Micro-sociology focuses on people and their interactions with one another. The focus of micro-sociology is between a social system and the human creation within it. We as people then tend to give it value. We see how it is applied to our everyday lives by observing human behavior and applying it to interpret a specific situation. By applying it to interpret a specific or certain situation, we can observe how micro-sociology looks at smaller interactions between people rather than the interaction of a larger group (ex: society). Individuals act a certain or specific ways based upon their environment, and thus act in different behaviors for different situations.
Humans portray two types of behavior: front stage and back stage. We tend to have different roles when we interact with different people. With front stage behavior, we can show how we present ourselves to particular audiences. Front stage also characterizes what other people see from the outside. For example, if I were a professor at a University, my front stage behavior would be professional on the outside and inside. Back stage behavior is what we choose for people to actually see, such as personal characteristics that not everyone gets to see. Back stage behavior applies for behavior we typically hide and only let certain people see or know about it.
People tend to act accordingly to different situations based on the current event, location, and what is typically considered to be “acceptable” or “normal” for that situation. When something is identified outside of the acceptable “norm” (the disruption of a norm), then individuals or societies can have trouble reacting to the behavior. A clear example I can identify is the “flash mob” we did as a class on Thursday in Student Center East inside of the inner circle. The class arrived at different times and sat all around the entire room to begin the flash mob bird-calling experiment. The flash mob began with a student (the leader) calling out a birdcall for the class to respond to. Once we all heard the signal, everyone took individual turns calling out birdcalls and noises that went on for about 15 minutes in total. The inner circle was chosen as our meet location because that is a well-known area where students take breaks, eat lunch, and do homework assignments on a daily basis. The inner circle is also the front stage location where disrupting the norm can be easily identified. The norm consists of people socializing, eating, etc.; in which no one ever expects for people to call out random bird sounds to each other.
During our class experiment of the flash mob, I noticed several different reactions from the other students and facility. At the very beginning of the flash mob not many students noticed the bird calls at first-they mostly assumed it was going to be a one time thing simply for laughter. Some students were wondering where the noises were coming from. Towards the middle when the noises became louder and more obvious, students either thought it was funny or were just annoyed at us. Two girls walked past my table and shouted “grow up” because they thought we were doing it as a prank out of immaturity. Another pair of students laughed and said, “look what you guys started”, thinking we started it to gain attention from other people. Other students walked past yelling, “real mature” and “what the f***?”, walking away very confused. The overall experiment of the flash mob disrupted the social norm and the student’s sense of what is normal, thus proving that when the norm is disrupted, individuals act accordingly to their social setting or location.
Humans portray two types of behavior: front stage and back stage. We tend to have different roles when we interact with different people. With front stage behavior, we can show how we present ourselves to particular audiences. Front stage also characterizes what other people see from the outside. For example, if I were a professor at a University, my front stage behavior would be professional on the outside and inside. Back stage behavior is what we choose for people to actually see, such as personal characteristics that not everyone gets to see. Back stage behavior applies for behavior we typically hide and only let certain people see or know about it.
People tend to act accordingly to different situations based on the current event, location, and what is typically considered to be “acceptable” or “normal” for that situation. When something is identified outside of the acceptable “norm” (the disruption of a norm), then individuals or societies can have trouble reacting to the behavior. A clear example I can identify is the “flash mob” we did as a class on Thursday in Student Center East inside of the inner circle. The class arrived at different times and sat all around the entire room to begin the flash mob bird-calling experiment. The flash mob began with a student (the leader) calling out a birdcall for the class to respond to. Once we all heard the signal, everyone took individual turns calling out birdcalls and noises that went on for about 15 minutes in total. The inner circle was chosen as our meet location because that is a well-known area where students take breaks, eat lunch, and do homework assignments on a daily basis. The inner circle is also the front stage location where disrupting the norm can be easily identified. The norm consists of people socializing, eating, etc.; in which no one ever expects for people to call out random bird sounds to each other.
During our class experiment of the flash mob, I noticed several different reactions from the other students and facility. At the very beginning of the flash mob not many students noticed the bird calls at first-they mostly assumed it was going to be a one time thing simply for laughter. Some students were wondering where the noises were coming from. Towards the middle when the noises became louder and more obvious, students either thought it was funny or were just annoyed at us. Two girls walked past my table and shouted “grow up” because they thought we were doing it as a prank out of immaturity. Another pair of students laughed and said, “look what you guys started”, thinking we started it to gain attention from other people. Other students walked past yelling, “real mature” and “what the f***?”, walking away very confused. The overall experiment of the flash mob disrupted the social norm and the student’s sense of what is normal, thus proving that when the norm is disrupted, individuals act accordingly to their social setting or location.