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Participant Observation Paper
I decided to carry out a socially deviant act by going to several fast food restaurants that were relatively empty (with plenty of available seating) and sitting at someone else’s table to eat. ... I classified the data as follows: 1= Participant did not mind my presence / let me stay. 2= Participant minded my presence / let me stay. 3= Participant minded my presence / told me to leave or left. 4= Participant wanted to attack me! ... As I carried out my deviant act on different sexes and different races I quickly began to see that for the most part, people are very adamant about there personal space and their possession of a particular area (in this case the table) at a particular time, especially when food is involved. ... According to Vandenburgh, studying deviance from usual behavior provides for some of the most fascinating studies and with that, I must agree. ... In the end, the most common reaction fell under category # 3 (Participant minded my presence / told me to leave or left.) If I was sitting back and watching someone do what I was doing, my first guess would be that the person was either crazy or mentally challenged which would fall under the newer views of positivism which believe that genetics are solely responsible for deviant acts. ... For example, if we had all been in a group that was performing an “ice breaking” exercise my behavior would by no means be considered deviant or out of the norm, on the contrary, I would be deviant by not mingling with complete strangers and quite possibly be labeled as “anti-social” or unfriendly. ... I realized this, as I sat down to think about a deviant behavior to act out and I had a very difficult time thinking out of the box, simply because I could not think of any “undeviant” behaviors (which is everything I do, on a day to day basis) with little, if any, thought at all.
Approximate Word count = 1365
Approximate Pages = 5.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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