R is for...Really?
Well, just got out of class, INTRO TO SOCIOLOGY, and the realization of what Dr. Hudspeth was talking about made me giggle! Were are covering what makes humans human; we've already went through the development of the self, and now we are talking about culture and society!
He pointed out that culture is mainly composed of 5 things, but there are only three that made my mind wonder into giddiness. They were; values, norms, and beliefs. The definitions giving were as follows: Values - general conviction of what is good or bad, right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, superior or inferior; Norms - Standard of desired behavior that guides out actions in specific situations / rules people are expected to follow in their relations with others; and Beliefs - statement about reality that people accept as true, often without question.
Now what made me giggle was the understanding that everyone has a general idea of how they think people should act in a given situation, the norm, and if one were to do something that didn't fit this expectation, how would a person or group react to that.
The example given in class was, normally a person gets on an elevator and finds a spot and place their backs on or toward one of the walls, so they expect other to do the same. If you got on an elevator full of people and stood facing them, what reaction would you get, if any, and how big or small would that reaction be. Depending on how big or small the reaction is tells you how important or unimportant such a norm is in that individual or group of people!
With that in mind, I started thinking about these norms and what would happen if I just went against it! Sounds like fun and the reaction I may get from people would be very educational! Ha ha ha! Oh, boy! Here I go fucking with the way things work, again!
He pointed out that culture is mainly composed of 5 things, but there are only three that made my mind wonder into giddiness. They were; values, norms, and beliefs. The definitions giving were as follows: Values - general conviction of what is good or bad, right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, superior or inferior; Norms - Standard of desired behavior that guides out actions in specific situations / rules people are expected to follow in their relations with others; and Beliefs - statement about reality that people accept as true, often without question.
Now what made me giggle was the understanding that everyone has a general idea of how they think people should act in a given situation, the norm, and if one were to do something that didn't fit this expectation, how would a person or group react to that.
The example given in class was, normally a person gets on an elevator and finds a spot and place their backs on or toward one of the walls, so they expect other to do the same. If you got on an elevator full of people and stood facing them, what reaction would you get, if any, and how big or small would that reaction be. Depending on how big or small the reaction is tells you how important or unimportant such a norm is in that individual or group of people!
With that in mind, I started thinking about these norms and what would happen if I just went against it! Sounds like fun and the reaction I may get from people would be very educational! Ha ha ha! Oh, boy! Here I go fucking with the way things work, again!