Counterculture Sources Essay

Sociology Discussion

There is a restaurant in New York City that is famous for its outlandish behavior. The servers are rude and obnoxious, they ridicule patrons, make them wait long periods to order and to get their checks, and spill drinks and food all over them. However, people wait in droves to get in to this restaurant; the line to enter is around the block. How does this restaurant (which clearly violates concepts of social control and norms) attract customers? Why are people drawn to those individuals that defy social norms? Why are people attracted to musicians, artists, writers, or those in countercultures that deviate from mainstream society? In your response, include the definitions of deviance, social control, and social norms, and include which social institutions are responsible for teaching social conformity to members of a culture.

The attraction of this restaurant is clearly that it defies and roils directly against the normal rules of decorum and candor in public settings. While some would be floored and offended by what goes on in this restaurant, there are others that thrive and enjoy people and situations that are against what is perceived to be socially acceptable and they would enjoy an area like this that allows them to be counter to what everyone else is doing.Most people conform to at least some degree if not completely while others do the precise opposite at every opportunity. The former would hate this restaurant although they might want a mindless escape but the latter would love this place. People that are against mainstream culture either refuse to be pigeonholed into a set of norms and/or they feel the system is based on lies and fakeness. For example, for all the piety that the Catholic Church espouses, many would point to the seemingly countless number of child sex offenses that are going on under their watch and by their own priests. That and other perceived or actual transgressions by the church have led to people engaging in behaviors that are viewed as sacrilegious and obscene including spitting out communion wine and defacing church property. It is also true that some people like to rebel just for rebellion's sake and they would also enjoy this restaurant. Beyond that, the sheer ridiculousness of the behavior and banter in the restaurant is shocking to some and this can actually lead to attraction to it rather than revulsion. Some people find such atypical and/or bizarre behavior as hilarious like passing gas in a library (a place known for enforced quietness) and so forth.

You have….....