Let me start off by telling you a story that happened to me the other day. On my way to uni I got on the usual train and carriage that I usually do. It happened to be one of those days where there were no seats that were completely available, some had bags on the seat, people were stretched out lying across seats and of course the one seat that has a spare spot but the guy on it looks heaps shady so you try and avoid it. Anyway, I decided to politely ask a lady if she could move her papers off a seat so I could turn it (avoiding sitting directly across from her) so my friend and I could sit down. She hesitantly moved her papers, whilst giving me a vicious look and then the most unexpected thing happens. I hadn’t even finished turning the seat when a lady barged into me out of nowhere sarcastically saying “thank you” and steals our seat!!! In shock, I just stood there thinking “WHAT THE HECK!?”, but in order to not make a scene I didn’t directly say anything to her.
Apart from me wanting to vent, why did I bother telling you this story? Well, it reminded me of this week’s topic of Social and Moral Order in Talk. I found it to be very similar to the previous topic of ethnomethodology, but somewhat a little more interesting through Weilman and his perspective on codes. Codes are the unwritten laws that seem just as important as federal laws, just that you can’t physically get thrown in jail if you break them. Referring back to my little scenario, I was quite dumbfounded by how the lady behaved in order to get the last remaining seat. Like, who does that?! Does she not know that it’s NOT NORMAL to push strangers out of the way when they were CLEARLY about to sit down. Especially making that sarcastic comment! I tried to stick to the social and moral order in talk by not telling her off right there and then, but it took a lot of restraining! Also, the lady who had her papers spread out obeyed the social codes by not arguing with me, when she clearly didn't want to move her stuff, but giving me that dirty look was a code where I could clearly get the message to what she was thinking.
A paper that I found interesting by Leeson & Coyne (2012), talks about how these social codes reflects the behaviours of society today and that yes, they are alterable, but it is highly recommended to not even go there! *nudge - lady who barged into me - nudge* Leeson & Coyne (2012) also talks about the various interpretations that society may have on these social codes, which Weilman also refers to. I am still in the process of interpreting what that lady was thinking when she thought it was okay ruin someone’s morning!
Here's a funny picture I found of the Social Codes of Men using the bathroom :)
My Comment for this Week!!!
Leeson, P. T., & Coyne, C. J. (2012). Wisdom, Altherability & Social Rules, Managerial & Decisional Economics, 33(5), 441-451.
Interesting take on the 'code' Julia, I had a similar experience when I caught a train in Japan once, the same sort of thing happened to me but I couldn't say anything at all as no one would understand me haha. Im sure that train etiquette all over the world is the same so why would someone break the code? Weird. I was interested to read the last line of your first paragraph as you said that you did not want to make a scene on the train, this means that you are following the 'code' that people do whilst on trains, even though someone else broke it. Good post!
ReplyDeleteThere must be some "no code" situations on trains or something haha Yeah, I was trying to stay in good face, when all I really wanted to do was shank her haha Thanks for the comment :)
DeleteThere does seem to be a lot of overlap between the weeks content and the ethnomethodology and social and moral order of talk overlapped more then most. A lot of the content was duplicated and seeing the fact that both had short lectures I think the topics could easily have been combined. Its nice to hear someone else comment on the similarities of the topics.
ReplyDeleteI was ready to shank the bitch! Nobody ruins my morning. I wonder if me talking loudly about how much of a cow she was broke the code? hmm...these are the questions that haunt me
ReplyDeleteI wonder if me stretching my legs onto her was an indication of my frustrations?
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