SA21-T: Escay, Kua, Nepomuceno, Ng, Ortile, Quiwa, Sy

Link to video: https://youtu.be/fZliktzw_JY

1. What norm did you violate?

The behavior that is expected of someone in public should be of proper decorum and behavior because that is also how you carry your image with other strangers around. Parents would often instruct their children to behave properly, to avoid being too noisy, and to refrain from being too rowdy when there are other people around—especially with people they do not know at all. People tend to and are expected to behave properly when they are outside because it sends out a signal that the type of behavior that you are projecting is just like everyone else’s—that is, properly behaved while also trying to avoid the shameful embarrassments of other actions as well.  

Dancing in a public place just for the sake of enjoying the music is an example of a folkway violation (Macionis, 2017, p. 97). The norm that we violated in this breaching experiment was putting up a behavior in public that did not observe proper “public-behavior” decorum and doing an action/activity that is not done in a huge public setting with many people around—dancing. Dancing with the background music is often only done in parties, bars, and clubs where it is most appropriate. However, dancing in a public place—such as the mall—with music that only the participants could hear violates a norm that disrupts the routine of others as well.

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

The breaching experiment was conducted on May 3 from 7:00 PM to around 8:00 PM in different areas of SM Megamall. These actions were performed specifically in the following locations: (1) in the middle of Mega Fashion Hall, (2) up and down the escalator near Zara, (3) in front of Uniqlo—beside a group of people waiting in line to access the ATM machines, and (4) in front of a group of seated people across Zara. These locations were chosen because these were the areas wherein most people would gather—especially near restaurants and ATM machines where people were sitting or standing in line.

Two representatives from the group strolled through these areas while sharing a pair of earphones that was plugged into one phone. The two of them would act as if they were sharing music with one another and would randomly stop walking to break out into a dance. They were the only ones who could hear the tune of the song and would make it seem like it moved them to stop in the middle of their tracks just to grab the opportunity to dance to the song. They would stay in the area for around 30 seconds to 1 minute before continuing to walk to the direction they were initially heading for.

3. 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/reinforce the existing norms based on these reactions?

Mega Fashion Hall	ATM Machines	Escalator	Seats in the middle of the mall
Staring	Staring	Laughing	Staring
Chose to ignore the dancing	Chose to ignore the dancing	Someone danced along	Gossiping
Avoid by moving away	Smirking	Staring	Laughing
			Pointing

Sanctions were expected to be generated from the “audience” may it be a stare or a side-eye (Macionis, 2017, p. 97). People had varying reactions towards the breaching experiment with some of them laughing, some were almost puzzled as to why there were people randomly dancing, and some pointed to the people dancing to share the sight with their companions. While some of the people in the mall started giving weird stares and kept looking at the dancers,  others would actually avoid the people dancing to give them more space. It was interesting to note that one person also danced a little after seeing the two people dance. However, a great number of people seemed to be disinterested and kept on walking.

Security guards—whom we consider as moral entrepreneurs as they take part in maintaining the norms in shopping malls—just stared and flashed a small smirk. They might not have seen the act of deviance as a violation of a mores and thus did not take action in hindering the two people from dancing.

The people who gave weird stares and laughed reacted the way they did because randomly dancing in a middle of the mall is not appropriate. Dancing in public spaces can be applicable to certain settings but not in mall. This is not something that is considered as a norm and the reactions it entailed were attempts by society to regulate the violation of the folkway (Macionis, 2017, p. 98). Indeed, the deviant act reinforced the existing norm. A difference in reaction can be seen in the age groups as well. Young people who saw the two people dancing laughed and gossiped about it. It was also observed that the young girls who witnessed the dancing were the ones who whispered among each other and laughed. The adults either ignored or just gave confused looks when they saw it.

Disinterested people who just ignored the dancing may have not seen the dancing as something deviant. They may have just seen it as a minor issue that does not warrant a response or action. They might have been bothered by it but they chose to just move away from the commotion instead of staring or laughing.

People who danced along may have not seen the dancing as too eccentric or weird. He/she may also be influenced by those who are dancing or they may also be making a joke out of the situation.

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

Reaction and non-reaction can be attributed to the social context and social location of the individuals and groups involved. In terms of social context, it is important to note that compared to different periods in history, our current era allows us to express ourselves more in public. Therefore, one of the most important questions to ask is “What makes this era different?”. The three major factors that can be considered, in terms of social context, are media influence, residence/locality, and education.

Social Context

Media influence allows us to deem the sign of people dancing in public as a norm because we already see videos for flash mobs and social experiments online. This affects our reaction when we actually encounter people dancing in public. We become more critical of what we are seeing, and we ask ourselves first, “Is this a social experiment?” because the media has taught us that it most likely is. Instead of an immediate reaction, some people who are exposed to videos on social experiments have the tendency to think first.

Residence or locality also affects the reaction. For people who regularly go to the mall where Janelle and Kristen danced, it might not have been the first time for them to see people dancing randomly so the action did not merit big reactions from them. For people who don’t usually go to that specific mall, or who are from places where malls have a more formal or high-end vibe, there could be bigger reactions of discomfort or being bothered.

Finally, in terms of social context, education also played a big role in shaping the reaction and non-reaction of the people involved. More educated people would have reacted with more tolerance and critical thinking before engaging with the actors, compared to the less educated people who would have made simpler assumptions and reacted accordingly.

Social Location

Social location also has a lot of effects on the different reactions and non-reactions merited from the people in the video, but let’s focus on three main factors: age group, job, and gender.

Younger people had a more enthusiastic reaction to the actors dancing in public. Laughter was the physical manifestation of this reaction, which was evident at the escalator and near the seats in the middle of the mall. Older people went with smaller and more conservative reactions like smirks or stares. This may also coincide with the social context of media influence where younger people are more exposed to these expressive actions.

The jobs of the people in the video was also a huge factor on the different reactions that the actors received. Security guards, in terms of physical reaction for example, only stared at the actors because their behavior was not seen as much of a security threat and could not merit larger reactions.

Finally, gender was also a major factor. Reactions would have been different if it were two guys, or one guy and one girl, dancing in the middle of the mall. Reactions from different genders also varied across the video. Opposite genders react to each other differently from people who are of the same gender.

Reason as a factor

It is not uncommon to see that, dancing in public spaces, events such as flash mobs or events, make use of reason. Reason can immediately be identified , when done in large numbers or a great number of people are wearing something identical, i.e, those who conform for a reason are not viewed as wrong, but are given the benefit of the doubt due to their assumptions. The reaction is due to the violation of conformity or what is seen in public spaces, the absence for a reason to identify, allows confusion to manifest, when there is no reason to assume, but the only assumption is someone is clearly violating the norm.

Casual clothing and in a public setting, all while performing solo with no music, is strangely something not see everyday, which is enough to assume (in the context) of the viewer to be deemed strange, for there are no connecting to assume a reason, the absence of reason is the source of assumptions that are deemed strange or weird. Inversely, in the context of the viewer, they each have reasons for being where they are, they have no reason to actually seek and understand the situation they find themselves in (the dancing in public) and with nothing really to assume, their assumptions are to conclude something strange currently happening.

Reason, is to make sense of things, with no actual intent or justification, the common response for those who cannot see the reasons, make assumptions or in their process of making sense of things, the only conclusion is confusion, which can manifest into ranges of humor or disgust.

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

Before doing the experiment, we were very nervous and fighting over who will go first since the original plan was to dance alone. We were even considering to send a new proposal on the spot because of fear of doing the experiment alone. While doing the experiment, the feeling of embarrassment took over. Dancing alone was very difficult in a sense that one had no idea where to go and what to dance with the preconceived idea that the action would elicit responses that were not welcoming or encouraging. Doing it alone was very awkward but we knew that we had to put our emotions aside to effectively conduct the experiment. We attempted to do it as planned by going solo but our nerves got the best of us and thus failed to produce the response or reactions from the people around. Since they were indifferent to the sight of a person dancing alone, we decided that it would be best to do it as a pair to be able to perform actions that were more noticeable. Doing the experiment in pairs made the experiment a bit easier to go through with and even repeat for several times at different areas. Deviating from the norms entailed a lot of courage and confidence. The awareness of the consequences that came with violating a folkway made us more apprehensive to perform acts of deviance. Knowing that there was someone who was feeling the same way as you were and experiencing the very same embarrassment was kind of comforting for both parties. As we got used to the act of deviance that we were trying to achieve and the sanctions that came with it, it became more and more easier for us to do the experiment.

References

Macionis, J. J. (2017). Sociology. NY, NY: Pearson.

Group Work Task Report

Member	Task Assigned	Task Accomplished	Other Com.
Escay, Macy	Editing the video	Edited the video
Kua, Arianne	Answer question 3	Answered question 3, printed the paper
Nepomuceno, Kristen	Conduct the experiment, Answer Question 5	Added concepts from Sociology by Macionis to questions 1 and 3 (reference & in-text citation). Answered Question 5
Ng, Kenn	Answer question 1	Answered question 1
Ortile, Rafael	Answer question 4	Answered question 4
Quiwa, Quiel	Answer question 4 - Social Context and Social Location	Answer question 4 - Social Context and Social Location
Sy, Janelle	Conduct the breaching experiment, answer question number 2, Proofread	Conducted the breaching experiment, answered question number 2 and proofread the paper