Culture and Socialization - Essay Example

There is no easy way to break this ice because the elevator ride would be finished in a matter of few seconds therefore a comfortable silence is certainly one of the acceptable ways to handle the situation. At the same time, it seems inappropriate to make other people in the elevator a party to a conversation between two friends therefore it can be observed that the second rule is adhered to as well. More importantly however, the elevator is often a confined space which puts people in close proximity with each other and that is an invasion of private space.

However a distance of 2-3 feet can be established in a reasonably sized elevator therefore people would probably try to give each other as much personal space as possible to avoid invading that personal space. Individuals in the same elevator may be aware of each other’s presence but it seems like they are completely ignoring the presence since there is little or no eye contact once a person getting on to the elevator has found a spot for him/herself. Since they are not looking at each other, they follow the fifth rule to look at the top of the door with the floor marker which could also add to the illusion of space within the elevator since there is often no one to block the view to the top of the door.

Social norms give us the means and examples of behavior in situations which may not have codified laws for conducting ourselves. Carspecken (1996) uses the example of elevator behavior to show how norms work in western society and suggests that while behavior in close proximity with strangers can be explained in terms of meanings, norms is a better term because it is related to the word normal, i.e. normal expected behavior which is agreed upon by the rest of the social setup in a given location.

Carspecken goes on to write that norms are, “certain modes of acting