Personal Narrative: Breaking A Social Norm

Another limitation of deviation from social norms is that deviance is related to context and degree. For example, someone who was wearing almost nothing in a school would be classed as abnormal, although if they were wearing the same but at a beach, nobody would think them to be abnormal. As there isn’t a clear line between abnormal deviation and harmless eccentricity, deviation from social norms cannot offer a complete definition of abnormality, as it fails to recognise the importance of context and

P1. A person who does not conform will have a group of friends, but will always have a person who teases them even though it’s wrong. When some people don’t understand someone, they think it’s okay to make fun of the person even though they should take the time to get to know the person better. Among my friends as long as they are a nice person they would be accepted in our group. We all have unique identities and we shouldn’t just turn away others because they are different from us.

There are tons people everyday that are made fun of because either they dont look like everyone else, or they don 't act like everyone else. In the book A Raisin In The Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry, An African American family lives in the suburbs of Chicago pre civil rights movement trying to find a better life outside of their rundown apartment. In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding Toula changes her appearance so she can go out with the guy she likes. When they see each other it was love at first sight, Ian and Toula later get married. In the book American Born Chinese written by Gene Luen Yang, Jin changes his appearance because he wanted to fit in, and get the girl everyone likes.

Othering is Now the “Norm” Othering will be apart of life, no matter someone’s personality is like, or who they are. Othering is making someone feel different from their own “norm”, it’s different for everybody. Only because somebody 's normal, is someone else 's other. The short story/movie,” Harrison Bergeron,” has plenty of examples of othering. Change is a scary thing for some people.

Social norms are the unwritten rules of society, e.g. what is expected of us such as: holding doors open, wearing gender specific clothes. This means if you were expressing individuality you would be classed as abnormal. There are no universal set of rules because it changes with time, culture and religions , this means you would be classed as abnormal in some places and times. If you are gay or wear the opposites genders clothes then you would also be classed as abnormal, the problem about this would be, again different for other cultures because things are not the same across cultures, what is normal in one culture could differ in another as written by McLeod(2008). To define abnormality, it would be when people do not follow what is the

In society, there are many standards that people must uphold to. In western society, it is uncommon for men to have long hair or for women to have short hair. Naturally, people will be conscientious of their differences between other people and try to change them or cover them up, and often times people who do not follow the standard are looked down upon. This leads to people trying to fit into the groups around them almost thoughtlessly. However, when people conform without thinking, it can lead to dangerous consequences.

In the essay, “The sociology of Leopard man”, by Logan Feys, he argues that individuality can be affected by the pressures that society puts on people. I agree with Feys opinion on this subject. I agree with Feys because many people are being looked down upon for being different and not meet a certain standard set by society. He expresses this in paragraph 4, “society looks down upon freakish and extraordinary individuals alike and views them with suspicion. Ordinary people fear what they do not understand.”

This message of conformity and a homogenous appearance goes against the present-day beliefs that individuality and personal expression bring a positive element of variance into our day to day life. “We must cut out all that is different like a cancerous growth. It is essential to this society that we not only have a norm but that we conform to that norm. Differences weaken us. Variations destroy us.”

Stereotypes are part of our everyday lives. S.E Hinton’s novel The outsiders has many examples of stereotypes and how they affect our lives.

Nonetheless, she knew her neighborhood had the possibilities of being great. she was fully aware of the stereotypes that was placed upon her based merely on her phenotype. she has not allowed this sociological determinant to dictate her life trajectory. she decided to fight these stereotypes, by going outside of the frame of societal norms. Moreover,

Societies throughout time have always struggled with outsiders. Humans easily notice differences and are quick to despise them, outcasting any person in whom they see these discrepancies. While the specific targeted characteristic may vary, this idea is ever persistent. In Jessica Brody’s novel Unforgotten, she highlights through angry, fearful diction and personification that people often look upon differences negatively, ultimately hurting those targeted. Brody relies heavily on diction to illustrate her idea that people are upset by outsiders.

I was shy, I was sad, every moment of every day previously. Yes, I was young and did not know how the world functioned. Every day I was too timid to communicate so every day was a spiral downward. Another step into the dissent of self-proclaimed exile. Every day I rationalized that I am ‘the other’ and every day I was told to celebrate your differences, when all I could see was the differences.

The social setting that I selected to understand social norms was a grocery store. The social norms that I observed in this setting were standing in line to check out, buying the products with a form of money, and not running down through the aisles. Another social norm within the grocery store that I was able to observe were that people were typically placing items inside of a cart instead of carrying all of them. Along with this, I was able to observe that people were not going around to other people and exchanging their items that had in their cart with other

Social norms are rules that have been ingrained in society and people for hundreds of years. These societal rules can be anything from not talking to strangers on the subway to wearing weather appropriate clothes in public. Yet, when these societal norms are broken, the observers, as well as the person who destroyed the norm, are affected. Societal norms play in large role in how a person conducts him or herself when interacting with others. When deciding what social interaction, I would break, I wanted to do something that would be easy for me to fully commit to without facing too much embarrassment.

There are many factors when it comes to determining abnormal behavior. According to Dictionary.com, it says, “Abnormal is where it is not normal, typical, or usual; deviating from a standard” (Dictionary.com). The main three that I feel are important are: Social Norm Violation, Personal Distress, and Maladaptive Behavior. Based from the Social Norm Violation, it puts us into the direction of knowing what is right and wrong. In my opinion, I think that the biggest thing that could affect the social norm violation is from the influence of culture.