Observation In Social Observation

Superior Essays
Register to read the introduction… were mostly tourists. I heard many different
NORM BREAKING OBSERVATION 4 languages mostly Chinese, although there was a lovely French couple, and two very polite
Swedish families that I observed. As the space was so vast it did not seem as though the 50 or so people in the area were crowded by any means. Two large groups, with 10+ each, of Asian people who were surprisingly pushy and dominating of the decks. They crowded people off, including small children who needed to be closer for a better view and refused to yield to backpackers or bicyclers, thus doing some norm breaking of their very own. The remaining foreign people blended with the traditional upper class American families out for a day hike. The general sociodemographic seemed to be upper class families or couples, all day hiking with 4 total backpackers present during the entire stop at Berry Falls.
For the most part I felt calm and collected while observing the beginning of my experiment. I found a lovely bench across the creek to study the scenery and people of the chosen setting. I chose this norm to break because it seemed so natural a gesture yet everyone was bound to not partake in what would hopefully be a wonderful
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Although there were no signs or rules against going under the waterfall, since there was an observation deck the norm was to say on the pre designated spot to watch the falls.
The Reaction as Sanctions
NORM BREAKING OBSERVATION 5
The reactions of deviance are often expressed through the use of sanctions. Sanctions are defined by Henslin as “either expressions of approval given to people for upholding norms or expressions of disapproval for violating them” (2013). In the case that I presented, sanctions for my actions were positive. This is extremely odd as usually negative sanctions are awarded to those who break social norms, or are deviant. The positive sanctions that I noticed were smiles and laughter as well as people joining in my rule breaking.
The Folkways
With the lack of outrage over my actions in the park, it is safe to assume that the norm that I broke was a folkway. A folkway is a sociological term used for norms that most people do not care too strongly if you break them (Henslin, 2013). During my excursion, I assume that there was at least a few people who did not find my photo blocking escapade as cute as other’s did however no one corrected my behavior. As all they did was shrug, no dirty looks that I saw,

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