Observation
5:00 am: Woke up, and went to take a shower then prepare to go to school.
7:00 am: Took breakfast and first interacted with my mother who had just served tea. She advised me to work hard in school, take care and stay out of trouble always
7:30 am: Joined by the rest of the family to take breakfast. We interact as we take breakfast while watching a certain morning television show.
8:00 am: Arrived at the bus stop.
8:30 am: Waiting with other passengers for the bus to arrive; purchased a chewing gum to make me relaxed as I wait for the bus while watching different types of cars passing by.
9:00 am: Arrived at the school gate, donated a few coins to a poor beggar at besides our school gate.
9:10 am: Arrived in class late, found the classes on and was denied to enter the class by the professor for being late.
10:00 am: Joined the class for the next lesson
1:00 pm: Went for lunch at the cafeteria with a new friend who had just joined our school. And took some food I have never eaten before that my new friend influenced me to take which I eventually like them so much.
2:00 pm: Got back to class in time to avoid being late again. Participated in group discussions in the class and made some presentations in front of the class.
5:00 pm: Left school for home by boarding a bus.
6:00 pm: Got stacked in the traffic jam for some time.
7:00 pm: Arrived at home, took supper that my mother had prepared.
8:00 pm: Watched a movie with my brother
10:00 pm: Retired to bed.
Application
Activities and experiences that we encounter in the course of our day are greatly shaped and limited by social norms. During our day, we interact with different types of people who influence our social norms such as behaviors (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). For instance, in my day my new friend influenced me with his eating behavior that I began eating his type of food. Another instance of social norm that was influenced by my day is when I arrived to class late and was denied to get to class for being late. Out of these experience, I realized the significance of keeping time and always to be in the right place and at the right time.
Discipline in school is another social norm that greatly shapes my day. To have a good and wonderful day in school, observing discipline and proper conduct is significant (Bicchieri, 2017). Discipline makes the day smooth and ensures a smooth transition between different activities. Discipline enhances interactions between students and professors in school thus contributing to a good and successful day.
Social norms such as gender roles cause significant impacts (Hechter & Opp, 2005). My day is significantly shaped by gender roles. For instance, my mother takes her active gender role by waking up early to prepare breakfast and meals for the family. Women are mandated to participate in roles such as preparing meals and general household duties while men are mandated to do manual and effort-involving duties.
Interactions with different types of people help in shaping the day. People’s interaction, determine how the day will be. Suppose the interaction is positive, the day will be a success but if the interaction is negatively conducted, the day will be bad (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). For instance, the interaction between my mother and me in the morning greatly facilitated to a wonderful day. This is because she was the first person to interact within the day and she encouraged me to behave well, stay out of trouble and work hard. This advice impacted my social norms positively thus facilitating a good day.
Impression management is another social norm that plays a significant role in ensuring a successful and good day (Giddens & Sutton, 2017). In my day, it is evident that I applied impression management. For instance, I participated in the class group discussion and presentation to impress my professor and myself as well. I also behave well both in school and at home so as to impress the professors and my parents.
Emotional management is applied in my day’s activities. Emotional management is significant in ensuring that personal emotions are managed in order to fulfill the emotional necessities of a job or activity (Hechter & Opp, 2005). I applied emotional management when making a class presentation and my fellow classmates were nagging me with a lot of difficult questions that I had to answer. I felt compelled and irritated by the questions, but I managed to control my emotions and answer all the questions fully in order to fulfill the duty assigned to me by the professor. Another instance of emotional management is the point whereby I was denied to get to the classroom by the professor for being late. I was very agitated when I was denied to get into the classroom but I managed to control my anger and obeyed the professor’s instructions.
A study by Cheung, Vivian and Mike (2018) suggest that emotional labor profiles change with time and relate significantly with to their occupational well-being. The occupational well-being of employees tends to differ a lot based on profiles. An article by Bourdage, Roulin, and Levashina (2017) implies that impression management has developed new trends and are actually attributed personal traits. Impression management has distinct antecedents and is engaged by individuals with different kinds of traits. The study suggests that impression management have variance when in used in interviews which is explained by the differing individual variability. Actually, it is determined that impression management relies on first impression which the applicant makes on the interviewer.
Reflection
The society played a major role in ensuring a successful day by influencing my social norms. I feel that society has taught me the significance of timekeeping; the importance of behaving well; patience; and emotional management. I have played significant roles in various ways that have impacted society’s social norms. I have impacted the society by conducting myself as per the code of conduct that is acceptable by society. Through such obedience, I have acted as an example to other people in the society that they can emulate my behavior and conduct since they conform to the accepted social norms. I have also impacted society by showing them that we should give and support the poor when I donated some money to the poor beggar at the gate of the school.
Essentially, social norms create order within the society. It is hard for a human society to coexist without social norms. People require norms for guiding them and directing their behavior. My day was a success due to these social norms as they guided me while predicting social relations and giving meaning and understanding to every action. Actually, society plays a major role in determining the fate of my day.