LAVC science Sociology Social Norm Violation Paper

Reflective Project #1

For Reflective  Project #1, you may choose one of the following two options.

Below are the two prompts that you may choose (one) to write about:

1) Break a social norm of dress/attire (be sure not  to wear anything illegal, dangerous, or extremely disruptive). Here are  some ideas: try dressing in female clothes if you are a male; wear  formal attire to a casual get together; wear clothing that is too  warm/too cold for the weather; wear stripes with polka dots, wear an  unfashionable or outdated outfit, etc. Then, interact with others and  observe their responses while wearing your norm-breaking outfit. If you  would like to break a different type of norm (not one of dress or  attire), then please check out this page on

Options for Breaking a Social Norm

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***Important Note: Given the COVID-19 pandemic, I  ask that you avoid breaking social norms outdoors. If you decide to  pursue this option for RP #1, please only break social norms with those  who you live with, and I also ask that you be safe and not break social  norms related to safety measures of COVID-19. Please message me via  Canvas Inbox if you have any questions about this!***

In your paper, address the following:

State the Problem: define the norm you will violate, discuss briefly  how this norm acts as a mechanism of social control, and describe what  you will do to violate the norm.

Hypothesis: describe the range of possible reactions others will  have to the violation of this norm, what do you predict the major  reaction will be?

Describe the Setting: physical-where is the norm violation taking place? Social-how many and what types of people are observing?

Describe the Incident: tell what happened.

Summary and Interpretation: how did you feel as you were violating  the norm? Why did you feel the way you did? Did people react the way you  expected? Did you encounter any difficulties in carrying out your  assignment? What, if anything, did you learn about how norms exercise  social control?

-OR-

2) Use Census data to analyze your neighborhood. You will need to access this site:

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/beverlyhillscitycalifornia,glendalecitycalifornia,losangelescitycalifornia/PST045219Links to an external site.

-OR-

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/losangelescountycalifornia,beverlyhillscitycalifornia,glendalecitycalifornia/PST045218Links to an external site.

Here are the instructions for how to navigate the site:

You will see a search engine box under “Quick Facts” on the upper  left hand side of the page. Type in your city or zip code and press  enter. Note that my link above already has the City of Glendale (and the  City of Beverly Hills plus the County of Los Angeles to provide two  comparisons) already set up, so you will only need to do this step if  you live in a City other than Glendale (which I know many of us do!).

Once the page loads, a column will appear with the city or zip code  that you plugged in. As you scroll down to view the data underneath the  column, you will see demographic information on “People” (such as the  population, age and sex, race and other characteristics including  housing, family and living arrangements, computer and internet use,  education, health, economy, transportation, income and poverty).   Analyze the data presented to you about your city/neighborhood. What is  your reaction to this data? Are you surprised by it at all?

Then, analyze the demographic information provided about  “Businesses,” and “Geography” for your city/neighborhood, and consider  your reactions to this data and whether you were surprised by it again.

After you’ve examined these three variables (and their  sub-variables) closely, write a description (at least one full  paragraph) for each of the three variables, that synthesize the  information that you found for each of these. Each description should  include what your findings are, why you think they are this way for your  area as well as the two areas you compared to, and whether or not you  were surprised by your findings.

Now repeat these steps again, with one exception. Instead of  examining the data on your city/neighborhood, you will examine the  notoriously wealthy City of Beverly Hills, as well as the greater County  of Los Angeles, to provide you with some data to compare your  city/neighborhood to.

Write three more descriptions on the same variables of “People,”  “Businesses,” and “Geography,” comparing the information of your current  city/neighborhood of residence, to that of the City of Beverly Hills  and the greater County of Los Angeles. Is your area similar to or  different from Beverly Hills? How about to the County of Los Angeles?  Why do you think this is? Was there anything that surprised you in the  Beverly Hills data? How about in the County of Los Angeles data?