This week's assignment is to discuss how one's everyday behaviour is governed by norms, rather than persuing one's own interests in a rational manner, using an example from daily life.
I'd like to discuss the norm of queuing. This comes to my mind as I made a short trip by plane in the last couple of days, and we all know the production that flying is anymore. And it's an experience that is governed by both written rules (those of the government) and ad hoc social conventions. I'll discuss both.
Flying got a lot less fun since 9/11. Every few months there's some kind of terror threat that causes the rules and procedures of flying to be revised slightly. Some bastard tries to blow up a plane by lighting explosives in his shoes, so all shoes must be x-rayed and lighters are banned in both carry-on and checked luggage. Someone tries to do something else dastardly with toiletries, so now they may only be carried on board in less than 3 oz/100 mL quantities, in clear bags that must be examined separately. (you'd think the screeners'd never seen cocoa butter or shaving gel before)
These security-related changes are on top of those implimented by the airlines for reasons of economy, efficiency and style. There are hardly any agents anymore, one checks in at a kiosk while one agent overlooks to help with baggage and make sure everyone is helped. This is great when there are a few people who know what they're doing and the computers are working. But when there's a slow system day and a convention of grandmas from Kansas, the old fashioned way of an agent using the computer looks oddly appealing. ("I cain't figger this dang thang out! I don't know what mah con-fir-mation number is! Where the heyell is mah con-fir-mation number on this dang e-mail thang I got!")
And then there's weather. When it's good, it's great. When it's bad, you're going to be stuck sleeping on the floor in the airport. Or worse, trapped in a plane on the runway. Not much can be done about it, but it's a real source of trouble.
So, considering these issues, when you're in the airport, running desparately behind, and (critically) not sure how long it will take to get to your gate from the outside, why do you tolerate long queues behind grandmas with no computer skills, clueless people who haven't traveled since 1975 and security screeners who want you to practically strip naked, when storming the counter to get your ticket, queue-jumping at security and running like a maniac to the gate are much more efficient, rational ways to act. (They get you want you want with much less mental effort, if increased physical effort.) (oh, and if you knew the number of times I've almost lost my pants at a security checkpoint because I had to take my belt off....)
I think a major-part of not queue-jumping is the fact that we, in the US, are socialized to wait nicely in the queue (as our plane takes off without us on it) until our turn at the desk, checkpoint, whatever, has come. If you question this, take a packed 500 or 71D bus on Fifth Avenue some morning and watch the pushing and shoving and non-queuing of the Chinese and Indian students at CMU (and they're all Chinese or Indian)-- in their countries, they don't queue. If we in the US do queue-jump, that makes us rude and in the social wrong, even if you managed to get where you were going. So there's a social penalty for doing what's rational. Even your friends would chastize you for queue-jumping. (Not to mention being arrested by TSA at a security checkpoint for causing a distrubance, but that's a side point.)
This queueing business applies elsewhere: getting on/off buses, the frustrating experience of trying to get a coffee at Einstein's in less than 25 minutes at a class break, in stores (if you've ever been stuck at WalMart in line for two or three hours, you know what I'm talking about, while the cashiers gossip with each other and not pay any attention at all...) In many places elsewhere in the world (China, India, Africa), people really aren't fussed by queuing-- it's just a free-for-all til you get what you want. Maybe it's cultural, maybe it's because there are so many people in so little space, whatever, but that's how it is.
See, I promised you a RoW-related posting, hon. And yinz doubted me n'at.
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2 comments:
I say we start line jumping wherever we go. It'll be a social experiment. I wonder how long people would put up with it? If we started doing at Einsteins, right in front of our peers, would anyone say anything? Or would they be too embarassed to harass us since they know us? Would their desire to be polite outweigh our desire to be line-jumpers? Would the norm of politeness be a regulative norm?
And what if we jumped the line and got the last cups of coffee? Would your charm and my proclivity for crying my way out of trouble keep us from getting our asses kicked? Would our desire to jump line to make sure we get our coffee before everyone else make it all ok? Is this a constituative effect of norms since norms constitue interests, identities and actors?
Is the fact that my response to your post is in the form of multiple questions irritating? >;-) Is it a norm violation?
I'll be interested to see you try this little experiment and take notes on how it makes you feel. You may be surprised how strongly you've internalized this norm. It may be harder to break consistently than you think.
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