Social Deviance...

In class, we are talking about social deviance, or straying from society's "norms". This can be positive, like buying someone else lunch one day, or they can be negative, like dropping out of school. We watched an episode of Seinfeld, where many social norms were broken. We looked for and then discussed what they were, how people reacted to them being broken, and how they felt when they broke them. For example, Jerry is caught by a girl, who he went on a date with, picking his nose. He broke a social norm by picking his nose in public. She won't return his calls because she is uncomfortable with the fact that he didn't act "normal" in terms of society. Jerry is upset because he really wasn't breaking a social norm, he was just perceived as breaking one. There is a difference in the perception of deviance and the actual deviance. In the Saints and Roughnecks article, the town thought the Saints were good boys and the Roughnecks were delinquent, but in reality, they both did the same deviant acts. The only reason the community thought the Roughnecks were worse was because they were in a lower class than the Saints. People tend to react the same to a real deviance of a social norm and a perceived deviance because we are uncomfortable and uneasy with the thought of unconformity and differences. Now that I'm aware of this, I will be more likely not to judge people so quickly if they are breaking a social norm. It's okay to break one, it actually can be good. We are so stuck on conforming and acting how society tells us to, that we are too worried to go against that and break a social norm. But in reality, it can be good for you and people around you to break one, in a positive way.