Social Deviance Project

When we first read the prompt for this assignment our first initial question was, “Well what is a deviance project?” According to Conley, deviance “takes the form of blatant-rule breaking or lawlessness”, which to us it meant that deviance is an act in which someone is breaking the rules (or social norms in this case), and also being inconsiderate of the laws that are being broken ( p. 193). Once we all understood what a deviance was we discussed what types of deviances we could do around our families and within our communities without crossing too many boundaries. We talked about approaching people in parking lots and talking to them, and we discussed wearing socks or outfits that are typically considered out of the normal. We ultimately decided on mis-phrasing Merry Christmas, a catchy saying that we normally hear around this time of year. Instead of hearing our typical Merry Christmas we would be deviants and say “Christmas Merry.” Each member would individually tell people Christmas Merry. We could make the statement to family, friends, coffee baristas, cashiers from merchants we were buying items from, or others. We excluded any one that we worked with unless we were also friends with our coworkers and were at lunch, for example, away from work. We would randomly say the statement as many times as we wanted during the week and record the observations. We hypothesized going into this project that the reactions we’d receive would be those of confusion, anger, frustration, and then hopefully some happiness. Our experiment would be based on the reactions of our family, and people we would come into contact with between Thanksgiving week, November 17th-25th, 2017. In their own words, our group members will now share their experience and results.Brianna’s recording-After leaving the bookstore where my group met last Sunday I drove across town and I went to visit my best friend. When I walked into the kitchen of my best friends house I noticed

her mom working on some school work, and I suddenly remembered that my friend’s mom was going to school to learn English. In that moment I decided Blanca, my best friend’s mom would be the first person I would experiment on. I remember Conley stating “That sociology is among the most difficult sciences of all.”, and that is the thought I had as I conducted my first experiment (p. 73). I quickly said Christmas Merry as I walked past her to my best friend’s room. For a second I thought she wouldn’t have a reaction to what I had said, and for a moment I felt defeated. She looked up a minute later and said “Que dijiste?! Que no es Merry Christmas Brianna?!”, which roughly translates to “What did you say?” Isn’t it supposed to be Merry Christmas, Brianna?” She was so confused and worried, and I quickly responded and said “Oh, you’re right!” I then wondered if she was experiencing culture shock. According to Conley switching, or in this case learning about a new culture “Can induce feelings of confusion and anxiety caused by not knowing what words, signs, and other symbols mean.” (p. 83). She then told me that I should wait till after Thanksgiving to wish people a Merry Christmas, because now she was going to stress out about Christmas gifts. I laughed. As I continued to walk to my best friend’s room I bumped into her sister and I said Christmas Merry to her as well. She rolled her eyes at me and said “Whatever joke you’re playing, it’s not funny.” I thought it was funny that both Blanca, and Sandra were bothered by my mis-phrasing. On Thanksgiving we gathered with the rest of my dad’s family at my aunt’s house. The women helped set the table while the guys watched soccer. At around 6 pm the plates were served and all twenty three of us were gathered around the table. My aunt said a prayer, and then my uncle gave a prayer. I decided in this moment that it was do or die. As my uncle finished his prayer I exclaimed “And Christmas Merry everyone,” and I quickly shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes in my mouth. I suddenly heard “What the fadoodle Brianna, you just ruined

both of the prayers.”, and “What are you doing, what is your problem why can’t you let us get through dinner without talking about Christmas.” Then I heard, “Merry Christmas Brianna” coming from my four-year-old sister, it was obvious that she aware of how I had phrased my expression. I looked over at both of my parents who both shook their heads in unison, they both knew that they raised me to speak up when I needed to. I wondered if they were bothered by the saying, or if they were bothered by my timing. I thought back to Dr. Chaps lecture on Families and thought of the relationship I had with my parents and “how much parents talk to children influence how children turn out in terms of verbal ability,” (slide 80). After everyone stared at me for a couple minutes everyone finally dug in. I think that my family found my timing more of a deviance than the saying itself. I think it might be because English is a second language to most of my dad’s family, so they might not have noticed the mix up in words. Meloney’s recording- The first time I made the statement was in the evening and my two daughters, age 24 and 18, were at the kitchen table doing their homework. Nonchalantly, I told them “Christmas Merry.” My daughters looked up briefly, but did not show too much reaction. This was the reaction I had predicted that they would show. After about an hour I and said the statement again. There was a longer stare at me the second time I said the statement. Within in a half-hour I repeated the statement. This time both girls said “Mom, what are you doing”?” I replied nothing and walked away. I repeated the statement two more times during the evening, By the last time both girls were getting a little agitated and exclaimed to me, “Mom, what in the WORLD is this “Christmas Merry?” I just replied that it was nothing. It was starting to be funny to me, which surprised me, and also the girls’ slightly agitated response was a surprise to me.

I waited about two more days before I said the statement again. This time they were on their phones looking at something. I thought that they would not pay any attention to the statement. I was wrong! They said it was annoying, what is going on, Thanksgiving has not happened yet, and you are going around saying things about Christmas. Traditionally in my family, we don’t start our Christmas festivities until the day after Thanksgiving. My younger daughter likes to play Christmas music the day after Christmas; she will not break that tradition and start sooner. I said the statement a couple more times that day. By the evening they were getting upset and told me to “Stop, Mom, this is getting very annoying.” I couldn’t believe their reactions! I would go to the other room and start laughing. They asked