Noemi Barradas
9 December 2014
Extra Credit Assignmnent Ethnomethodology assists in studying norms in social life. The word “ethno” means group of people. A method is a way of doing things and the “ology" is the study of. All together the word is the study of the way people do things. Ethnomethodology is used to uncover and expose deviance. Deviance is a behavior, belief, trait or characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction. Deviance is not set in stone for every culture, since every culture has different norms and different boundaries that are considered within those norms. What makes an act deviant? Not necessarily the qualities of the act, but the reaction from those who witness it. Norms are basic guidelines for behavior, that range from society to society. Just as the qualifications for what is considered deviant behavior varies, so does the punishment for it. Some cultures and societies punish heavily for deviant behavior, and some are just seen negatively and the person is shunned or shamed. To perform a deviant behavior that was not going to land me in jail, I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain on a busy Saturday morning. I was behaving according to norms the entire day out with my friends, so to test out how people would react to my deviant behavior I had to make sure I was going to get noticed by many people. I did it towards the end of my visit just in case my punishment was going to result in them removing me from the park or revoking me from getting on any of the rides. Around the park, there are people dressed up as characters such as Wonder Woman, Robin, Batman, Green Lantern, and Flash. I stood in line to take a picture with Flash and Wonder Woman. When it came to be my turn, I stood in between the two characters. About 15 people were in line behind me watching me waiting for their turn, as well as the people were walking around the par and happened to walk by. Just as the photographer was going to capture the moment, I pulled my shirt up and flashed the camera exposing my bra. I wanted to “flash” the camera standing next to actual Flash. When someone is about to have their photograph taken, it is a norm to smile, throw up a peace sign or thumbs up, or make a funny face, according to the nature of the picture. Six Flags is a fun place where making bunny ears at someone or sticking your tongue out in a picture would still be considered within the norms due to the laid back nature of the park. People are there to have fun, therefore what is acceptable in a picture besides just standing there and smiling is more lenient. By flashing the camera, I violated the norm that is implied since Six Flags is a family park where children of all ages can be roaming around and could have possibly seen what I did. Flashing a camera is racy enough, as it is sexual in nature which in our society is flexible in some instances, but still taboo in such a public place like Six Flags. The norm we have concerning what is acceptable in public as far as exposing certain parts of the body helps keep society a family friendly environment. It is seen as important because if that norm was not in place, we would be walking around with people’s private parts hanging out exposed all the time. I was expecting to be kicked out of the park as punishment for my deviant behavior, but all that I got was a few shameful looks and stares. People’s reaction went exactly how I thought it would. Immediate shock and surprise was the initial reaction I witnessed from bystanders. I saw a few people’s jaw drop, many people’s eyes widened like a deer’s in headlights. People walking by stopped in their step for a quick second to try to see what was going on. Their reaction was