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Garfinkel: Breaking Social Norms

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Garfinkel in my opinion was a sociological genius, because he took something undetected and made it detectable. It seems silly to perform an experiment on how people act daily, but this type of work made it possible for others to understand and even break away from social norms. Background assumptions according to Garfinkel are all about how we perceive the world around us by doing what is expected in everyday situations. For example, if you were to walk into a fancy restaurant wearing a T-shirt and jeans, you are breaking a social norm. This leaves the people around you questioning your judgement and character. In other words, by breaking these norms, we are testing society in a way that many wouldn’t think twice about until it is brought to their attention. I started this experiment on January 30th and carried it out until today January 3rd. On Tuesday the 30th I decided to do my normal routine of grocery shopping. I picked a different store to shop at since I knew I would be breaking social norms and did not want …show more content…

Lately I have been receiving spam phone calls from insurance agencies, home security inquiries, and colleges from random states asking me if I am interested in pursuing a degree with them. I normally reject these called but decided to answer each one to hear what they have to say. As soon as they introduced themselves and asked me how I was doing today I did the same thing to the grocery store clerk. I went into a huge spill about my life from the time I was five years old all the way up to being a parent myself. They ignored most of my rambling and once I knew the conversation was over I ended it with saying to each person “Goodbye, I love you.” Over half of them hung up but one person responded with a giggle and an “I love you too, bye.” The best part of this experiment was I have not received a call from either company since then, but I’m not holding my breath just

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