Introduction
It can be said that social norms define the way people live in the same way that people determine social norms. They are very paradoxical as they are both stable and flexible phenomena at the same time. They are considered stable within a certain period but eventually change under social, environmental, and temporal factors. The need arises to clarify what social norms are from the sociological point of view. Social norms are the well-established and unspoken rules and standards by which the vast majority of a specific community live. It is important to note they also change when a certain number of community members begin to neglect, break or violate them. In this work, I will describe my experience of breaking the social norm as well as reflect on it.
Problem Statement
The option I chose is breaking the social norm of dress or attire. In terms of social control, clothes serve to signify people’s religious affiliation and their belonging to a subculture. Through clothes, people also show that some significant events are taking place right now. Moreover, their other social role is to emphasize the gender of a person. I decided to dress up as emo, including make-up. Emo emerged in the late 80s as a rock genre but peaked and developed as a subculture in the 00s. Its characteristic features are over-emotionality, fatalism, self-harm, and an unusual appearance. The reason is dressing as emo violates two social rules of attire at the same time. It is an outdated style, and it breaks the gender standard since emo culture is closely related to femininity because it uses a feminine aesthetic. I also decided to speak briefly to enhance the image.
Hypothesis
I expect four responses from observers. The first one that I consider major is surprise, as the emo style uses contrasting colors. The second expected reaction is a mockery, as the emo subculture is associated with excessive emotionality and adolescent protest against social norms and accepted behavior. The third one is obvious it is interest. Emo aesthetics are very expressive despite the use of dark color combinations. The last reaction is a desire to help since the emo subculture is associated with such topics as social isolation, sadness, overreaction, tragedy, death, and suicide.
Physical and Social Setting
It is necessary to note that I considered the instructor’s advice. Following the recommendation, a social experiment was conducted within my home to avoid contracting COVID-19 and violating restriction measures. Therefore, the pool of available target audiences was severely limited. Simply put, my parents were observers and respondents. Perhaps this is why one of the expected reactions, namely a mockery, was not noticed in their response to my appearance.
Description of the Incident
Before conducting a social experiment, I asked my parents when they would both be at home for a long time. It was done to capture as many possible expected and unexpected reactions as possible on the experiment’s day. In the morning, before breakfast, I put on emo clothes and made make-up. When I walked out of my room, my mother and father were surprised as expected. I spent the whole day in an emo dress, and they were asking questions all-day, to which I answered briefly. Moreover, my parents took turns coming up to me to find out what happened and if I was okay.
Summary
Dressing in emo clothes was both fun and awkward at the same time. It was fun to observe the reaction of the parents. The awkwardness stems from the fact that emo aesthetics have long gone out of fashion. The feeling of fun was probably caused by the fact that I knew the background of what was happening while my parents did not. Three out of four reactions were noticed while I was breaking the social norm. They are a surprise, interest, and a desire to help. This kind of social experimentation got me to think about a lot of things.
Interpretation
While it was fun to watch my parents’ reactions, I felt some discomfort at the same time. It is because they were sincerely worried about me, and I could not tell them the truth; otherwise, the experiment would have been thwarted. Simply put, I felt guilty during and after the day of the experiment. I realized that breaking social norms attracts the attention of other members of society. Their response largely depends on the violators’ behavior, appearance, and kinship degree between them and the respondents.
Conclusion
In this work, I describe how I broke the social norm of the dress. Moreover, here I also analyze my experience. The experiment’s essence is that I decided to dress like emo and watch my parents’ reactions. The physical setting is my home not to get infected with the coronavirus and not violate the lockdown measures. I identified such responses as a surprise, interest, and a desire to help. It has been found that the social status of those who violate social norms influences the nature and tone of social reactions.