joke and he would be called weird and generally avoid it.
In Arthur F.Clagett’s article, Theoretical Consideration of Integrating Social Structure Into Symbolic Interactionism: Selected Methodological Insights he goes over the correlation between symbolic interaction and role-making set forth by George Mead. “Cooperative processes can only occur to the extent that individual members are able to apprehend the general attitudes and therefore, predict the behavior of the other members of the society.” When presented with a situation an individual will naturally start off with “a set of attitudes, anticipated goals and his or her conceptual understanding of the situation.” These initial ideals, however, have the capability of being swayed by interaction with another individual. If there’s a form of miscommunication and expectations are not met, further interactions with that individual could be negatively altered.
“Harold Garfinkel was the founding father of ethnomethodology” (Fele).
Ethnomethodology “addresses the methods that people within a given linguistic community use to establish and maintain intersubjective understanding” (Stahl). Observation is key in this case. What an individual takes in their surroundings and has their own conclusion on the situation based on what they’re used to in their social structure. This puts their perspective not only on their own society, but on other cultures as well. (Stahl). In my family, we’re taught to mind our own. This is why I found interacting with strangers so hard to do. However, on my dad’s side they have a heavy African culture. My cousins from that side find it rude to not smile or wave hello to someone they’re passing. I always knew there was a difference, now it makes more sense
why.
Symbolic interactionist perspective “studies the way in which the symbolic processes of role-taking, imaginative rehearsal and self-evaluation by individuals adjusting to one another, form the basis for social organisation” (van Staden). This applied most when I did the interacting part of the experiment. As a whole, society is busy. We have very little time to stop and talk. While walking pass a stranger one might smile to be polite and maybe say “hello” but that’s as far as we’d go. We expect this of each other and we’re even more expectant of no interaction with each other at all. To go high-fiving people broke that expected mutual agreement.
Conflict perspective suggests that “economic characteristics are the sole crucial determinant of both social structure and people's chances in life” and that “upper class, middle class, and lower classes in society are engaged in various forms of struggle with one another” (Summer). In high school the different “cliques” are comparable to the different classes presented in society. Some are higher up in popularity and have more advantages socially whereas others may be more focused on academics and in turn have more advantages with academic related things. By sitting with different “cliques” I was inserting myself in groups that have different backgrounds and weren’t necessarily associated with the “clique” I’m associated with. That’s where the conflict presented itself.
In conclusion, I learned that when breaking social norms, you’re breaking the cycle of things in a way. If no one else is willing to break it, then you’re automatically the one who gets the evil eye or seems abnormal. I also realized that we don’t even notice the smallest way norms shape our lives, making us more cynical. I felt of mix emotions between fear, relief, and embarrassment because I felt silly. I thought that doing these things would make me look stupid and ruin my reputation. I was also scared that they were judging me and I couldn’t necessarily tell how or what exactly they were judging me by or if they were making fun of me. At times I felt relieved and pretty okay with everything because at some points I got used to it and it wasn’t so much of a big deal. Most of what I hypothesized held true, especially on the third day of the lunch experiment. They reacted exactly how I thought they would. They stayed away from me or laughed at me. It was kind of hard to keep it going sometimes. I really wanted to stop after a while. I honestly felt a little afraid at times because I didn’t want to approach the wrong person and then have something go wrong. That didn’t go through my head until I actually started to carry out the experiment. Some paid absolutely no mind to me. The biggest limitation I had would be myself. I wasn’t trying to high-five that many people in fear of how I would look or I’d purposely avoid certain tables. Overall, it was a really in-depth learning experience.