Blog Assignment 4: Culture and Normative Behavior

 

 

 

 

 

How close is too close?

 

 

 

 

 

  

 Culture and Normative Behavior at the Mall

Recently, over the holidays, I was put in a position of having my personal space invaded by a distant family member. This is a behavior that has always been a pet peeve of mine. For this reason and the fourth blog assignment, I thought that it would be interesting to pick the social observation option of standing or sitting close to a stranger at the mall.

Luckily, I had some shopping to do, so I devised a plan while driving to the local Northtown Mall. I soon realized that this undertaking was not only going to be uncomfortable for those unsuspecting shoppers, but equally as uncomfortable for me to violate this social norm of respecting a person’s personal “bubble” of space.

To summarize what I did, my daughter and I started out by sitting abnormally close to people who were already occupying the benches in the center of the mall. We also stood obviously too close to people in various stores, as well. In addition to shoppers, I also invaded the space of a sales associate, in Herberger’s, while my daughter was purchasing a pair of boots. We set up the situation so that the salesperson was not even aware that we were together, making an already awkward situation more uncomfortable.

Deciding to do this assignment  was one thing. But, actually “doing it” was another. I do not consider my daughter or me to be shy. Talking to people who are strangers is typically not a problem. However, in working ourselves up to invade a person’s personal space was very nerve-racking. We both experienced a great deal of hesitation, to the point of wanting to reconsider doing this assignment all together and choose an alternative. Committed and ready for action, performing this violation of a social norm, physically wreaked havoc on my body. I experienced heavy breathing, a racing heart, a knot in my stomach, and began to sweat. I felt as if I was doing something wrong and that I was in trouble. As we continued to do this it did became easier.

After a few tries of invading people’s personal spaces, we got the hang of it and added the next step of actually debriefing them. This reopened the uncomfortable feelings I originally experienced when starting this experiment. For me, debriefing was the worst part of this assignment. It was especially uncomfortable to me to know that I was a source of irritation to someone and then having to actually stop them and begin a conversation proved to be twice as difficult. However, once it registered with them, that I was explaining my actions and was asking them how they felt about my behavior, I could actually see and feel their relief of any discomfort or irritation they previously had for me. Once I felt this reaction from one person, it took the fear out of the next debriefings.

Before this assignment, I was aware of how this feels when somebody invades my personal space; however, I never really gave it much thought as to how I react to it. Internally, I know when somebody is doing this to me and how uncomfortable it makes me feel. In hindsight, I do know that I typically adjust my position and move away to a more comfortable distance from the person who is invading my space. This type of behavior was also reflected in some of the people that I sat or stood too close to in my observation assignment. I was surprised to find that this did not occur every single time. One thing that I did notice is that the people who did not physically move away, they did turn their heads and tried avoid direct visual contact with me or pretend I was not there.

This social interaction observation included approximately 10 participants. Due to this small sample size,  and making only an observation it is impossible to make any valid generalizations about the population as a whole. However, based on my observations of how a man, a woman, a young person, or an older person reacted to my invasion of their personal space, further observations would compel me to explore any differences between these groups. For example, the male shoppers seemed less reactive to my invasion than women. The men actually struck up a conversation with me whereas the women did not. I also found this to be true for older people striking up a conversation with me, while the younger people avoided me.

Of all the people I debriefed, majority of them smiled and chuckled after I explained what I was doing. The shoppers "explained away" my unusual behavior as being rude and inconsiderate. They assumed that I was "one of those people" who invaded people’s personal space. Ultimately, to normalize my behavior they wanted me to leave them alone and/or they wanted to distance themselves from me. Interestingly, the salesperson “explained away” my behavior as being a potential "secret shopper" who may have been testing her skills as an employee. She seemed to of expressed more discomfort than the shoppers. She explained to me that she felt she could not be rude back because I was a customer. I found this to be interesting how a particular role influenced her reaction or lack of to a violation of a social norm that she probably would have reacted differently to had she not been at work.

Putting the shoe on the other foot and being the violator of a social norm provided me with a better understanding of the role of culture and norms in society.

Funny Personal Space Invasion YouTube.com

 

 Role of Culture and Norms in Society

If I had to explain or describe the role of culture and norms in society in one word, I would say “harmony” fits the bill. According to the Encarta English Dictionary, harmony is a “friendly agreement; a situation in which there is friendly agreement or accord.”

Once a person is considered to be socialized (adhering to “the “right” ways of doing things”) of one’s culture, it is likely that they can go virtually unnoticed and fit right in with that society (Newman, 2012). However, in order to "fit in," you need to know what is "normal" for a given culture. Knowing the culture of a society means that you know how things are done by the people in that society. It is like a set of guidelines that need to be followed/adhered to in order to maintain harmony and order between, in, and around the people in a society.

We begin learning these guidelines at birth. These guidelines are also commonly shared by other people in that same society. It is this common knowledge that maintains the harmony and order within a society. Often times, people go throughout their day without much thought of these learned behaviors because they become second nature. It is only when somebody violates these guidelines that it is real apparent that their behavior is not the norm and causes great discomfort for those affected. These socially unacceptable behaviors range from violations of “folkways” to “mores.” I feel that these social norms and adhering to them play an important role in sustaining the entire human race. Without them, our world would be filled with more chaos, war, and misunderstandings that we already experience. To ensure the sustainability of our human race and world order it is increasingly becoming more and more important in our growing globalized society that we all learned to live in harmony in order to survive and live our best lives.

 

 Implications of these Sorts of “Experiments and Observations”

There are many implications of these sorts of “experiments.” They are valuable learning opportunities to learn more about individuals, human interactions, cultures, norms, and societies. Understanding human behavior and the nature of social order is a hands-on, true view of the nature and depth of these in-grained, learned behaviors, that we call norms. By understanding why people do the things they do, researchers can possibly look into how to correct, change, or undue unacceptable behaviors. It is difficult to change a behavior if the reason for it or how it became to be, is unknown.   

 

 

References:

Newman, D. (2012). Sociology: Exploring the Architecture of Everyday Life: 9th Edition. SAGE Publications. (p.55-133)

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