SA 21 B – “Spoon and Fork Off”

SA 21 B – “Spoon and Fork Off”

Bianca Alva, Regina Deleste, Charles Flores, Keren-Happuch Murillo, Francis Tordecilla

What norm did you violate?

The norm that our group chose to violate and deviate from for this breaching experiment is the proper dining etiquette when eating in public areas.

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

For this experiment, we chose to eat at some eating areas in Katipunan with our bare hands and not with the use of the usual spoon and fork. There was no specific age group and audience required for this experiment. Lastly, we chose two locations to conduct the experiment: Jollibee Katipunan and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Regis Center, Katipunan.

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 re-affirm /reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?

In both settings, most reactions were just people looking at us then changed their focus maybe three to five seconds. The most obvious reason why they would be looking is because of the unusual place to do such action but then again, maybe because they are aware of the Filipino culture of eating with hands. People were just engrossed in what they’re doing and chose not to care about what we were doing, especially those who were in the second location.

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), or social class (norms of the rich & poor)?

Given the same reaction of just getting three-to-five-second stares, we think other themes at play in this experiment is the social class setting. We conducted this experiment in two eating areas in Katipunan. First is in Jollibee, a common fast food chain where at least middle class people go to eat. The other was in CBTL, a café that is suitable to a more professional class. More people in Jollibee seemed to give more reactions to the experiment being done compared to those who are in CBTL as they were preoccupied with gadgets and schoolwork, thus having much less interest in what other people are doing.

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?

As one of the people who was being videographed to do the experiment, it is nerve-wracking for me to do something that was not usual for me, especially that I’m not really used to eating with my hands (like I only did it around three times in my whole life). But as the experiment went on without getting much other reaction but looking, it was getting comfortable because I feel like I’m at my own home without anyone else caring what I was doing.

–Francis Tordecilla, one of the doers of the experiment

It was actually embarrassing at first to see my groupmate deviate from the norm. I'm not quite sure on what I might feel as I was not the one doing the experiment. However, I think that I would feel more embarrassed doing the experiment rather than just capturing it on camera.

–Charles Flores, one of the videographers of the experiment

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

Maybe the time setting when this experiment was conducted was a factor that affected this activity. This was conducted on Sunday noon but results may have differed when conducted during a weekday setting because of the number of people present.