The subtle but accepted social norms can be categorised neatly into two categories; folkways and mores. While both of these are informal social rules; folkways carry almost no punishment, although, mores are rules that when broken reap heavy consequences. The study of social norms is best done under the symbolic interactionalism lens. Symbolic interactionalism allows us to look at society on a micro level, meaning, we are able to focus on individuals, particularly, emphasizing verbal and physical gestures and how we interpret them. The social norm that I wish to challenge is the expectation of personal space, in particular, the expectation on a public transport that you shouldn 't sit next to someone when there are other available seats. People are inherently afraid or at least uncomfortable around strangers. This is taught to us by our parents at a young age because of safety reasons. Perhaps for the adult population, the biggest source of fear-inducing information is the media, in particular, the news. This is because we are so reliant on news sources for accurate, un-bias …show more content…
I expect that few people will react and attempt to rectify the social norm by either asking why I 've sat next to them or even moving away from me. The best way to gather data for studying social norms through a symbolic interactionalism lens is through qualitative data. Observation will be they major tell in this experiment because ironically it would break more important more in society; not to act out or make a scene. Meaning that observation will show the subtle reactions the person may exhibit. After the experiment I would ask the participants to fill out a survey and participate in an interview; allowing me to gather more personal data about how the person felt, what they assumed I was doing, how the person wanted to act and or say and why they did or didn 't follow