Free Essay on Navigating Societal Norms: An Exploration of Social Interaction through Eye Contact

Introduction

Unwritten rules that are thought of as acceptable by society or a group of people are known as social norms (Nyborg et al., 2016). Norms help promote order and predictability in the communities we live in. People follow norms because they want to belong in a particular society. The people who fail to follow the set rules and guidelines are regarded as outcasts. They also face disapproval from society. It is in man's nature to do what is expected of them so as to seek approval and fit in a particular group of people. For this reason, they make sure what is expected of them (Nyborg et al., 2016). Social norms and people's behavior vary according to time, environment, situation, and culture in which they are found.

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Method

Making direct contact is a form of body language, and it is essential during communication. Keeping eye contact when talking to a person means you are interested in what they are saying. It also means that you are focused and listening to what that person has to say. Human beings portray their emotions through facial expressions, and making eye contact helps to understand people better (Nyborg et al., 2016). When addressing a broad audience, eye contact helps to move the crowd, and in most cases, they agree with what one is saying. Eye contact makes one look trustworthy and allows people to have a better perception of you.

In society, they expect us to make eye contact when talking to parents, teachers, and community members in general. For the past three months, I have tried to violate the eye contact norm when talking to people. Instead of looking at people, I engaged myself in other activities. The activities included; looking around the surroundings, fidgeting, and when at home, I would fixate my eyes on the television or my mobile phone. Usually, these are bad habits that one should not engage in when having conversations with people.

Findings

During the norm violations, I had a conflict with myself for acting up. I felt guilty for pushing my friends and family away. I also felt terrible for the sudden change in my behavior without giving people an explanation, especially my family. I also felt responsible for quarreling with my parents all the time. Morally, I felt degraded because I could not even face my peers when talking to them. After the norm deviance experimentation, I apologized to everyone for misbehaving. Besides, I felt relieved because I would not have to struggle to fake my character.

My parents, teachers, and friends were not happy about my behavior. They thought that a sudden change in my behavior was a result of insecurity and arrogance. Where maybe something terrible had happened that resulted in low self-esteem and lack of confidence. Teachers and parents mostly thought I was lying to them. For instance, there was a day when I was feeling unwell and failed to attend classes. When the class teacher asked the reason for my absenteeism and answered her, she said I was lying. Her reason for doubting me was because I was fidgeting when answering the question. My friends and parents thought that maybe I was angry or sad about something and was afraid to display my emotions. Their reasoning was deducted from the fact that they fail to make eye contact whenever people are sad or angry because the eyes show most emotions.

Violating the eye contact norm made me realize that it is rude to avoid eye contact when talking to other people. Through my parents, teachers, and friends' actions, I felt they were disappointed in me due to the norm deviation. I realized I was hurting their feelings because, at times, they would not even talk to me, and their faces would show they were not happy with me. I also realized that whenever I was not around them, they seemed pleased, but their moods would change instantly upon my arrival.

Discussion Using Three Sociological Concepts

Sociology theories help us to explain a social phenomenon. Various ideas help us to create a hypothesis about a particular group of people or community. Sociologists develop a theory by studying social events, patterns, and interactions. They try to explain why things work the way they do. Theories differ in scope following to scale of issues they are trying to explain. The theories vary at the macro level, micro level, and grand theories. Macro levels deal with a large group of people and large-scale issues. The micro-level is dealing with specific relationships between groups or individuals (Lawler, 2015). Grand theories, on the other hand, try to explain large-scale relationships and tries to answer questions on why societies form and why they change over time.

As time goes by, sociological theories are considered evolving, and they never should be termed complete. Sociological theories dig upon their predecessors' work and develop them while classic sociological theories are current, and they keep on changing. Few theories in sociology explain different aspects of life and provide broad perspectives. These theories are called paradigms (Lawler, 2015). The philosophical and theoretical framework used to formulate theories and experiments within a discipline to support them is what is referred to as a paradigm. Sociological thinking is dominated by three paradigms, which include; structural-functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. These three provide useful information to learners and members of the public.

Structural Functionalism

Structural functionalism theory sees society as interlinked parts meant to meet people's social and biological needs living in a community (Lawler, 2015). Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher, and biologist grew functionalism out of his writings and saw the similarity between society and the human body. The parts of society referred to by Spencer were belief patterns, social institutions, and behaviors aimed at meeting family, healthcare, education, and religious needs. For example, in schools, families, and societies, it is normal to make eye contact when talking to people. Schools play a significant role in instilling values for work, making the learners better and experienced people in their places of work. Teaching children the importance of eye contact makes them do better in the corporate world because the tactic makes them earn the trust of fellow business people. In return, it leads to the economic prosperity of a country. The society believes that doing so is a sign of respect. It is also believed that one's family background can affect their behavior. For instance, children in families who are not taught the benefits of eye contact when growing up, it is hard to teach the same benefits when they become adults.

Emile Durkheim, an early sociologist, used Spencer's theories to show how societies change and survive over time. His interest was to develop and study social factors that affect society. Durkin gathered information that showed that religious differences explain the difference in suicide rates. For instance, when one fails to abide by the norms set aside, they are treated as outcasts. Thus, they feel sad and sink into depression, which in turn makes them commit suicide.

As indicated by Robert Merton, social processes are of importance. They include manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are sought results of the social process. A manifest function of community education is to ensure people in society learn what is expected of them and abide by them (Lawler, 2015). Through good character, the community raises people with good morals and values. Latent functions are the unsought results of the social process. Through community education, one knows that it is good to shake hands when meeting a new person, make eye contact when talking to people, and dress appropriately. Latent functions are categorized as harmful, beneficial, or neutral. In society, social processes that have undesirable effects are known as dysfunctions. Examples of social dysfunction in community education include disobeying the set rules and regulations, disrespecting our parents and teachers, and abusing drugs, among others (Lawler, 2015). When everyone is raised in the right way and follows what is expected of them, it helps maintain order in society. Structural functionalism faces criticism because it fails to give a thorough explanation of social change.

Conflict Theory

Conflict theory looks to see how societies compete for natural resources. German philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx is associated with the macro-level approach. The identified sociologist says the community encompasses two classes (Lawler, 2015). That is the capitalists and the communists. Capitalism involves where individuals with capital have the freedom to invest, make money, and profit. Communists, on the other hand, consist of the state, deciding on what to do. In capitalists, there are two classes, which include the bourgeoisie and the Proletariat. The bourgeoisie is the minority with capital, and they invest and make profits. The Proletariat is the majority and people who have to work for a living and have no or little money (Lawler, 2015). In most cases, the bourgeoisie exploits the Proletariat and makes them work hard with little pay. That is, the amount of money paid is not equal to the enormous work they do every single day. The bourgeoisie likes taking advantage of the less privileged in society. These people go against the community values of honesty and giving everyone equal pay for equivalent work done.

These groups compete for political and social resources such as food, employment, education, and leisure time. The competition is reflected by social institutions such as education, religion, and government. The institutions help maintain unequal social structure through their inherent inequalities. In most cases, the main aim of the bourgeoisie is profit motive. These people are known to own the production processes of goods and services. The workers have labor to offer. The relationship between these two classes is referred to as exploitive because they pay the workers below the selling price of goods and services they produce.

Max Weber, a German sociologist, agreed with some of Karl Marx's main ideas. He added that their economic qualities were not only financial but also inequalities in the political and social structure (Lawler, 2015). These inequalities are responsible for conflicts in their respective spheres. The sociologist noted that people were discriminated against based on race, education, gender, and social class in society. For instance, in our communities, we observe that most educated people are accorded the most respect during functions and ceremonies. When it comes to applying for jobs and promotion positions, people of individual races and genders get priority. In most cases, the wealthy people in the society have the most opportunities disregarding the poor and middle-class people who are in dire need of those opportunities compared to their counterparts. People who support a particular party or a specific leader have special considerations in all aspects. Inequality in a society involves breaching societal norms, which accords that everyone should be given equal opportunities despite their age and gender.