Introduction
Macro-Level
One of the social norms that were observed was greetings between different nations. It was observed while standing in a queue. An Arab man saw another Arab man who apparently was his friend. They had extended greetings that included kisses on the cheeks and holding their hands for a prolonged period of time. Among American people, such warm greetings seem to be rare, yet not frowned upon. The length and warmth of greeting seem to signify either trusty relations or trustless ones. At the same time, this social norm signifies the difference in the extent of personal space in different nations. They establish a clear border between a friend and a relative, a colleague and a stranger. It is peculiar how distinct such borders are in different cultures.
Micro-level
At the interpersonal level, social norms also seem to communicate a certain set of appropriate behaviors and a guide to emotion management. A clear manifestation of such norms was logged at 3 p.m. when a man accidentally dropped his tray with a meal. The person offered an apology to a member of staff who came to clean the spot. In the society, at least in the American one, it is natural to apologize if one creates additional loads of work for service personnel. It also is appropriate for personnel to tell a customer that no apologies are needed and everything is in order to relieve a person from feeling ashamed for the disturbance he or she caused. Mutual respect for other person’s feelings is the mechanism that ties people together into society and creates a connection between various groups and social strata (Simon & Grabow, 2014).
Concept Analysis
Deviance
The deviance in the case of the person dropping his meal at Burger King is an event of the minor force that yet attracts the attention of people in the vicinity. Deviance is a concept that bears an important function in the society and helps to change the society to the better (“7.2 Explaining deviance,” n.d.). The situation involved a loud noise and contamination of the floor, which is a small deviation but, nonetheless, sufficient to remind the actor and the witnesses what is normal behavior. Deviance, in this case, reminded everyone around that certain actions, even if they are an accident, can disturb others, which is not appropriate.
Gender Socialization
Socialization is an important aspect of realizing oneself within the society. Avoiding socialization with certain people can indicate issues connected with trauma or personality. In this case, facing a person of the opposite sex with whom one had an unpleasant conversation or relationship can be difficult to approach. Therefore, the easiest way to handle the situation is not to participate in the socialization event. It partly reflects the nature of human behavior in society in the context of avoiding difficulties rather than solving them. Such an approach can be considered unhealthy and have consequences later in life. Carter (2014), however, considers control theory applicable to gender socialization and finds that it vividly illustrates emotion management in different situations. Here, the lack of desire to feel negative emotions connected with this person by choosing to not interact with her is a mechanism that protects self from disruptions and stress.
Gender Roles
At 8.20 a.m. a manifestation of gender stereotype was noted. Usually, it was my mother who cooks best in the family, which is why she considers men inferior as per the cooking skills. This time she was unable to cook breakfast due to the absence of time, which she remarked with “I hope the kitchen stays intact when I return,” indicating my inability to prepare a meal without inflicting significant damage to the surrounding territory. Gender roles in the eyes of my mother are still binary. In her vision, there is a distinct set of skills that a man and a woman should and should not possess. According to Szabo (2014), the attitude towards cooking is traditionally dichotomized to “men’s” and “women’s.” The latter concept signifies a more attentive, responsible, and focused approach, while men’s cooking is associated with a casual attitude. This seems to explain the nature of mother’s lack of belief in my handling the preparation of breakfast.
Social Institutions
Social institutions are the activity patterns that are reproduced continuously and manifest in simplest living arrangements (“Basic concepts from sociology and anthropology,” n.d.). Such an institution and its importance were demonstrated at 1 p.m. during a traffic jam. My generation was raised with the knowledge that green light means “go,” red light – “stop.” Traffic lights rarely stopped working, and people got accustomed that they regulate our daily life. A local collapse of such social institution led to a breakdown of the pedestrian-vehicle transportation. In the absence of a signal for concrete action, people hesitate and create a disturbance for others. Being used to a particular order of things seems to make a person vulnerable to abrupt changes and disturb their decision-making process.
Reflection
The observation of everyday life seems to have indicated the vital nature of social constructs and invisible forces that dictate the behaviors of each person in the society. Even though they are rarely noted and discussed in ordinary life, they dominate our individual and collective mindset. The analysis showed that many daily occurrences have a theoretical explanation through the prism of psychological and sociological concepts. The importance of such work resides with gaining knowledge on how to resolve the unpleasant situations having the knowledge of their nature. The roles that assumed during the ordinary days included a family member, a friend, a witness to the deviation, a representative of opposite sex, a consumer, and a friendly neighbor. Interactions with others seem to define the nature of my personality. It is through the interaction with others and assumption of roles, I cognize myself and define my strong and weak sides. My everyday life is full of interactions of different type, some more attractive than the other. I find that I should be more focused on resolving the unpleasant situations instead of avoiding them.
References
Basic concepts from sociology and anthropology. (n.d). Web.
7.2 Explaining deviance (n.d.). Web.
Carter, M. J. (2014). Gender socialization and identity theory. Social Sciences, 3(2), 242-263.
Simon, B., & Grabow, H. (2014). To be respected and to respect: The challenge of mutual respect in intergroup relations. British Journal of Social Psychology, 53(1), 39-53.
Szabo, M. (2014). Men nurturing through food: Challenging gender dichotomies around domestic cooking. Journal of Gender Studies, 23(1), 18-31.