Dawn Winters
Dr. Elizabeth Bennett
Sociology 1101-111
4 February 2014
Folkway Paper
The clothes that we were say a lot about us weather we wish them to or not. If you dress professionally, people will see you that way. If you were sweats and a holey t-shirt, people will judge you based on that. For my Folkways paper, I choose to wear two different shoes and boxers shorts over my pants for an entire day. I rode the bus to work, was at work and went to school in this period. I am an executive assistant, and as such, I reflect my boss and everyone in our department. I chose this Folkway to break because while I knew that I would get reactions in my different cultures.
1. OBSERVATIONS & 2. SANCTION & 3.ANALYSIS
My observations, related sanctions and analysis from each interaction are listed below:
Morning Bus Ride
1. People looked at me as I got on the bus. This is because I was new to the bus, this always seems to happen, it is one of the norms of the bus ride.
2. There were not many measurable sanctions at this point, other than being "inspected" as the new person.
3. I think that this is due to the fact that it was very early, and many people were not awake enough to care much about things going on outside of their own world.
1. A lady on the bus in the back with me noticed my feet. She noticeably looked down at them a few times.
2. She seemed to me to be holding back a laugh each time she looked over. She did not look me in the face.
3. I do not think that her holding back her laughter was anything negative. I imagine that she felt it would be rude to do so, but I was funny looking, so the laugh was a natural reaction.
Once I Got To Work
1. I think that the limp the two different shoes caused is the biggest reason that people in the halls looked at me.
2. People looked me over to see what was wrong with me. They would not look me in the face again in most cases.
3. This seems to be a running theme. The sanction would be that I would not be given eye contact again. Basically dismissing me because they either thought me odd, or they felt bad to see someone in a "place" where they had to wear two different shoes. They could have been wondering if something was physically or even mentally wrong with me.
1. One Nurse Practitioner I work with just said outright while I was in the break room, "You have on two different shoes".
2. I explained about the project, we discussed the places that it is seemingly more acceptable that people dress oddly. For example, at Wal-Mart there are often people shopping in their pajamas. However, at Target, you tend to see less of that.
3. The sanction that I got from her could have been as a negative one, but when I explained the project and the discussion blossomed, it turned into a positive one.
1. Another Nurse Practitioner that I work with asked if I had hurt my foot.
2. Since I know her to be very empathetic I assumed that she would give this reaction. I think that she did this because she was trying to figure out why I was wearing two shoes, not just assuming that I was odd.
3. The sanction from this interaction was a positive one, because it demonstrated to me how quickly some people give you the benefit of the doubt, or act with Cultural Relativism. Cultural Relativism is taking into account differences across cultures without passing judgment or assigning value. (Conley pg. 85)
1. Another admin assistant joked that I must have gotten dressed in the dark.
2. I explained the project. She did not seem to care one way or the other.
3. I felt that the sanction that I received was that she was rude and dismissive. I have always felt that she is somewhat stuck up because her title is rather prestigious.
At School
1. On the way to class, there was a man standing close to the door to our class. He seemed to notice my feet from some distance.
2. He looked me in the face the entire time I walked down the hall. I might have missed other reactions, but I wanted to see if it would escalate in any way as I got closer, so I did not look away. He did not look away, nor did he respond more than the look.
3. Was only staring at me because I was staring at him? The sanction I got from this interaction was confusion.
1. The girl sitting in the row in front of me in class noticed at one point during class.
2. I am sure that she assumes this is for the project.
3. The only real sanction that I got from her was that she noticed. It was neither negative nor positive.
On The Bus Home
*I rode a different, more crowded bus home to get another sampling of the community.*
1. There was an older man across from me; I thought that he had noticed my shoes. I made it a point of making eye contact and smiling at as many people as I could. No matter how often or hard I tried to make eye contact, he just wouldn't do it. Towards the end of my ride, he finally made eye contact. He asked about the patch on my backpack (Walking Dead). I explained a little about the show. He continued to "chat me up", and after a few more minutes he moved to sit next to me, and this is when he said to me "Oh, you have on two different shoes." That confuses me because I was sure that he had noticed before.
2. I surmise that he did indeed notice before, that he wanted to ask about the shoes, but he didn't know how to go about it. I explained the shoes were part of an experiment, and explained a little about what and why I was doing. He asked how it was going, I told him it the reactions were mixed. He didn't have much to add after that and then I had to get off of the bus.
3. I feel that the sanctions I received from him were mixed, and skewed because I do not feel he was honest about not noticing my shoes before he moved to sit next to me.
1. There was a lady beside him, she looked at me and then down to my shoes and back up to look me in the face.
2. She made a look that I can only describe as "well, okay?" She kept glancing down at my feet, but when I looked at her, she looked away.
3. I strongly feel that she is an ethnocentric person, I do not sense that she tried to figure me out at all, rather seemed to pass judgment on my situation and moved on. Ethnocentrism is a term that encapsulates the sense of taken-for-granted superiority in the context of cultural practices and attitudes. (Conley pg. 78)
HOW I FELT
At first I felt nervous. I do not like drawing attention to myself around strangers. I was "scared" that someone would have negative comments to make, or actually say something rude to me. As I witnessed, people just like noticing the differences in each other not necessarily doing anything about it. Luckily, at least for me, it seems that people do not like confronting people they do not know. The only people that said anything to me while I did this experiment where people that know me, and one friendly gentleman on the bus.
When I was on the Central bus in the afternoon I felt out of my element, and for a while I regretted making this change. It had less to do with my shoes and boxers than just being out of my comfort zone. I was out of my norm, my norm being the Lomas bus. The people on the Lomas bus have a certain Ideology that I am more familiar with. Conley talks about Ideology being a system of concepts and relationships, an understanding of cause and effect. (Conley pg. 83), I identify with this on "my" bus. The Central bus has an Ideology and a culture all its own. It is one that I am not entirely comfortable in.
Bibliography: Conley, Dalton (2012). You May Ask Yourself 3rd Edition
