sociology, norms
According to Harold Garfinkel, breaking the rules of everyday life is the only way to really expose them. By breaking norms we get a better understanding of what they really are and where their limits are drawn. Norms are expected rules of behavior that are created in groups of people. If you saw someone at the grocery store wearing a sock around their head you would be struck with some sort of questions or feelings about their actions. I found myself questioning these folkways when I did nothing on a sidewalk on State Street. Standing without movement for ten minutes, I observed not only my self, but other peoples sanctions towards me. Breaking a norm of society is a way of exploring Ethnomethology. When I first set out for this experiment I assumed I would only make others feel and act strangely. I found that acting “strange” made me feel rather uncomfortable. Like most people I was not used to breaking a folkway, doing so made me and others around me feel uncomfortable.