Establishing Personal Territories In A Public Setting The understanding of social norms is one of the major formulations people use to keep society running in a respectful, safe, and proper way. In public settings people establish, maintain, and change their personal territories formulated by social norms and other verbal and nonverbal notifications sent by others. The term “public,” specifically means areas where individuals have freedom of access, but not necessary of action (Guerrero, DeVito & Hecht 1999). In this paper, I will describe my observations of how various people established their personal territories in three different places: the library, the elevator, and the café. People are able to take over a piece of the public territory
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A marker is an item used to define a space as territory in a public setting (Malandro & Barker, 1983). The marker shows a person’s temporary occupancy. Within a couple of minutes, a girl stepped into the reading room and looked for a desk, she walked around the desk area, and saw there were some books, a bottle of water and a item of clothing on desks and chairs. Even though there were no people sitting there, she did not grab the desk because she saw the markers. Later, there was a person who stood up, tidied up his area, and left. The girl quickly moved to that empty desk, put her bag down on the chair, and pulled out some books and notes from her bag to set on the desk. However, she did not immediately sit down. She left all her stuff and took off to the restroom. While she was gone, no one moved her stuff or sat in her chair. This was interesting because there was no letter left on the table announcing that someone occupied that space and will be back later, yet everyone “read” the markers and understood the signal of the girl’s personal items. Social norms tell people that markers can temporarily represent that a person “saved” a space. In other words, the items on the desk are the markers to indicate that the space is occupied, even though there is no one present. Social norms dictate that you are not allowed to move the marker and occupy that piece of …show more content…
They preferred to use negative politeness to deal with this issue. That is, they were more concerned with other people’s need not to be intruded or imposed upon (Kate Fox 2008). When the couple was concerned that the little girl may inadvertently violate their territory, they moved their position and created a “barrier” for protection. This way of reacting to encroachment is called insulation (Guerrero, DeVito & Hecht, 1999). When the father felt crowded and uncomfortable when the man stood too close to him, he did not ask him to step back; instead, he crossed his arms to protect his space. The father’s behavior applied to protection theory, which means people expand their personal spaces when they feel threatened (Argyle &Dean 1965). Interactional territories also applied in the elevator. This is where a cluster of people within an “invisible boundary” participate in maintaining the boundary for the duration of the interaction. These boundaries are protected, and a person can quickly react if the boundary has been
A marker is an item used to define a space as territory in a public setting (Malandro & Barker, 1983). The marker shows a person’s temporary occupancy. Within a couple of minutes, a girl stepped into the reading room and looked for a desk, she walked around the desk area, and saw there were some books, a bottle of water and a item of clothing on desks and chairs. Even though there were no people sitting there, she did not grab the desk because she saw the markers. Later, there was a person who stood up, tidied up his area, and left. The girl quickly moved to that empty desk, put her bag down on the chair, and pulled out some books and notes from her bag to set on the desk. However, she did not immediately sit down. She left all her stuff and took off to the restroom. While she was gone, no one moved her stuff or sat in her chair. This was interesting because there was no letter left on the table announcing that someone occupied that space and will be back later, yet everyone “read” the markers and understood the signal of the girl’s personal items. Social norms tell people that markers can temporarily represent that a person “saved” a space. In other words, the items on the desk are the markers to indicate that the space is occupied, even though there is no one present. Social norms dictate that you are not allowed to move the marker and occupy that piece of …show more content…
They preferred to use negative politeness to deal with this issue. That is, they were more concerned with other people’s need not to be intruded or imposed upon (Kate Fox 2008). When the couple was concerned that the little girl may inadvertently violate their territory, they moved their position and created a “barrier” for protection. This way of reacting to encroachment is called insulation (Guerrero, DeVito & Hecht, 1999). When the father felt crowded and uncomfortable when the man stood too close to him, he did not ask him to step back; instead, he crossed his arms to protect his space. The father’s behavior applied to protection theory, which means people expand their personal spaces when they feel threatened (Argyle &Dean 1965). Interactional territories also applied in the elevator. This is where a cluster of people within an “invisible boundary” participate in maintaining the boundary for the duration of the interaction. These boundaries are protected, and a person can quickly react if the boundary has been