Observation of public interactions at Bishan Library’s quiet reading room. This report seeks to provide a detailed account on the preparation of an observation study of interactions in Bishan Library’s quiet reading room. Literature regarding the reinforcement and conformity of societal rules through social interaction will be explored. The methods employed in this study will be identified as well as the ethical and practical considerations. Subsequently, the proposed observation will be discussed in an attempt to provide meaningful introspection. Literature Review There is an extensive amount of evidence that suggests societal rules are often encouraged and reinforced by social interactions occurring between individuals. In Erving Goffman’s (1959) seminal text, the presentation of self in everyday life, the dramaturgical perspective is consistent with this line of argument. The society is like a drama or a play in the theatre. Actors are …show more content…
It is situated in the left-hand corner of the building. There are bookshelves just outside the quiet reading room and it makes a perfect cover to observe in the distance in the case of the unfortunate discovery of the observational study in the quiet reading room. The focus here is to establish the rule of the situation which is to remain quiet and to observe what happens if individuals fail to do so. In particular, the reactions of other users in the quiet reading room. Will other users remind or even impolitely tell off the individual? In the case of users reacting to individuals who do not follow the rules in the quiet reading room, this would very similar to how Ye (2015) argues how locals defend their own societal customs and rules and reinforce it against rule breakers which in our case is the individual responsible for disrupting the rule of a quiet reading
The persuasive article “Individuality vs. Conformity: The Healthy Middle” focuses on that there is a healthy middle. She supports her claim by stating “from small societal groups to our government, and from the liberal arts to social sciences.” The writer 's purpose was to persuades to look for that healthy middle for we be like other that are conformists. The author writes in a persuasive style for audience could change to find the middle. Of Aristotle 's three rhetorical appeals, the author of “Conformity vs. Individuality: A healthy Middle?” uses Pathos most effectively to get the reader to look for the healthy balance between Individuality and Conformity
The persuasive yet informational article “Individuality vs. Conformity: The Healthy Middle?” explains, discusses, that people want to fit in and stand out. The writer supports her explanation by emphasizing that we all long to be different, however not to the point where we stand out too much. The writer’s purpose is to call attention to the issues of group conformity in order to bring light to what teenagers of modern day times go through. The author writes in an emotional style for young adults and others interested in the topic of conformity and individuality. Of Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals, the author of “Conformity vs. Individuality: A Healthy Middle?” uses pathos most effectively to get the reader to emotionally connect with
During this school year, the question “Does society shape the individual or do the individual shape their society?” was explored in our reading. In book that we and I had read like Romeo & Juliet, Night, and My Life Next Door there has been times that society has altered their life or have they altered the way society is viewed. For starters I chose specific books to help me answer this question. I selected two books my class read and one book I read on my own because they all kind of connect. All of these books have in common are the themes.
Society plays a huge role in helping us believe what is thought to be right vs wrong or good vs bad. The author, Brent Staples, writes in his article, “Just Walk on By,” gives an insight of what society is really like. Staples shows how much the U.S. has changed and what has stayed the same. Staples does this by appealing to emotions and using ethos as a way to connect to the audience. The author uses this to explain his message which is that he believes that society affects the way we see people and makes many people immediately assume that someone is a particular thing based on how their appearance.
Functionalism and The Bee Movie Amari Wilburn-Jones Introduction to Sociology February 16,2018 In the field of Sociology sociologist often view society from three major theoretical perspectives: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. Each theories/perspective is a way to view how parts of the world fit together and work. In this paper I will be analyzing The Bee Movie from the functional analysis perspective to see how the actions of people within a society can help or hinder the society as a whole.
Rules In the article “How Unwritten Rules Circumscribe Our Lives” by Bob Greene, he explain about there are rules in people life’s that isn’t written or its just human objective. There are things in our life that we are not supposed to do or common sense things, for example when the man was shouting in the restaurant. In a restaurant or while people are eating there is a general rules or manners about not raising his voice. After he raises his voice, everyone looked at him and stopped eating.
Social Conformity in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest “He Who Marches Out Of Step Hears Another Drum” (Kesey 154). In this modern world, to come to terms with society is to conform to its standards. When a person does not fit the standard mold of a society, they are scrutinized for their divergence.
When members of society do not conform, they are often treated differently. Those who are rebels, those who break the rules and do not fit into the status quo, become outcasts to society. These castaways are often avoided, ignored, and disrespected by societal figures. Modern society is easily said to have multiple different expectations for its affiliates, in relation to physical ideals, emotional processes, and intelligence levels. Societies’ essential goals for human life are everywhere; magazines, television, radio, the internet, and even on everyday streets.
Sociological imagination can be defined as one’s awareness of the impact that society has on their personal life because of the outside conditions and circumstances. The outside world create standards for people, even if they do not know that they are being looked at in this way. Therefore, society influences a person’s behavior and limits their free will. This theory is clearly demonstrated in The Truman Show. The movie helps to deepen my understanding of sociological imagination and helps me to see how the outside world controls my life.
Too much self-expression can cause unnecessary tension both physically and mentally. Individuals must learn to show some personal character but also abide by moral standards. This will allow one to live a balanced life between individuality and
Public Space Observation Rachael Blouw Doctor Henderson World Urban Sociology For this project, I went to the University Center main lobby to observe people’s behavior. In this space, there are many people who were walking around, sitting at tables, and going to classes. This public area can be accessed by anyone for most of the day, except at night. I decided to sit toward the back of the lobby area, so I could watch everyone while they went about their business. I noticed several different behaviors between people.
Therefore, the standard table manners were completely ignored in my misuse of the utensils. In addition to Garfinkel's concept of ethnomethodology, this breaking of a social norm experiment can be analyzed in terms of Erving Goffman’s impression management. Goffman says that people are very much concerned with two types of the presentation of self, verbal and nonverbal communication. Also, people try desperately to manage how they are presented in society in order to control what people think of them and their roles in certain social situations. In regard to my experiment, I tried to give the impression of normal behavior so I would not draw attention to myself.
Goffman believed that speakers maintain face through face-work, which is “actions taken by a person to make whatever he is doing consistent with face. Face-work serves to counteract incidents” (Goffman, 1967: 12). In other words, when an action threatens face, the speaker uses face saving practices to balance his embarrassment and hence the embarrassment that he and others might have over his embarrassment. These face saving practices often become habitual and standardized; each person, group, and society have their own repertoire of practices. Interactants make their selection of possible practices, but it does not mean that they are identical for every individual, group, or society.
As previously mentioned, Hannah Miller asserts that the incorporation of safe spaces is a beneficial and advantageous asset for students. Safe spaces yield an opportunity to garner sympathy and understanding from compassionate peers who have undergone similar experiences, as a result, these supportive environments increase the happiness of marginalized students (Source A). While this may be true, safe spaces impede fully inclusive dialogue, which allows students to protect themselves from engaging in difficult topics. This ignorance hinders the expansion of knowledge and aids the development of myopic views which students acquire through the use of safe spaces. Not only do safe spaces promote close- mindedness, but they also encourage isolation between students and BLANK subjects, as illustrated in Matt Davies cartoon (Source D).
Erving Goffman published the ‘Presentation of Self in 1959 (Crossman, 2015). In this book, it is here he describes his theory about how we as people operate in our everyday lives and how we work to achieve a certain perception of ourselves. Goffman used the metaphor of the theatre to illustrate how we as social actors change our behaviour according to the audience that is present (Vogt Isaksen, 2015). Elements of the theatre can be used to demonstrate how we play our roles and how we change character in certain social situations. Also how we use various ‘props’ to