We Don't Walk the Walk

WE DON’T WALK THE WALK
SA21 Breaching Project

Members:

• Aleena Forbes
• Shawn Mique
• Daniel Alcantara
• Bettina Mercado
• Jonabelle Chua
• Mikaela Montano
• Oliver Cortero
• Patricia Xu

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What norm did you violate?

• Norm: Walking upright with feet flat on the ground, legs straight, with the hands on the side.
• We decided to break the proper walking norm by (1) crawling on the floor using the hands and the knees and (2) walking upright using the knees.
• Note: We only decided to walk on our knees because Family Mart was kind of cramped and it'd be hard to move around without breaking bottles or disorganizing goods. And there might be people sitting (which there were) who might be offended had we crawled.
• As an addition to the experiment mentioned above, we decided to buy goods from Family Mart as well. Since the counter could not be reached by crawling flatly on the ground, we needed to walk on our knees.
• By crawling and or walking on your knees, you take more time to get around the place which could cause inconvenience to people near you. It’s also very tiring as compared to how people normally walk, where the legs are the ones moving for you. When you crawl, you wiggle or push your body forward using your hands or elbows and your knees so it’s more strenuous and exhausting.
• Crawling immediately sets you apart from everyone else because everyone will of course be standing and walking normally, so dropping to the floor to crawl is a very noticeable change in position.

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

• The breaching experiment took place in UP Town Center. We did 3 tests, one on the 1st floor, one on the 2nd floor, and one in FamilyMart to test different reactions. FamilyMart was noticeably smaller and more cramped so our actors had to walk on their knees instead of crawling on the floor in fear of breaking something while doing the experiment.
• We had three actors: Shawn, Daniel, and Bettina. Daniel crawled military-style, while Shawn and Bettina did the baby-crawl. They were wearing normal clothes so as not to distract the targeted people from the real objective which was to react on their crawling. So all reactions are therefore elicited from the action itself, and not what the actors were wearing.
• The actors crawled in the center of the walking aisle and not on the side. This shows that they crawled where they intend to walk.
• The experiment is pretty straightforward, the actors just had to crawl on the designated places on the first floor and second floor of UP Town Center, while they had to buy something and interact with the cashier person in FamilyMart.

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

• Store clerks who noticed would usually stare, but they are noticeably trying to tone down their reactions. Some of them would call coworkers to look at what was happening, and some of them look like they were suppressing giggles. They always tried to appear as if they were not reacting to the people crawling, by turning away or covering their mouth to hide laughter or whispering.
• Norm: Clerks are supposed to respect customers, and they should not be laughing at them. Thus, the deviant act challenged this norm because it made the clerks want to laugh or stare at people who may be potential customers.
• Passersby who noticed would usually be open about staring. Some would even stop walking to stare, or even turn in place to watch where the actors were going. Some would ask the people around in a quiet voice about what was happening. And some people would laugh out loud about what they saw.
• Norm: People are supposed to walk around on their legs rather than on all fours. Thus, our actors were being sanctioned/shamed for crawling through disapproving looks, confusion or even ridicule. This means that the experiment ended up reinforcing the norm of walking around on two legs.
• People eating/sitting in restaurants generally ignored the actors and remained focused on their food or task at hand.
• Norm: People are normally supposed to focus their attention on their meals, so in the case this norm was reaffirmed by the people who ignored the actors because they were eating.
• Kids, who are with their parents, did not hesitate to stare at those who are crawling. They did not particularly show signs of laughing or shaming. However, their faces show a sense of curiosity. Their faces were blank showing wonder to what the crawling people were doing.
• Norm: It was probably the first time they saw people crawling on public places. The curiosity shows that they have been taught the norm to walk so seeing someone not doing that made them curious. However, it does not appear to them as something negative because the norm of walking, especially to the younger kids, may not be socialized to the kids as much as it is to the adults.

Aside from the norms, what sociological themes are at play for people to react in a certain way? Is it a function of gender, social class, values/ beliefs of institutions?

• UP Town Center is considered a much more upscale shopping center. If you would take a look at the shops and restaurants there, the prices are not for the general mass. So, the reactions we’ve gotten from our tests were pretty mild, save for a few who laughed out loud but that’s the most extreme reaction we got from this experiment. Because it’s an upscale place plus it’s near universities. You get people who are less likely to be rude by laughing openly.

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?

• Even though we knew being berated by a guard was a good result for the experiment, we were still hesitant (and never did) about doing the experiment in front of guards.
• Some of the members said it was pretty exciting and fun to deviate. They felt liberating even for just a moment even when they’re being sanctioned. Some of the members sort of wanted to test it out on more areas.

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

• Another sociological theme that we were able to observe was the front-stage and backstage concept. During the experiment, people showed varying amounts of control over their front and backstages. For example, the clerks often did their best to hide any laughter and were very subtle about their reactions because they were maintaining their front stage, which was to be polite to potential customers. This was seen in FamilyMart when the actors bought something and they were on their knees, since they were customers, the one at the cashier had to maintain his front-stage self.
• There were also sanctions seen with the breaching experiment. Informal sanctions such as the stares that may be looks of disapproval were seen during the experiment. There was also the “gossiping” which can also be considered as informal sanction depending on what the people were gossiping about. Laughing can also be considered a sanction, because that could put the deviant to shame.