Norm Violations: Violation And Observations

Norm Violations: Violation and Observations When we witness someone violate a norm, we question their intent of doing so. Most of us believe that there are common/set guidelines, rules, and behaviors we should, and often times do, follow. The way we react to norm violations is subjective, it varies from person to person and can either be negative or positive. Through my own observations, and probably through many others, I noticed that people tend to react fairly similar. The feeling of having all eyes on you seems quite unnoticeable and the people who violated these norms, and myself, had to know we were doing something “wrong” or not “normal”. The first norm violation I witnessed was in a church setting. About ten minutes after I arrived …show more content…
I had to go there anyway to purchase a few items, so I decided to take my shoes off and walk around in my socks. During most of the time I was in there I was pushing the cart with one hand and holding my shoes with the fingers of my other hand. The main reaction I got from other people was just the staring. I was only in there for about fifteen minutes, but many people passed by me. Some of them didn’t really think anything of it and probably thought I was tired. Also, from far away I think people didn’t notice I didn’t have shoes on and a couple of them, once they passed by me, had a weird look on their face, but didn’t look at me too long. Another reason they probably didn’t think anything of it was because nowadays people come to grocery stores, or stores in general, not dressed presentable, maybe wearing pajamas and slippers. So, they probably thought I was one of those types of people. Most people at least have shoes on whether they are slippers or not, so that’s probably why I got the stares that I did get. The people that actually stared at me distastefully were the older people; most of the younger people didn’t really care. The younger people probably put themselves “in my shoes” (no pun intended) and probably wished they had the courage to do the same, while the older people probably were aggravated that I wasn’t following the “rules”. The entire time I was there no employees said anything to me; that was actually surprising but they probably didn’t say anything because I wasn’t in the store that long. All in all, after observing and personally violating a norm, I find it hard to believe that people don’t know they are violating norms. All eyes or on you/them and some people may make comments about you amongst one another. Violating a norm seems to make people distasteful towards you or they’ll think you’re weird because you are not doing what others would “normally” do or following