Mismatched Shoes

1. What norm did you violate?

            The norm that we violated in this experiment is wearing matching pairs of shoes. It is quite rare to see people wearing mismatched shoes, and that is why we chose to break this norm. People tend to wear matching articles of clothing on body parts that come in pairs. It is rare to hear of gloves, socks, etc that don’t match. Of course, there is an economic aspect to it— they would be easier to mass-produce if they were identical (they will be the same size anyway).

But in doing the experiment or violating the norm, so to speak, we also considered the fact that people wear mismatched earrings, and it is an act that often goes unnoticed perhaps because earrings aren’t very noticeable. It may also be because at some point, wearing mismatched earrings was a trend that meant to say that those participating in it were being deviants or “rebellious,” in colloquial terms. With shoes, the deviance is more noticeable and the reactions, therefore, more qualifiable.

2. Describe the breaching experiment in detail. What was the activity? Where did you do it?

            Basically, what we did in the experiment was wear mismatched footwear. Since it is likely that people would think that the experimenters are just hipsters (e.g. Jaden Smith who tried to make mismatched shoes a thing), we defined mismatched footwear as one closed shoe and another open footwear such as a slipper. The activity was mainly held in Robinsons in Marikina, but we continued to observe people outside the mall. We also observed people while walking and taking public transportation. We performed this activity outside Katipunan since people are already a bit used to seeing “weird Ateneans,” according to someone whom we’d asked regarding viable locations to conduct the experiment.

            We started walking with mismatched footwear right after exiting through Gate 1 (Grade school). From there, we walked to the jeepney stop under the overpass that leads to Libis. We began getting glances in the jeep, as people filed in and were able to see our feet as they boarded. We got off at a jeepney station and walked by foot to Robinsons. In the mall, we roamed around, strolled casually, and entered shops (a Payless shoe store, a Toys R Us, the supermarket, among others). We chose those particular shops because we thought they would be place where, most likely, people would notice. For example, shoe store people are concerned with feet so they must look at customers' feet when they enter. The reason for the toy store is to get young observers, diversifying the population of observers. Finally, for the supermarket, it is the diverse crowd that made us consider it.

            We observed people based on age, sex, and whether they worked for the mall or were patrons.

   

3. What were the different reactions of people? List all possible reactions you observed. Why do you think they reacted this way? What caused these reactions? Did the deviant act reaffirm/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?

Most reactions were repeated glances and quizzical to bad looks.

• On the jeep, a young man kept glancing at the experimenters’ feet at intervals (the time it took for the jeep to get to the next stop). At his first glance, there was a hint of a smirk on his mouth. His succeeding reactions were just glances.
• Also on the jeep, another man, much older than the other, raised an eyebrow and looked repeatedly at our feet, then our faces, and back to our feet (and so on). He did this for, perhaps, no more than five (5) minutes.

Both of the abovementioned were in the jeep, where the experimenters did not move or walk. The following are observations outside the jeep:

• While the experimenters walked (in the streets and in the mall), people who looked followed the feet with their glances for a few seconds and looked away when the experimenters got too far.
• Occasionally, people would be taken aback (especially if they were behind the experimenters).
• Some of them threw their heads back for a short while then regained composure almost immediately.
• When more visible to the experimenters, people were more likely to just raise an eyebrow.
• There were also times when people were seen talking to one another after looking.
• Lastly, a pair of department store workers giggled when the experimenters left. In general, we were given looks not of judgment but of amusement.
• The most notable reaction we got, though, was from a young couple who whispered, "Uso ba 'yan?"

      The last one reaffirmed our initial hypothesis regarding trends, fashion trends in particular. It means that people are expected to follow these trends as they have a "role modeling" function. Wearing mismatched footwear has yet to be an established fashion trend, so the said couple, having seen mismatched footwear on our feet, somehow questioned how we had observed and followed what was "uso" and what was not.

            Fashion is in its own way a social institution. It has rules and wearing mismatched footwear is not one of them. There could be two reasons. First, it doesn't look too pleasing to the eyes to see them, precisely because shoes are meant to match. Second, the prospect of wearing mismatched footwear is more uncomfortable than, say, wearing mismatched earrings. In this way, the disturbed reactions go beyond people's opinion on aesthetic— people's supposed vanity or care for the physical, so to speak.

            Fashion is also a "costume" as far as dramaturgical analysis goes. That people looked at the mismatched footwear longer than they would at matched ones is telling enough that, to them, it had conveyed something. It shows, then, that a digression from the usual fashion elicits a certain response, rendering the function of fashion as costume observable and somehow effective.

            Meanwhile, and observation unrelated to the bounds of our experiment was this: in the jeepney, people either look outside or look down at their feet (or other people's feet). Keeping their sight at regular eye level spells out the risk of accidentally looking strangers in the eye, so they tend to avoid it. This could be the basis of another breaching experiment, one in which the experimenters would have to develop eye contact with people on public transportation without seeming rude or threatening.

4. Aside from the norms, what sociological themes are at play for people to react in a certain way? Is it a function of gender (gender norms, roles), social class (norms of the rich & the poor), values/beliefs of institutions (religion, family, peer group)?

            We believe that the reactions revolved mostly on the concept of trends as scrutinized by different age groups. For the young people (our age, high school to college students), perhaps they looked mostly because we were not “following” trends or appeared to be participating in fashion that was not “uso.” Meanwhile, for older people, perhaps they looked with the afterthought that might’ve gone like, “What are these kids up to? Anong pa-uso na naman ito?” Therefore, younger people are more wont to observe those who follow trends and those who don't. Meanwhile, older people tend to attribute the creation of trends to the younger people, generalizing the youth as the creator of trends. Those judgments showed in the way that they glanced at us.

5. How did you feel when you did this experiment? How does it feel to deviate from the norms? Were you hesitant to do the activity?

Migyle: Having experience in public expression and in theater acting, I felt very excited to conduct the experiment. I thought that it would be a fun way to learn more about society and how they react to norms being broken. However, although very enthusiastic about conducting the experiment, I for one was not confident in the results we would yield. Since the experiment involved footwear, I did not think that many people would notice the defiance occurring as they would if the experiment involved an abnormality somewhere visible at eye level-- meaning anything from the torso up to the head. Because of this, I predicted that we would not yield a significant amount of observations to study how people would react to wearing different footwear on both feet at the same time. To my surprise, at the end of the experiment, we were able to draw out a number of detailed reactions from people. In this sense, the expectation that I formed before the experiment began was debunked. And although my expectation was proven wrong, I feel that our experiment was a success, which is what is important in the end.

Janelle: I admit to being someone who knows that what I wear communicates something about my identity, so I was very interested in how people would react and what identity they would tag me with based on their glances. Their weird looks were a bit telling that they considered me quite strange for not following what was "uso." While clothing is supposed to be a statement about the wearer, much can be said of the observer based on how he or she reacts to what other people wear. Since I was really interested to observe this, I had no reservations with conducting the activity. Wearing mismatched shoes, however, was very uncomfortable at first, but it was not very difficult to get used to.

6. Other observations and analysis that you may have on the activity and on deviance in general.

            Something noteworthy, but not exactly surprising, was that not one of the people who reacted did so directly. Maybe they just didn't feel the point in asking about what they saw, or maybe they were just too disturbed. Either way, I think that this reflects how society can just let things pass without care or action. With this in mind, it could be very much possible to commit various forms of deviance without being questioned. It brings up the concept of the backstage self and how we tend to react not in a way that is congruent to what we really think. People tend to give strange looks first then try to mask the initial looks by smiling or reacting such that it would not seem that they are judging. It's a bit unsettling to think about, but it is what usually happens.