Q SY100- Summer 2020 Chapter 3 Paper 3 Folkways and the Breaching Experiment This assignment will draw upon the Symbolic Interaction Perspective and specifically the idea of Dramaturgy (which views society as a scripted performance) and Culture. One of the most significant things about Culture is that members of society often do not and should not have to think about the way it works. In fact, as sociologists we sometimes need to go out of our way to make cultural assumptions show themselves. At its most basic we as a researcher select a very simple and mundane expectation of society and intentionally not follow the rules to see what happens. We call this technique a breaching experiment, or violating the scene. The idea is that we all basically play along with societies expectations. What makes social interaction possible is that the actor knows what is expected of the performance, and members of the audience know and facilitate that process. As long as the actor does what they are supposed to, and the audience plays along, society functions normally. To violate the scene means to intentionally mess up the performance or to not be a compliant audience member. One very simple example is the basic assumption that people are supposed to walk down the righthand side of the sidewalk or store isle. As long as we all follow the folkway everything works smoothly. To violate the scene in this case would be to take a position firmly on the left side and politely but firmly refuse to give right of way to oncoming pedestrians. It is not until we intentionally break the rule that we start to see just how much we assume and expect people to stay in their place. We can also violate a scene by adjusting our normal and taken for granted reactions to people in regular everyday situations. When asked the standard Monday AM “So how was your weekend?”. Instead of giving the standard and expected “Fine and yours?” we could choose to launch into a painfully detailed minute by minute explanation that starts with leaving work on Friday afternoon. We could curtly reply, “What do you care?” We could openly and completely lie about some grand trip overseas. All of these violations are meant to get a reaction and highlight the taken for granted cultural rules of office banter. This assignment should be fun and creative but it needs to be safe. You should not do anything that will get you or anyone else in trouble, physically, emotionally, or legally. You should be able to do this as part of your daily interactions and routines. First, start by thinking about some pattern of behavior or interaction that interests you and that you regularly participate in as either actor or audience. This can quite literally be almost anything. Think about it specifically as a culturally based pattern. All patterns of behavior reflect some larger cultural value and assumption. The point is not to just disrupt a routine. What are the cultural assumptions and values that you will be disrupting? Second, plan out your violation of the scene so that you know how you specifically plan to implement your experiment. Third, run through it in your head and ask yourself; will anyone get harmed by doing this? If so do something different. Fourth, go ahead and do it and see what happens. Like a researcher, keep detailed observations. Fifth, write it all up in a two-page explanation of what you did and what happened. Be sure to frame and introduce the results by providing an explanation of the cultural Value and Norm you are investigating. This needs to be submitted through the Turnitin.com link in our class Blackboard page, Paper Assignments Folder, Paper 3