Breaking Social Norm Analysis

Breaking social norms seems to be a common assignment among high school and college professors, as I have done this assignment twice already, with varying results each time. I hate making myself known to people, and often stick to the shadows to avoid drama or human interaction. Depending on who I am with, however, I can be ridiculous and outgoing. My focus then is shifted to making the other person laugh. Having fun boosts my confidence, which is why I chose my partner in crime carefully. An assignment like this rendered the help of none other than Kathleen McClain. When I first confronted her, she was afraid of the vagueness of my question. Upon rereading my text, I understood how, “Will you violate a social norm with me?” could sound like
This is why I selected her as the candidate for the second violation: having an animated conversation with oneself in public. This generated interesting results. Not a single person (out of four) acknowledged McClain’s ramblings. One man completely ignored the situation until I pretended to confront MC about who she was talking to . the man appeared to be trying to understand what was happening but determined that it was not high on his priority list as he meandered his cart away through the
MC acted as a child attempting to select a character on Kraft macaroni boxes. I played the role of a parent who wouldn’t let the child get more than one box. MC started the experiment by exclaiming, “Whoa, they have the Turtles!” earning a short glance from the woman passing behind her. Another man passed behind us as we were well into our conversation without giving it a second thought, despite the fact that there was a grown woman scattering macaroni and cheese boxes across the floor. A large man came into our frame of vision, also looking at the Kraft boxes. After McClain said “They have Donatello... but that’s my favorite one...” the man stared at her in disbelief, finally deciding that we were crazy as he shook his head and walked away laughing. As soon as that man left, another guy walks up behind us, idly checking out the pasta sauce. He only turned around to check the situation when I reprimanded MC for making a mess and told her it was not okay. He seemed curious more than bothered as he went back to choosing his sauce. However, after my scolding her with a stern, “If you make anymore of a mess, you’re grounded,” the man spun around confused and continued with his walk. Be that as it may, my favorite part of the entire bit was the ending