In light of the circumstances surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, and the necessity for practicing social distancing, I recognize that some students do not have an easy way to conduct a breaching experiment – whether due to limited contact with others or cramped conditions at home (nothing like violating norms around your loved ones while trapped together).
In light of this, I am offering an alternative assignment which addresses the concepts explored in Garfinkel’s Studies in Ethnomethodology. If you have cannot complete “Assignment 3: Into the Breach”, you are welcome to either complete this instead.
At this time in our lives, we are experiencing a mild form of anomie, or the breakdown of social norms or the disruption/violation of the expected habituated social flow of interactions (as in Garfinkel and TSCOR).
In other words, our experiences could be understood as a societal-level/macro-level breach in social norms. So in lieu of conducting a breaching experiment, you are invited to write a sufficiently detailed yet sociologically considerate – reflection about your experiences during the ongoing pandemic. This could be in the form of:
A retrospective re-examination of a norm-violating event youve experienced
An internal reflection on the experience of violating standard greeting/social distance norms (perhaps for the first time in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak)
A reflection on social norms violated “during stay-at-home” orders in relation to the whole household being present
The general idea, though, is to consider the framework of social order as proposed by Garfinkel and Berger & Luckmann, and the violations of this framework that occur in your everyday life as related to the COVID-19 outbreak. In this sense, you are a socio-clinician examining the standard social model of social order in relation to the experience of it under voluntary/involuntary lockdowns. And remember, as a sociologist, you are both a social individual and an observer.
Your response should be in the form of an essay:
1-2 pages
12-pt Times New Roman Font
1 inch page margins
