Common Act By Many People example essay topic

Bob Tayo November 15, 2004 In our society today, conforming to what is popular and trendy is a common act by many people. Therefore, deviant acts, which are abnormal actions committed by an individual causing a negative response from society are not permitted. As a result, when an individual dares to challenge societies order others often look upon them as inadequate or bizarre. Society's perception of deviance varies on the situation. A prime example could be the game "Bullshit". While playing this game the object is to yell "bullshit" when a player believes another player is lying about their card hand.

In this situation, the term "bullshit" is considered a norm. On the other hand, a person in an office meeting decides to yell "bullshit" at their boss's decision. In this situation the term "bullshit" is considered abnormal and could be detrimental to the individual's job. This example of a deviant act is one of many that could be committed in society every day. In the following, I will be relaying to you the reaction I observed from my deviant act I committed to society. While I was strolling through the mall on Saturday evening, I figured it would be the perfect time to perform my legal deviant act.

All I had to do now was devise a plan that would create a legal uproar for a few moments. Finally, after little debate I decided I would go to the middle of the mall and scream at the top of my lungs for exactly five seconds. After I figured out the deviant act I would perform, I needed to figure out a way to record and observe people's reactions. Eventually, I decided to observe people's reactions while screaming. As I began to make my way to the middle of the mall, I began to feel the butterflies forming in my stomach. Almost immediately, doubtful thoughts began to arise in my head referring to whether or not I should do this?

Also, I neglected to factor in the consequences. The few scenarios that arose in my head were frightening young children and startling the elderly people possibly causing a heart attack! To calm these worries I decided to observe the flow of people walking by and wait until it was a group of middle-aged people. At last, the perfect moment arose, a group of teenagers and a few young married couples began to walk by. Hesitantly, I screamed at the top of my lungs while observing this group of people. Almost instantaneously the mall became eerily quiet and everyone's eyes shifted onto me.

Many people had jumped and few screamed, but what they all had in common was the puzzled look upon their face. As I observed a bit more I noticed that some of the older people had a bit of an angry look upon their faces. Whereas, the younger teenagers seemed fascinated and scared at the same time. As I looked around I noticed people begin to whisper to each other while looking at me. The thing that amazed me the most is the fact that they whispered even though I was not nearly close enough to hear them. My only answer to that reaction is that they felt threatened by my yelling and maybe believed if I heard them I would yell again?

Eventually, after about a minute people began to continue on with their day. I instinctively knew that the act I committed would be their center of conversation for the night. In a way that intrigued me a bit, knowing that one obnoxious act I performed could alter a persons topic for conversation even when I wasn't present with them. As I carried on the rest of my stay in the mall I walked around a bit to see many individuals staring at me.

This was a bit demeaning in a way because it seemed like everyone thought I had a problem, which was understandable. Basically, people were staring at me because I wasn't just walking through the mall and keeping to myself. That procedure is the "norm" in the mall, whereas me screaming is "abnormal". According to the labeling theory society had determined the demeanor on which I should have conducted myself in the mall. So my explanation for this brief observation is that society has and is still conducting itself by conformity, and although there area few non-conformists the majority conquers all. In conclusion, I feel that my observation was well maintained in a fairly good environment for the experiment I was conducting.

I also felt that I used all key ideas and concepts needed to complete this assignment. Consequently, my results may seem normal I felt as if I was going to receive more reaction from my actions. I actually thought that I may get thrown out of the mall, which didn't occur. So I guess in a way this experiment proved me wrong in a way. Basically, society went according to plan. I provided an abnormal act, I was stared at and talked about, people observed and jumped back into their norm lifestyle.

Finally, I have one more thing to ask. I wonder if society will ever revert from it conformist ways and became more individual? And if so will it bring more peace or ensue more chaos?