A social norm is an accepted behavior in the society. Norms have been gradually developed in the society because of interactions among people who live together to form a society or community. Examples of norms are washing hands before eating. Looking at someone when he or she is speaking to you, giving someone his or her personal space and many more. Norms vary from society to society. There are societies that consider a certain mode of behavior wrong. However, when we observe another society, the specific behavior is accepted. For instance, in an American society, shouting when calling somebody is unacceptable. Nevertheless, some African societies accept this kind of behavior.
Food is not only a basic need, but also a social component. When people eat together, they share. This gives them a unifying factor. There are some kinds of food eaten with hands. There are also other types that can only be eaten using utensils. When a person eats food that is supposed to be eaten using utensils without the utensils and vice versa, he or she violates a social norm. That was what my experiment. The normative pattern of the society as I observed, shows that people eat together as a bonding factor. Since people are always busy with personal things, breakfast, lunch and dinner serve as a factor of unity. Through this, people share what they went through during that particular day or time. I conducted the experiment for a week.
In all the experiments conducted, the participants were ten. They were all my friends and were completely unaware. There were six men and four women. I waited until it was time to eat together and the food eaten, required utensil use. I conducted this experiment at intervals because I did not want to raise suspicion. I found out that women reacted more intensely every time I ate without forks and spoons. They were more sensitive to this. When somebody eats food with bare hands, he or she is unclean. Utensils are supposed to prevent somebody from consuming dirt. Although my male friends also though I was being careless with my health whenever I ate without utensils, they were less critical. The people involved in my experiment reacted the way they did because they thought I was being careless with my health. They did not give me any sanctions, but they reacted very angrily. I even received some insults during the experiment.
Social norms regulate behavior. The one I conducted does not only do this, but it enables people to be healthy as well. When a person violates a norm, people consider you an outcast. Every time I violated this one, I also felt ashamed and dirty. A person of a different race, social class and ethnicity would not undergo the experience I went through. This is due to the variance of norms from on society to another. If people violated this norm, the social order would break down. Sicknesses associated with dirt would be the order of the day. The experiment I conducted gives a clear picture of the power of social norms in the society. Social norms regulate behavior. They also unify people. When somebody follows an accepted code of behavior, he or she feels belonging. Everybody wants to belong in a certain community. That is why they follow these norms.
Works Cited
Fransson, Niklas, and Anders Biel. Morality and Norm Violation. Göteborg, Sweden: University of Göteborg, Dept. of Psychology, 1997. Print.
Jacoby, Johann. Punishing 'them' Harder?: An Investigation of Group Differences in Reactions to Norm Violation. N.p., 2006. Print.
