Social Norm Analysis

In our society we have a number of norms that we abide by, norms are the rules of behavior and are almost conditional. I soon wondered what norms people actually followed and how would they react if norms were broken. I went ahead and drove to Fox Hills Mall located in Culver City with my mother and younger siblings on a humid Saturday afternoon. I chose to go in the afternoon because I felt that a numerous amount of people would be there since many have the day off on a Saturday. As my mother and sisters went shopping, I went ahead and bought myself a vanilla bean cold brew latte from Coffee Bean and sat down on a brown circular table with my laptop. This mall has three floors with a resting area in the center and about one hundred and eighty …show more content…
It is extremely beautiful with dangling lights in the ceiling, enormous screens advertising store’s deals, candy booths, chair massages, coffee booths, and many more. It also has a colorful indoor playground for little kids to play in, with a huge fish tank full of big bright orange fishes and benches where parents may take a seat and look over their children. This mall is very diverse, throughout the day I saw Hispanic, White, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and African American people. During the time I was at the mall it was very crowded and loud, there were people of all ages but there were more people that age range from sixteen to forty than people who age range from forty to eighty at the mall. There were groups of teenagers hanging out and laughing and there were families out eating and enjoying their Saturday with their …show more content…
I as well noticed how people left a decent amount of space in between one another which showed the norm of maintaining distance from people who they are not familiar or comfortable with. I however noticed a pattern between couples that waited in line, they did not leave any space between each other but did leave a space for the person in front of them and the person behind them. I also observed that no one sat in the same table as another person when many other tables were available because people would look at that them weird and would give them an odd face. I observed that when this guy properly approach people and asked if they can take a quick survey they would say yes opposed to the time where he did not approach people properly and ask to take the survey they would say no. One observation that caught my attention was when the guy approached a Chinese woman, he greeted her and asked how her day was going and the chinese woman did not make any eye contact with him and would just gaze around while listening to him speak. As noted in the textbook that would be a good example of cultural relativism because when the lady did not make eye contact it was most likely part of her culture

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