Arghya Das “Are we allowed to stand like this?”: Writing Assignment 4 Ding! The elevator opened, I walked in, initially oblivious to my surroundings. A couple of seconds later when I looked up, I found three people turned to the wall with their backs to me. I was startled and was unsure of how to react. I was just thinking pondering upon what was going on in this elevator as I watched the elevator slowly go from the first floor to the fourth floor. After a while, I heard a chuckle or two and they turned around and reassured me that they were just doing an assignment. After that, I wanted to know if everyone would react the same way I would since it was a minor “norm violation.” No one ever said we couldn’t stand in the elevator with our backs …show more content…
The larger the group got, the more the uncomfortable people seemed to feel. Perhaps, at one point, they may have felt like they were violating a different “norm.” Any social norm violated, whether it be minor or major, is hardly accepted by society at first. Everyone is curious and skeptical about how or why, perhaps they even start judging you. Initially, when the first couple of individuals walked in to the elevator, I felt uncomfortable myself because I felt that they were judging me for the way I was facing instead of the usual way. I had an overwhelming desire to turn around and explain right away that I am not this weird, I am just doing an assignment. Did anyone ever say we could not get onto an elevator with our backs facing the front? In conclusion, after performing this experiment, the general society is skeptical about anything that is different. No one ever said what we were doing was wrong, but the reactions were negative because individuals somehow felt threatened by the unusual behavior. Perhaps, as a society, we are judgmental, and these judgements are what create the “social norm,” the book of rules on how to behave for all us surviving in this