Deviant Act
In every society, there are norms that people follow so that there is maximum respect among members of society. In a situation where an individual or a group breaks social norms, people always react with revulsion, apprehension, humor, irritation, or an assortment of emotions. People’s perception of norms creates a sense of customariness, or abnormality. For example, in psychology, a norm is a customary or delegate value that governs an assemblage. If people are familiar with a certain norm, then that norm is a social norm. Therefore, if an individual performs an act, which is contrary to social norms, that act is deviant.
For example, being rude to the elderly and dressing in a funny way is itself an abnormality. It is a strange and deviant act, as many society members find it weird. Recently, I broke two norms when my uncle and I went to a movie in a movie theatre. I was dressed in pajamas instead of observing modesty by wearing nice clothes. When we reached the movie theatre, its authority asked me why I had dressed abnormally. At this point, I became rude leaving my uncle pondering. My uncle had strangely observed my look right from the time he picked me. On our way, I received disturbing looks from people. Some of them even went further to ask my uncle why he had allowed me to dress that way. I could hear whispers and giggles from people only for me to assume them. Luckily enough, I was carrying clothes in my bag. I became so much annoyed and humiliated until I decided to change then retrieve back to the movie theatre.
People were annoyed with me. They even scorned and protested over my deviant behavior. This made me seek an otherwise and this was to change my pajamas. After I had changed my pajamas for nice clothes, some of these people came to compliment me. Others were scorning me for being rude and arrogant for being dressed in pajamas. To this extent, I was wrong. I had broken two social norms. I felt disturbed and wondered what people will say of me. Social norms create judgmental feelings in people’s minds. It did not matter whether I was experimenting. To them, I had indeed broken a social norm.
The authority at the movie theatre stared at me strangely when I became rude to them. They never supported my behavior at all. Some of them even became annoyed and wanted to punish me for being rude. My uncle, who also received, strong criticism, protected me from furious administrators who wanted to punish me. This means that people will never support deviant acts. They will be ready to punish you if possible.
I vowed never to commit this act again. This is because; I had gone against the expectation of my uncle and the authority. Furthermore, I disturbed innocent people who left their doings only to stare at me for wearing pajamas. Moreover, elderly people were humiliated and became shy over their children for not training them on how to dress modestly. The situation can be worse if a group of people decides to copy my behavior. This will send a bad signal to the society that values social norms as society drivers.
The act is deviant because it does not warrant respect and modesty. Being rude to seniors or the elderly is a bad omen to societal behavior and has negative consequences. If everybody decided to behave rudely and dress immodestly, that society will become a failed one. Social norms create harmonious societies full of respect, modesty, and good behavior among its members. All society members ought to observe and follow social norms to create a respectable and harmonious society.