Report on Breaking Social Norms: Sociology Introduction Assignment

This sociology report details an incident where a student intentionally broke a social norm in a male-dominated society by driving a car, a practice prohibited for women in certain regions. The report aims to analyze the reactions of people and the biases that led to the norm. The student describes the setting, the incident itself, and the feelings experienced, highlighting the astonishment and disapproval from the public. The report emphasizes the desire for equal treatment and challenges the gender bias prevalent in society. The student's actions are framed as an attempt to initiate change and demonstrate women's capabilities. The report also includes a list of references supporting the analysis of social norms, gender bias, and societal reactions.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Executive summary
The report enumerates an incident which was being undertaken in order to break a social norm
that governed the systems. In order to prove the biasness of the norm, the action was being
undertaken. The main aim of the report is to understand the situation at which the norm was
broken and the reaction of the people.

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Table of Contents
Statement of the issue......................................................................................................................3
Expected reaction of the people.......................................................................................................3
Setting of the place..........................................................................................................................3
The incident.....................................................................................................................................4
Feelings............................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Statement of the issue
In many parts of the world, women are underestimated of their capabilities (Mueller,
Melwani & Goncalo, 2012). The male dominated society has resulted to the portrayal of certain
sections of biasness (Baumgartner et al., 2012) . At certain parts of the world, there are norms
which prohibit women to drive a car (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2014). It might sound ridiculous, but
it is true. In the Arabian countries the similar kinds of norms governs the society (Killen et al.,
2013). Therefore, I took the initiative of breaking it by driving a car myself.
Expected reaction of the people
The norm that I broke sprung up reactions that specifically portrayed that I perhaps had
committed a blasphemy. The reaction was astonishing, as they looked astounded and
mesmerized by the audacity that I could show by breaking the norm. It was as though I was the
reason for the degradation of their society and the culture they were into.
A steady reaction of the people and the protest could have brought me into trouble as I
went against the norms of the society in order to feel myself as a free entity, not subdued by the
male dominated society. The male candidates of the society looked at me as though I was trying
to snatch the power out of them and the women looked at me as though they pitied me.
Setting of the place
I was returning from a date with my boyfriend, when I suddenly thought of driving the
car. We got out of the restaurant and when he was going to take his seat as the driver, I forcibly
snatched the keys out of his hands and went ahead with the gears. The place was filled with

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visitors of the restaurant, tourists and people belonging to the place. The people were making
their visit to the hotel when the incident took place. In order to make it simpler, the security
guards of the hotel and the guests of the restaurant were the witness of the incident. Some of the
peddlers were also present in the setting.
The incident
The incident took place at the front of the restaurant where I and my boyfriend went for a
date later that evening. As we came out of the restaurant, I felt a sudden surge of driving the car,
which was prohibited in the nation. The people looked at me as though I have performed a
blasphemy by driving a car in a male dominated nation.
Feelings
I felt like I had conducted a revolution to bring about the change in the mentality and the
outlook of the people. I undertook this action in order to portray the capabilities of the females
and thereby prove that female candidates are no less than the male ones. Therefore, I desire an
equal treatment. I felt in this manner because of the issues that the female has to face in a male
dominated society is huge. It seems like the freedom is being subdued by the manacles that never
seem to break apart. The people reacted in the same manner as was expected. It was because they
were not accustomed with the very sight of a lady driving a car. The assignment has helped me
in understanding the different forms of biasness that are prevalent in the society and the people
misinterpret them as the norms.

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References
Baumgartner, T., Götte, L., Gügler, R., & Fehr, E. (2012). The mentalizing network orchestrates
the impact of parochial altruism on social norm enforcement. Human brain mapping,
33(6), 1452-1469.
Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (2014). Reducing intergroup bias: The common ingroup identity
model. Psychology Press.
Killen, M., Rutland, A., Abrams, D., Mulvey, K. L., & Hitti, A. (2013). Development of intra‐
and intergroup judgments in the context of moral and social‐conventional norms. Child
Development, 84(3), 1063-1080.
Mueller, J. S., Melwani, S., & Goncalo, J. A. (2012). The bias against creativity: Why people
desire but reject creative ideas. Psychological science, 23(1), 13-17.

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