Identifying norms in your surroundings
Practise your awareness of norms in society to get a better understanding of the experience of others.
Do the following
Take a limited time, a couple of days or a week, to look for norms in your surroundings. What norms do you find? Take notes of what you see.
What you can look for:
Jargon and jokes
How are people joking? Are the jokes made at someone’s expense? Can the choice of words or expressions be perceived as offensive?
Insults
What words and expressions are used in a derogatory way and at someone’s expense?
Communication climate
How allowing is the communication climate? Can you provide and receive feedback about jokes and expressions that someone was not okay with?
Small talk and social contexts
Who are involved in the conversation? What do you talk about? Who is talking about what, for example about emotions, sports, economy, family life or children?
In meetings
Does everyone get to speak? Is everyone listened to? Who takes notes? Who leads the meeting? How are the participants placed? Is everyone participating actively or are some taking the opportunity to work with other tasks? Is there room to ask questions if you do not understand?
Pictures, videos, and text
What do you see in advertisements, social media, and TV shows? Is there a representation and a diversity of gender, ethnicity, age, expressions, and different functional variations?
Reflect
Feel free to discuss with others of the norms you have found. Have you had any aha experience or become aware of norms that previously had not crossed your mind? Is there anything you wish would be different, and what can you do to make it happen?
