Positive Deviance in Public Social Interaction: An Analysis of Unsolicited Compliments to Strangers
Overview
This paper analyzes a personal act of positive deviance wherein the author approached two strangers in public spaces and offered genuine, unsolicited compliments. The paper evaluates how this behavior violated the social norm of 'civil inattention' while demonstrating positive deviance as a form of over-conformity to values of kindness and politeness.
What this reflection paper covers
- Definition of deviance and positive deviance using Conley's theoretical framework
- Description of two incidents involving compliments given to strangers at a bus stop and campus quad
- Analysis of social reactions from recipients and bystanders as evidence of norm violation
- Examination of positive deviance as culturally relative behavior in American urban environments
Preview
An Act of Positive Deviance
In You May Ask Yourself, Dalton Conley refers to deviance as any violation of socially established norms. All deviant acts are associated with three factors: expectation (the norm), breach of that norm, and a social response that legitimizes that breach has taken place (Ch. 6). Positive deviance happens when an individual overconforms to a norm in a manner believed to be disruptive, although the act is morally or ethically good. The paper evaluates a scenario where I was able to do a repeated positive deviance where I approached two strangers in a public social environment and gave them an honest, unsolicited compliment on how they looked.
The social norm I violated is “civil inattention,” the widely understood informal rule that strangers in public spaces should politely ignore one another to maintain personal space and avoid unwanted interaction. In the many urban and campus environments, individuals do not look at each other or talk to strangers unless there is a necessity and would never start with personal remarks (Banks et al., 2020). I openly defied this norm of non-engagement with strangers by walking up to them and making certain compliments.
The initial victim was a young lady who was waiting at a bus stop near a local campus. I said, “I hope this doesn’t sound weird, but your coat is such a beautiful color; it really brightens up this gray day.