Question

A group of people is waiting to be helped at a customer service desk in a store. A woman in the waiting area suddenly clears her throat and spits on the floor. Everyone else in the room is taken aback and gives her horrified looks. How can this reaction be explained in sociological terms?

Answer 1

The woman who spit on the floor is not confirming to social norms that are shared by the other people in the room.

Step-by-step explanation:

Essentially, norms are prescriptions for how people should act in particular situations.

It is been explained that social norms are implicit and explicit rules of behavior that develop through interactions among members of a given group or society. All groups have established norms that tell members what they should and should not do under certain circumstances. When agreed to and accepted by the group, norms act as a means of influencing the behavior of group members with a minimum of external control.