Stepping Out Of Normality

Monica Akhter
Bright Sarfo
Intro to Sociology 101 L18
09/29/13

Stepping Out of Normality

Imagine getting on a train and spotting a random person with their pajamas on. The first thing that will enter your mind is “Why is that person in their pajamas?” It is afternoon and the train is certainly not that person’s bedroom. Everyone else is curious as to why the person decided to dress that way. People shouldn’t be laughing at him because his reasons for wearing his pajamas are practical. Despite all the specifications invented by society for the term ‘pajamas’, they are clothes after all. They are meant to be worn and everything else associated with them was introduced by society. People wear pajamas at home before going to bed at night because those standards were set by society. It’s considered normal and acceptable under society’s eyes. However, wearing pajamas outside in public in the afternoon is considered a violation of a social norm. These social norms govern how a group of people behave in society. Norm violations will result in a certain reaction from people around you, whether they laugh at you, give you weird looks, or outright ask you why in the world you did what you did. To fully understand why people react the way they do when a person violates a norm, I broke a social norm in the past week. In our society, it is expected of you to wear an identical pair of shoes on your feet. Both shoes should match with each other. My norm violation was wearing mismatched shoes before going to school. That morning, I put on a white Converse along with a black sandal. While waiting for the train, I felt extra self-conscious of myself because of my shoes. The people around me casually turned around just to stare at them. On the train, one lady spotted my shoes and tried hiding her smile. She then turned to her friends and whispered about it, which made me feel uncomfortable. I felt vulnerable in their eyes and I felt like a subject of discussion -- one that wasn’t positive. Later on, I met up with my friends and received the most extreme reactions from them. One friend balked at my shoes and asked me, “Are you out of your mind?” The rest of my friends found it funny and kept asking me why I wore two different shoes. I explained to them how I was just wearing shoes to keep my feet protected. They didn’t buy my story and assumed that I was probably dared to pull a stunt like that. By the end of the day, I felt slightly free of the pressure to conform to society’s expectations. My norm violation experience helped me understand the social control most people are under in today’s society. There is an informal control that prevents people from stepping out of normality. People want to be accepted by others which is why they behave accordingly to society’s expectations. Doing something out of the ordinary will cause people to express their negativity through disapproving looks and gestures of such. When people receive those types of negative gestures, they know not to repeat their behavior again. While wearing mismatched shoes, I have also had people gossip about my appearance, which was a negative gesture. There is also a formal control, which is present in the form of the government, prisons, laws and more. Our government set laws for people to live by in order to prevent chaos. If anyone breaks these laws, they are sent to prison as a form of punishment. This sets an example for others that if they behave outrageously and harmfully, they will have to face the consequences. My norm violation didn’t require punishment because it wasn’t a crime. Despite the social control, there are people in our society who aren’t heavily influenced by it. They commit norm violations here and there -- it all depends on how far you are willing to go to reject society’s norms.