Social Norm
Violating the Social Norm of What Constitutes a FamilyDescription of the norm you chose to violate and why you chose it One of the most commonly accepted social norms in contemporary American society is the supposition that every family functions as a secure unit. In this unit, the parents are supposed to be the primary social authority over their children. The children are assumed to be under the control of their parents, and their parents provide the children with guidance and wisdom. According to this ideal, childhood progresses to adulthood in a sort of orderly succession, with the child assuming more and more adult-like behavior, slowly, when they are ready for new responsibilities. Child supervision is a private affair of the parents, and is not subject to the control of the state. A norm is not necessarily a legally codified entity. Many families can exist outside of this social norm of the nuclear, in-control family, and many families are unhappy, contrary to the accepted social norm. The laws of society may support the norm, such as the existence of a juvenile court system, the legal definition of a 'runaway' that does not exist for adults and only for juveniles, and the concept of 'in loco parentis,' or a
Her friends were her family, not me, in her viewpoint, even though from my perspective, my behavior towards her had remained unchanged. The Internet and new technology makes it easier for teens to be independent from their families, even while they are still living in their parent's homes and are dependant upon their parents for support. This was an ideal that I came in conflict with, when my defiant daughter was eventually placed under the control of the state's Department of Social Services (DSS) for six months in a halfway house. Now, my daughter is home again, having lost one year of high school, many of her old friends, and she is in probation. The norm of a family is a combination of legal and cultural ideals. Thoughts about how your research illustrates the sociological concepts of norms and sanctions. The idea that 'if it could happen to my child it could happen to their child' was incomprehensible, therefore I must be at fault as a mother. The parent-child bond, of authority and dependence was further transgressed when my daughter ran away and could not be found for a period of twenty-five days. The norm that parents always must and can control their child's behavior is made more difficult to adhere to, given recent technology. Communication had broken down between the two of us even before she left the house. In terms of how norms and sanctions offer a basis to evaluate culture, I believe that current social norms do not take into consideration the fact that teenagers, more and more, are influenced by their friends rather than by their parents. Teenage culture seems to be a separate influence upon young person's lives, and come into conflict with family bonds.
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Acceptance Essays
