Explain who else might benefit from these social norms and how.

Explain who else might benefit from these social norms and how.
Provide a suggestion as to how the social norm might be successfully challenged.
Draw comparisons between the social norms and beneficiaries indicated for your classmate’s issue and those indicated for the issue you selected.
I choose Autism as my social issue
1. The social issue I had selected was obesity. We determine obesity by our body mass index (BMI). A BMI exceeding 30kg/m² is put in the obese category. We also use waist circumference when determining obesity. A waist greater than 40 inches in men or 35 inches in a nonpregnant female is also categorized in the obese category.
A social norm linked to obesity is what we call the “clean your plate club” this means exactly what it says, to clean your plate when eating. I know growing up, no matter if I was with my parents or a relative house, they always told me to finish my food. Many of us were told this growing up. Eating patterns are developed in childhood. As a child, it was expected of you to finish all your food, then that eating pattern will follow you into adulthood “behavior is learned by interacting with close friends and family members” (No Author 2016). Parents even reward a child who finishes their food with sweet treats. I also like to briefly mention that the portion sizes here in the United States are so much bigger than anywhere else. It is also socially acceptable to the amount of convenient fast-food we Americans consume. Let alone now we have food delivery services that are become more and more popular. To put this in perspective, one gets on their mobile device or another form of electronic, they pick out a restaurant and order food that will be hand-delivered to them at a set time and place. It has been embedded in them that they finish all the food they had ordered and once finished, it is acceptable to reward themselves with a sweet treat.
I feel the only ones who truly benefit from these norms are the food and delivery companies. Challenging the clean your plate club could help anyone who still follows this practice. One should stop eating once they feel full, not when their plate is clean. If we could get parents to practice this and cut out fewer fast-food meals in their child’s diets, it could help prevent childhood obesity and create better-eating patterns. Childhood obesity tends to follow into adulthood, and if we can help lower childhood obesity, it could help lower adulthood obesity.
References:
No Author. (2016). Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/sociology-understanding-and-changing-the-social-world

2. The social issue that I selected in Week 1 was Alcohol use. Alcohol consumption is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. Some of the potential problems for those in the drinkers environment include mental health problems, injuries, and social problems.
People enjoy the benefits of alcohol for a number of reasons such as it’s taste, belonging with friends, and the sense of identity. Norms for drinking alcohol is celebrations, commiseration, and the end of the work day. Alcohol is very important in society especially in many cultures and social influences. Drinking alcohol is found in a study that social motives partially mediated the relationship between descriptive norms and consumption. This makes sense as individuals who believe those around them drink high levels of alcohol are more likely to consume more alcohol themselves if they are social drinkers. Men are two times most likely to binge drink than women. So, approximately 22% of men report binge drinking and on average do so five times a month and then consuming eight drinks per binge.

References

No author. (2016). Sociology: Understand and Changing the Social World. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/sociology-understanding-and-changing-the-social-world
https://www.sciencedirect.com

References to use:

Readings
No Author. (2016). Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/sociology-understanding-and-changing-the-social-world
Chapter 3, “Culture”
3.2. “Elements of Culture” (pp. 77-81, up to “Values”)
Chapter 7, “Deviance, Crime, and Social Control”
7.2. “Explaining Deviance” (p. 209 – Table of Sociological Perspectives of Deviance)
Media
Arab News. (2018, June 23). Saudi Arabia lifts ban on women driving [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob4POZPgMLk
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 3 minutes.
Also note: Closed captioning is available on this video.
Sociology Live! (2015, November 6). Labeling theory [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHSvZZ1pnm0
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 5 minutes.
Also note: Closed captioning is available on this video.
TEDx Talks. (2010, November 9). TEDExChCh – Linh Do – Defying social norms for social change [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32GPv32hkHE
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 11 minutes.
Also note: Closed captioning is available on this video.

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