Essay On Social Norms

All societies are constructed of social norms. Norms dictate how we should play our roles, and lay out basic rules on how to interact with others. Without norms, a society would not have social order. A society must have customary social arrangements in order to function properly. A society naturally develops a system of social control in order to enforce these social norms, both formally and informally. The system of social control includes positive and negative sanctions. A positive sanction is an expression of approval for conforming to norms. A negative sanction is an illustration of disapproval for breaking a norm. This is where deviance comes into play. Deviance is the violation of any norm. When a deviant act occurs there can be anything …show more content…
Most of the reactions were negative, and this happened because I was violating norms. I was infringing on personal space, and common elevator etiquette. This definitely made people uncomfortable. It seemed that the talking, even though sometimes viewed as deviance, made people more comfortable with the face-to-face standing. Their reactions were less negative, and some people even said “nice talking with you”. In the cases where I waited to talk and someone else stated a conversation, I found it interesting that the other people felt more comfortable in their spots. Since one person started talking to me, it seemed that it made my act less deviant for the others. In one case I even received a positive sanction from one of the bystanders in the form of a smile. In Howard Becker’s “Outsiders”, the idea that at some point outsiders can become enforcers and the enforcers become the outsiders is discussed. Perhaps when one person on the elevator goes along with my act, they rest feel as if they are becoming the outsiders. When this happens, they choose to acknowledge the act differently, and the sanctions change. Another idea that Becker explains is that an act will be treated as deviant in varying degrees depending on who is performing the act. The reactions and sanctions I received could have been different depending on the color of my skin, my sex, and my