Breaching Cultural Norms In Everyday Society

Background and chosen Norm/plan to breach: My first norm has to do with beauty standards, and expectations of women and their appearance.
I spend a lot of time at celebrations, birthday parties, weddings, social events, community, gatherings, etc. Something that I have noticed every single time before I leave the house I have “get ready” For these events. Which most days feel like a chore.
I won’t go if I’m having a break out, I won’t go if I feel like my makeup doesn’t look right, I won’t go if my outfit isn’t up to standards and I end up spending a lot of time on the way that I look because I know this is expected of me.
While my brothers and my dad simply throw on a shirt and pants and they are received so well by everyone. But as a woman, if you do not come with rosie cheeks, no under eye bags, and the perfect amount of makeup, not too much, but not too little , full smiles nice and an outfit to complement your body shape then “ I wonder if she’s going through something”. “ Are you okay”? “Were you crying”?! “Well being a mom is tiring”! “You don’t care about the way you look”? “Girl go home and get some rest”! “She let herself go”!

So the norm that I have chosen, it’s going to be beauty and appearance, and how they are deeply ingrained in society and the expectations for women. This idea that women should wear make up to look appealing & put together. Or that women have to look or dress a certain way to be viewed as feminine, classy or be respected.
I just want to shed some light on Western beauty standards, and how the norm of beauty standards leads to social pressure, anxiety, suppression of self, and kills authenticity. One plan that I will be conducting will be showing up to work in comfortable “bummy clothes”.
As someone who spends time on their appearance because I am one of the few women that work at my organization I feel as though I always have to be putting my best foot forward. I feel as though I have to prove that I am a superwoman. That I deserve to be respected and not only do I have the brains, but to be aesthetically more pleasing to my coworkers and our clients. So I will be completing this assignment in the office for a full day maybe put some moisturizer and Chapstick on come in some comfortable clothes. Meet with our clients meet with people and see how it goes. (I’m not gonna lie I am a little nervous, it’s definitely out of my comfort zone. Most importantly, worried about how other people will view me)
The second plan will be to show up to an event. We have a big event that’s happening in the community, and I want to show up without heavy makeup or without any makeup on. To come wearing my natural face and still feel comfortable to engage with people. Not worrying about what I will look like in the photos, or if my cheeks are rosie enough or if I need more contour or lipgloss, but just to simply exist as I was created.

Instructions: Cultural norms provide a framework for our actions and guide our behaviors in social interactions. While norms allow society to function, they often remain unnoticed and go unquestioned. It is the successful enactment of norms that leads us to be unaware that they even exist. We stand in line at the grocery store, eat our entree before dessert, give personal space when sitting near strangers, and would likely not wear pajamas to a class presentation or formal attire to a football game. Often it is not until taken for granted norms are violated that we become aware of their significance in society. Your assignment is to come up with a “breaching” experiment to violate an unspoken common cultural norm and observe reactions in a real life setting on at least two occasions. Your behavior should not be flagrantly bizarre, nor a violation of any policy or law.
When conducting your breaching experiment, it is important that you record your own feelings and reactions as well as those of the subjects. During the course of the actual experiment focus your attention on observing the events of the interaction rather than trying to interpret them. Good fieldwork involves keeping a keen eye out for information and recording it as faithfully as possible while conducting the research. The interpretation comes later.
Often, events that appear unremarkable at the time are significant in the later interpretation. If possibie, you should try to “debrief” your subjects: tell them what you are “really” doing and then interview them regarding their own interpretations of the experience. What did they think was going on? How did they try to make sense of the situation? This will provide you with data on how persons attempt to “explain away” unusual circumstances; how they make order out of interactional deviations. After you conduct the experiment/observation record all observations and thoughts as field notes. These will be turned in with your final assignment.

Your paper should include the following:
• A brief description of cultural norms. This should include reference to Newman’s (2020) text and should consist of your own review of the readings, not just a paraphrase of the authors.
• A description of your experimental plan. For full credit you must discuss the specific interaction ritual/routine that the breach is designed to violate. In other words, what is the taken-for-granted social order?
• Detailed description of the breaching activity. Focus on reporting the actual events, responses (including your own) and post-breach interviews.
Interpretation and analysis of the experiences with the changing norm. Your impression of why things happened based on the conceptual logic of the symbolic interactionist perspective (review Newman Ch. 1):
You should clearly explain how we use shared norms to guide our interactions with others, and how we create and construct shared meaning and definitions of the situation.
Conclusions. What are the implications of these experiments for understanding human behavior and societv? What does vour own response to berforming a breach suggest about the basis of social order?
Turn in the following:
1. Paper (with cover page, paper, and reference page)
2. Field notes (typed detailed notes from all observations during the breaching experiment, or if hand-written must be scanned and inserted into final paper)

Introduction (10 pts.)
Introduces the topic of the paper and rationale for examining cultural norms through a breaching experiment
• Introduces the concept of cultural norms, citing Newman (2020)
• Gives an overview of the paper, including the focus and content of the paper Description of cultural norms (20 pts.)
Demonstrates an understanding of the role of cultural norms in maintaining social order
• Provides examples of cultural norms
This should include reference to Newman’s text and should consist of your own review of the readings, not just a paraphrase of the authors.
Description of experimental plan (10 pts.)
Explain and discuss the specific interaction ritual/routine that the breach is designed to violate.
• What is the taken-for-granted social order?
Description of the breaching activity. (10 pts.)
• Reports actual events, responses (including your own) and post-breach interviews.
• Breach was conducting two separate times
Interpretation and analysis of the experience (20 pts.)
Your impression of why things happened as they did based on the conceptual logic of the symbolic interactionist perspective.
Conclusion (10 pts.)
• Explains implications of breaching experiments for understanding human behavior and society
• Explains personal response to performing a breach and implications for understanding the basis of social order
• Synthesizes main arguments in paper and evidence presented
Format (5 pts.)
• Cover page with title, name, course information
• 1-inch margins, 12-point font, TNW, page numbers, headings.
ASA citations in text

References Page (5 pts.)
• Cites all sources used in paper following ASA format
Field notes (5 pts.)
Notes clearly document the experiment, are readable, and are used in the analysis of the paper.

Paper Guidelines:
Your paper should be 4-7 pages of written text, typed, double-spaced (1-inch margins and 12-point font). Consider * your audience to be peers who have a college-level education but have not taken this course.
Book PDF:
https://archive.org/details/sociologyexplori0000newm_y8x0

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