THE STRUCTURE BREAKER

            Richard J. Gelles states in his reading "Though a Sociological Lens: Social and Family Violence"  that, "Those who seek simple answers and simple solutions will fine little of value in the sociological perspective. I really begining to understand that concept . This Science is far more complex then what it seems, as we will see in my little experiment I had planned to see what happens when we break the chains of our sociological structure.

            On my way home from school, I usually take the bus after getting off the train, but today, I waited across the street and observed people as they waited for the bus. Then when the bus pulled up, I would go up and jump to the front of the line, and then document the reactions of those waiting in line.  I wanted to observe their body language, what they did while the waited, and in ultimately just observe their social behaviors. A lot of the times, we find ourselves in these every day ritual habits and they become so routine, that we never take the time to really observe what’s actually going on around us.

I figured, I would become the ethnomethodologist, and disrupt the norms in our everyday society, and get a laugh at the same time. Generally, the conventional thing to do when you approach a bust stop is to get in line, or linger around until the bus shows up. Imagine if there were no organizational structure or order in society, people, and people could just run up and skip the elderly, pregnant women, and children. Being raised in the Bronx, I know it doesn’t take much to get someone upset. Something like this could really get someone hurt in NY. Some might even say that it’s not a big deal with someone skipping them on a line, but after working a hard day, and going to school or work, I would take it personal after waiting in line for the bus, to have someone come up out of nowhere to jump in front of me, and everyone else for that matter.

On the first day, my observation was very, minimal and I didn’t get as much information as I intended to, but on the second day I had better success. Watching across the street, I observed people as they approached and spoke on their cell phones. The older women were forming in the front of the bus stop, it seemed as people were being respectful and the let the seniors gather towards the front of the line. Some parents were trying to keep their kids busy being they were so impatient.  The purpose of this observation is see what happens when you disrupt our regular social behavior and violate an unspoken rule, which is to wait on line like everyone else.

Eventually, the bus showed up and it was show time. As I began my journey across the street, my heart began to beat a little faster. So as I crossed the street and approached the bus stop, I Immediately walked up to the front of the line, and stood there, not even waiting for people to exit. I could feel eyeballs from everyone in each direction staring at me, like the nerve of this dude. ( I was told not to do anything that would get me in trouble, but I figured, I should be able to handle myself if something The first to say something to me was a West Indian lady, and she told me, “Who the blood clot do you think you are”, while another lady was saying, “Hey, the line starts back there.”  I found it odd that none the men, or the teenagers said nothing, but clearly I definitely were getting people upset. Anyway, I stared straight ahead like I hear nothing. I could still hear people cursing me out, but I still never turned my head.  Once the people exiting kind of pushed their way through, I rushed onto the bus, putting my metro card in the machine, and then I dashed to a seat. I felt like a little kid for some reason. This was where things really got interesting, because I could now see the faces of all the people I pissed off boarding the bus, one by one, and it looked like they all wanted to choke me. But to add insult to injury, as soon as the bus pulled off, I rung the bell, and got off at the next stop, which was like two blocks away. As I got off the bus, I could hear a couple of A__ wholes thrown my direction.

Ultimately I found that no one approached me with nay physical assaults, so I felt the experiment was a success. It also shows that without organizational structure, our lives would be chaotic. Without structure and in our culture, people would do whatever they want leaving no boundaries for any consequences that may follow. I mean in NY, I know of people getting shot for less. This structure is what holds our society together, and allows us to function in a orderly fashion.