Violate a Social Norm

Social Norm Violations

The Norm Violated: The norm was supposed to be about singing in appropriate places. I choose to sing on a public bus at about the time people were returning home (away from downtown) after work. I thought this might give me a different audience than at other times of the day. It seems reasonable that there is an expectation of the bus being an extension of privacy for some people as they go home, and thus they might not like being bothered as they travel. But as I did my project, I found that the norm wasn't that easy to isolate. There was just as likely an issue about singing badly and singing with and without the help of music technology that made the violation less clear. Was I being "punished" for singing or for singing badly even when I had a player that should have made me sound better?

The Way I Felt: At first I didn't feel much. I think it was because I was wearing earplugs so I could hear the soundtrack. I had a recording of the music without words so I wouldn't be tempted to sing the words correctly. But I didn't get that much of a reaction, which made me feel pretty ignored even for doing something I wasn't supposed to do. So I decided to wait a few blocks and let the crowd turn over. Then I did it without the earplugs so the riders couldn't see my music player. That drew more attention and made me feel that I was doing something bad.

The Reactions: At first, with the earplugs, there didn't seem to be much of a reaction. A couple of people looked at me and one person curled his face, obviously not liking what I was doing. After I put the plugs away, it changed. There were two reactions. In a section of the bus toward the back, people were laughing and pointing, but seemed to be encouraging me and acknowledging that I was being myself. While they might have been making fun of me, I think it was more that they were empowering me to be who I was. Kind of like we encourage karaoke singers when they aren't perfect. But I did not feel like they wanted me to stop.

The second group was more spread out across the bus. Some were obviously working people. Their signals indicated they really didn't appreciate my voice or activities. At least one person waved his hand at me to stop and suggested I sit down. The others tried to turn away or smiled in a way that indicated pity. One couple was appreciating it when I stopped and got off the bus.