Casual Friday Research Paper

Violating a Folkway: Casual Friday According to Schaefer, folkways are norms governing everyday behavior. (Schaefer, 2015) In an ever-changing society these folkways can change to reflect the times. What once were accepted folkways, such as men wearing hats and women wearing dresses exclusively, used to be prevalent; however, are now extinct. A modern folkway noted in general society in the last decade or so is the idea of “Casual Friday,” where even in a business environment, employees are allowed and encouraged to wear casual clothing, to include jeans. It was this modern folkway I chose to violate.
Wanting to violate the folkway in a very obvious way, I chose to not just wear my normal business casual clothing; which consists of dress pants and a matching blouse and sweater. Instead, I chose to wear a dress. If I was going to get a reaction, I was looking for an extreme reaction. In contemplating what I thought may be the reaction, I had to consider if there would be differences in the
They didn’t ignore my violation, but fawned over the actual dress itself even more so than the males fawned over my general appearance. A social event was initiated by my violation that included discussing where I got the dress, other shops that sell dresses which were equally as nice, and a discussion of how comfortable dresses are and how we should wear them more often. By far this was the most positive sanction that arose from this experiment and at the same time the most unexpected. Coincidentally, this experiment resulted in a new tradition, and perhaps even a new folkway where I work. Approximately three-quarters of the females in my department have decided to not only join me in my Casual Friday/Jeans Day violation but have made Fridays an unofficial “Dress Day.” Other departments have noticed, complimented us on our new way of dressing and have joined us in dressing up more