Social Norm Analysis

A social norm is anything that describes the rules of behavior that develop out of a group’s values (Henslin, 2013 pg. 50). Norms are rarely considered, but play a huge part in shaping and directing how people behave. They’re really only ever noticed when they are being broken, this breach in the normal is immediately detected by whoever observes it. This detection is usually accompanied with some type of sanctioned reaction (Henslin, 2013 pg. 50). The reaction was precisely what I was for looking in my violation of norms exercise. For my exercise I choose to violate the norm of not being formally dressed for class and around campus. It is typical to see students dressed very casually in class and around campus. It’s much more uncommon to
I also spent a lot of extra time in the morning on my hair and makeup, making myself look more put together than I normally would. I did this to really get the greatest reaction possible from other people. The physical settings I was in during the day were my three classes, the cafeteria, Romo’s, my dorm building and just generally outside walking from place to place around campus. I made a point to go to a few extra places or take a longer way than I normally would, to encounter the maximum number of people. The social settings I came across were different at each place I went because of the variety of different people there. For instance, in my classes I always sit in the same seat with the same people around me. I talk to these people every day and expected them to take notice of my change in appearance the most because they are the most familiar with me. In my dorm building I see the same girls every day and, with exception of a few, our interactions are more limited than that of the people I have class with. It is restricted to a passing greeting and not much else. The social setting outside on campus was slightly different from these other places. I was round people I didn’t know and had never seen before, so therefore I wasn’t interacting with them verbally. This situation made observing their reactions slightly harder because I had to be more
It is rare that I dress up and if I do it’s especially not in a dress and high heels. I also have only worn makeup one other time to my classes and, based on my experience with wearing it in high school, people really seem to notice a difference in appearance with or without it on. On the days I wouldn’t wear any makeup in high school, I would always receive the comment “you look different today” or “are you sick?” So because of those experiences I anticipated the opposite reaction would take place here. Overall, I expected to feel awkward and out of place because I was changing my everyday appearance so much from how I feel comfortable presenting myself, but that was not the case. The reason I didn’t feel uncomfortable was because I saw a positive response from the people I encountered early on. Once I saw that most people weren’t judging me or looking at me in a negative way that gave me more confidence in my more formal