The society we live in today contains norms that people abide by even without realizing it. Societal norms help individuals to continue to stay accepted in the social society throughout their lives (Miller & Prentice, 2016) . Norms define how individuals should behave following what the culture defines as good, right, and essential, whereby it becomes the duty of every member to adhere to them. There are two major types of norms; formal norms that are written. For example, the workers' guidelines, examinations entrance requirements in colleges, among others. Informal standards which are unexpected behaviors that are generally and broadly conformed to (Miller & Prentice, 2016) . Individuals in the society are believed to must have learned informal norms either by imitation, socialization, or even through general observations. For that instance, I choose to violate the dress code for attending a funeral.
As it is the norm of the society, dressing code color is usually black trousers and white shirts for men, and black skirts and white blouses or black dress for Ladies. I choose to take a walk to the cemetery and attend one of the funerals of a non-relative, with a blue suit. I wore a checked shirt of green and yellow, and a blue tie, and instead of wearing a hut, I decided not to wear any. I choose the dressing norm at a funeral since I would like to retain my cover from the people who know me. Also, I wanted to have the real picture of sincerity in other multitudes reaction over my dress code. On arrival, I walked straight to the congregation with flowers in my arms, just like any other person who knew the deceased would do.
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My behavior in the dressing violates the norm since society believes that black and white are signs of mourning. Everyone in the congregation was in black; therefore, I appeared odd. This behavior is not taught anywhere, but it is socially assumed that individuals have learned through social interactions. To make it worse, the last person to arrive sits at the back, but for me, there were empty seats like three or so in the middle, and I just walked straight to seat down. The reaction came at the time of paying the last respect when no one came back to the seat where I was, and I remained sitting alone. What I encountered from the time I was walking in was a stiff staring at me from everyone, their faces Dumbfounded. You could tell from the look at the faces that I did not belong among them. I had a hard time being alone, and no one dared to be associated with me.
According to Durkheim's theory of deviance, declaring a behavior as good or bad creates a clear boundary of what society deems right. Society norms exist when one deviates from the routine since the community does not designate what is unacceptable. It is through that uniformity in what the society deems right that unites people, solidifies group ties, and also beliefs about morality (Downes, Rock, & McLaughlin, 2016) . Regarding Durkheim's theory of deviance, clothing color is related to different events. Each color the society has identified it with various activities, although they are never written as a norm or taught. Wearing black in the funeral could not have raised any concern among people, but only through the color of my clothes, I was identifiable and secluded by the group. I remained odd in the group, and everyone believed I knew that color matters to be identified with mourners or as a sign of mourning. Therefore, it became a letdown when I wore a different color, standing out from the rest.
Reference
Miller, D. T., & Prentice, D. A. (2016). Changing norms to change behavior. Annual review of psychology , 67 , 339-361.
Downes, D., Rock, P. E., & McLaughlin, E. (2016). Understanding deviance: a guide to the sociology of crime and rule-breaking . Oxford University Press.
