While thinking of how to best come up with socially unacceptable experiments, I thought of how best to confuse people in normal, everyday situations. In order to have a successful breaching experiment, I wanted to have the effect to be baffling for the other party, while I continued to keep calm and collected, like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. After brainstorming with friends for a while it came to us, order foods at restaurants that would not be considered on the menu. We would go in a group and order like nothing had gone wrong. It would be interesting to see how fast the workers called to the fact that I had ordered something completely wrong and not on their menu.
First we wanted to go to a fast food chain, then to a more mom and pop place to judge and compare their reactions. The fast food chain that happened to be chosen was McDonald’s on S Blue Island Ave. We walked in and waited in a line, which was definitely long enough for us to normally make up our minds about what to get. I had decided on what to get; A pepperoni pizza slice. When I got up to the counter and placed my order, the man stared at me for a second, looked down as to see where to put that into the register, then made a quick glance around him to see if another co-worker had heard what I had said. “What was that again?” he asked, and I told him the same thing I had said before, “Pepperoni slice, and a medium coke.” “I’m sorry, we don’t carry that.” I tried to look appalled, and ordered a normal big mac and fries, ate, then left.
When looking for a more mom and pops store, we chose Carms Beef, a local hot dog and Italian ice joint to the UIC crowd. I acted just like I had acted at the McDonald’s, trying to confuse the person taking my order, all while acting like nothing was wrong. I was much harder here, as there is no real structure to the way food is ordered, and it’s not just one person you are talking to, to get your food. The burger flipper was listening also when I ordered a slice of pepperoni, and instead of being confronted by just the cashier, I had him onto me as well. These two just stared at each other for a second and much faster than the McDonald’s worker, told me flat out that I was crazy and that they didn’t serve pizza there. I was astounded at how fast they had called me out on that, but ordered it yet again. After that I was called crazy and told that they didn’t “have no pizza”, so, being embarrassed, I excused myself and ordered a hot dog with all the trimmings and left.
In Goffman’s work, Preservation of Self, he examines social interactions, looking for a way to explain why interactions like these don’t necessarily happen in society too often. In his work he compares society to a stage and calls all of the people actors. When interacting with others, we put on a front in which we show others only what we want them to see, not everything about us. We can use things like our clothes, expressions, and moods to hide things and make us seem like something we’re not. We know what’s expected of us in certain situations, and put on a performance of how others want us to act in these times. People just try to act this way as to not be embarrassed, which is exactly what Goffman says people become actors on world’s stage. People put on different faces to act with people and use scripts, which are seen as structures of communication. Goffman’s way of thinking clearly describes why things such as breaching experiments don’t happen every day. These actors on the stage of life don’t fall out of the scripts society has put in place for the “norms”, and if one braches from that script, it is seen as odd and people will look at you as if you are crazy.
Also, here’s a video of a quite funny breaching of social norms involving a Batman imposter in Toronto.
First we wanted to go to a fast food chain, then to a more mom and pop place to judge and compare their reactions. The fast food chain that happened to be chosen was McDonald’s on S Blue Island Ave. We walked in and waited in a line, which was definitely long enough for us to normally make up our minds about what to get. I had decided on what to get; A pepperoni pizza slice. When I got up to the counter and placed my order, the man stared at me for a second, looked down as to see where to put that into the register, then made a quick glance around him to see if another co-worker had heard what I had said. “What was that again?” he asked, and I told him the same thing I had said before, “Pepperoni slice, and a medium coke.” “I’m sorry, we don’t carry that.” I tried to look appalled, and ordered a normal big mac and fries, ate, then left.
When looking for a more mom and pops store, we chose Carms Beef, a local hot dog and Italian ice joint to the UIC crowd. I acted just like I had acted at the McDonald’s, trying to confuse the person taking my order, all while acting like nothing was wrong. I was much harder here, as there is no real structure to the way food is ordered, and it’s not just one person you are talking to, to get your food. The burger flipper was listening also when I ordered a slice of pepperoni, and instead of being confronted by just the cashier, I had him onto me as well. These two just stared at each other for a second and much faster than the McDonald’s worker, told me flat out that I was crazy and that they didn’t serve pizza there. I was astounded at how fast they had called me out on that, but ordered it yet again. After that I was called crazy and told that they didn’t “have no pizza”, so, being embarrassed, I excused myself and ordered a hot dog with all the trimmings and left.
In Goffman’s work, Preservation of Self, he examines social interactions, looking for a way to explain why interactions like these don’t necessarily happen in society too often. In his work he compares society to a stage and calls all of the people actors. When interacting with others, we put on a front in which we show others only what we want them to see, not everything about us. We can use things like our clothes, expressions, and moods to hide things and make us seem like something we’re not. We know what’s expected of us in certain situations, and put on a performance of how others want us to act in these times. People just try to act this way as to not be embarrassed, which is exactly what Goffman says people become actors on world’s stage. People put on different faces to act with people and use scripts, which are seen as structures of communication. Goffman’s way of thinking clearly describes why things such as breaching experiments don’t happen every day. These actors on the stage of life don’t fall out of the scripts society has put in place for the “norms”, and if one braches from that script, it is seen as odd and people will look at you as if you are crazy.
Also, here’s a video of a quite funny breaching of social norms involving a Batman imposter in Toronto.