Greeting Everyone
Greeting Everyone
Every society has norms that act as a guide to direct people how to behave within that community. Norms refer to the unwritten rulers within the society that govern individual behavior and conduct. One of the societal norms that exist is greeting people in the society. Specifically, the norms dictate that one greets friends, family and acquaintances. These are people that an individual knows. In my experiment, I chose to violate this norm.
Violating this social norm meant that I had to greet everyone I encountered on the streets. The greeting was not to be a casual hello, but a hi accompanied by an ear-to-ear grin. This greeting gave the assumption that I was familiar with the stranger. In the society today, people tend to focus purely on their personal affairs. A simple hi is sufficient for acquaintances and colleagues on the streets.
The successful completion of the norm violation required that I try it in a public area. I, therefore, chose the city’s public park. On a daily basis, the public park is full of people relaxing of simply walking through the park. The park was thus the ideal location to try the norm violation. I walked from one end of the park to the other saying hi to everyone.
The greeting was accompanied by a wide grin and questions on how the stranger day has been. I insisted on talking to individuals that tried to evade me on realizing that I was talking to them. This made the situation hilarious as some of the passerby’s literary sprinted away from me. With determination, I followed them insisting that I wanted to say hi.
Prior to the experiment, I was anxious over the reaction to expect, I was particularly afraid that some passerby’s may punch me if I insist on the greetings. However, as I began my norm violation experiment, I relaxed as the experiment became entertaining and hilarious. Looking back at the norm violation exercise after its completion, I realized that it was more successful than anticipated. The assumptions I had over people reactions were proven right.
Some passerby’s simply said hi and hurried away. Other stared at me and wondered if they knew me. When they did not receive any response other than another hi, they chose to walk past me. A majority of passerby’s simply passed me as though I had not spoken to them. They ignored the fact that I was talking to them and simply walked away. Children that I encountered were particularly cautious and quickly ran away as soon as I greeted them. The children that were playing in the park ran to their parents screaming “Stranger danger!” at the top of their lungs.
Conclusion
Norms within the society determine how people should conduct themselves. The society controls what is determined as appropriate or inappropriate. Greeting everyone on the park is considered inappropriate and unacceptable. In fact, the society finds it abnormal to greet everyone on the streets. The experiment made me realize that I have a warm and friendly personality.
This was evident as some passerby’s glanced at me and responded to my greetings. I assume they thought I was being courteous. Overall, the assignment revealed that the society has a defined structure on what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Children in the society have, for instance, been warned over chatting with strangers.
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