Ethnomethodological Exercise
Study Books Used in Class:
Description: Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel) involves studying the ways in which people make sense of their social world. Many norms in society are taken for granted, such as facing forward and not talking in elevators. In order to understand how norms work and how deviance is socially constructed, ethnomethodologists disrupt temporarily the world which people take for granted to see how others react. Each student will violate a social norm (not a law!) such as cutting into the checkout line in the cafeteria, and then observe and write down the reactions of others to the deviant act. Engage in the same norm violation (perhaps in different settings) at least three times. Each student will submit a four-page, double spaced report that 1) explains the norm you violated, 2) describes what happened during each of the norm violation incidents, and 3) includes a discussion and summary of what you learned from the exercise, relating it back to course material (theory and concepts).
