Huan Pham 11/19/17
A society is enriched with cultural values and norms. Therefore, members of the mentioned society subsequently and collectively follow the written and unwritten rules in order to be functional members of their society. Because every society has an exclusive set of rules that is different from each other, how a society functions is going to be different from each other as well.
According to the sociologist Dalton C. Conley, a culture is composed of values, norms, and practices that are shared among the members of that society (Conley 78). With the concepts of culture, members and groups can define themselves, conform to shared beliefs and practices, and be functional members of society. Cultural norms are defined as the unspoken rules that dictate what are acceptable behaviors in order to establish a social foundation. Therefore, anyone that violates these unspoken rules is considered as a social deviant. Although informal deviance is not punishable by laws because they are minor violations, they still elicit responses from other members of society (Conley 191). Another concept that maintains social foundation and dictates how members of society should behave is symbolic interactionism. According to the sociologist Hubert G. Blumer, symbolic interactionism is the sociological theory that “ideas, concepts, and values are socially constructed” (Conley 138). Members of society collectively behave and conform toward social constructs based on how society interprets their meanings. As a society, we give meanings to these social construction but their definitions are not universal to other people living around the world, making whatever we interpret as a social construction. In the American culture, making eye contact while facing toward someone during a conversation is not only considered a cultural norm, it is also a social construction for respect. …show more content…
We interpret showing respect in social interactions as a cultural value, so we enforce that belief by practicing certain behaviors as a cultural norm (Conley 90). As members of the American society, we engage in social interactions with other members by systematically facing each other and making eye contact. I was interested to observe what would happen if this formulated interaction was changed. In order to breach this cultural norm and be an informal deviant, I conducted a study by engaging in conversations with participants while facing the other direction with my back turned toward them. I continued our conversations normally, acted like nothing was wrong, and noted the reactions of the participants. The initial responses from the study were expected: most participants were bewildered by the norm breaching I conducted. Based on the initial reactions, participants nervously laughed, asked what I was doing, went on the other side to make eye contact, or continued like nothing was wrong. I further questioned the participants to comment how they internally interpreted the situation, and the responses were not expected. One participant commented my behavior as “shyness or the inability to have confrontation during conversations” while another participant commented that “if that is their way of expressing to another person, let them express themselves by being them.” The most interesting and memorable response was from a participant who felt I was expressing “some sort of feeling or resentment” and wanted to advised me to “keep it calm.” Prior to conducting this norm breaking study, I was feeling anxious about socially interacting with participants in a nonconventional way. Although I