Social norms are informal rules that govern behavior in groups and societies. They touch almost every aspect of our lives.
Academics like to use this comparison to explain the concept: just as grammar is a set of regulations that governs the structure and organization of language, social norms regulate the structure and organization of people, and, again, just as grammar shapes how we communicate and understand language, social norms shape how we behave and interact with others.
Sociologists talk about social norms motivating people to act, economists explore how they influence market behavior, and legal scholars view them as alternatives to laws, and while their words make sense, if we deconstruct these systems enough, they can begin to look silly.
Recently, Reddit user Irish-Springs made a post on the platform, asking people to share what social norm they find pretty weird when they think about it, and it has already received over 5,300 comments, many of which raise some hilariously valid points.
#1
Paying tens of thousands of dollars to bury corpses in the ground.
Image credits: ieatsthapussy
#2
Women can show their whole breast just not the nipples.
Image credits: No_Gap_2134
#3
Working your a*s off for 65 years to then live for 10 years.
Image credits: maybetoomuchrum
#4
Clapping. We show appreciation by smacking our hands together to make a noise.
u/luvinthemiddle added:
High-fiveing yourself for someone else’s accomplishments!
Image credits: FrightenedOfSpoons
#5
People’s absolute horror about women breastfeeding in public.
Oh, I am sorry, Karen. I am giving my baby substance, not trying to attract your 12 year old son.
Image credits: KayD12364
#6
Asking a grown woman’s father for her hand in marriage. What?
Image credits: snydermann
#7
It’s baffling that only one gender is expected to wear make up and the other is discouraged. Just makes less sense the more that I think about it.
Image credits: NaiNaiGuy
#8
Circumcision is pretty wild. Cosmetic surgery on the genitals of a baby is pretty weird.
Image credits: BigMax
#9
Working 40 hours a week. It’s actually insane that we all put up with it.
Image credits: Clementinequeen95
#10
People expect you to get along with family (parents, siblings) even if they treat you like s**t.
Image credits: ODBrewer
#11
The expectation to have a huge wedding.
Image credits: asj0107
#12
Women are expected to be hairless-presenting.
Image credits: Ninithyemo
#13
The expectation of tipping for certain jobs, as a substitute for paying employees a higher wage.
Image credits: Keikobad
#14
Asking people how they’re doing as a matter of courtesy when you truly don’t care and are hoping they just say “good hbu” in response.
Image credits: TheMaskedSandwich
#15
Family asking if you’re trying for a child.
Image credits: EveRommel
#16
Needing the governments permission to be together and then also to break up.
Image credits: Vip3r237
#17
Having Constitutional rights when the justice system does not recognize them.
Image credits: _mattske
#18
Forcing people in their teens to decide on a career with the implication that they’ll do it for the rest of their life and sealing the deal by putting them into so much debt studying for said career that they’re pretty much enslaved to it.
Image credits: BedroomCactus
#19
Women pay way more than men for haircuts.
Image credits: Swimming_Stop5723
#20
Shaking hands (at least in America).
It’s gross. Most people have terrible hygiene or hand washing skills.
Image credits: reginafelangi123
#21
Gender reveal parties.
Image credits: Curious_Elephant_200
#22
Women being expected to legally change their last name for marriage.
Image credits: mattpeloquin
#23
Purses seem super useful. Why are men seemingly universally afraid to carry one of their own?
Image credits: Hungry_Treacle3376
#24
I could give you a pretty detailed list. But I think one of the most weird and detrimental to society is beauty standards and impossible looks and body types.
Image credits: daddyredneck80
#25
Having culturally pre-approved style options based solely around gender.
Image credits: Sporkitized
#26
Consuming milk from other animals and it is totally normal but mention consuming human milk by a non infant and you are crazy.
Image credits: MartoufCarter
#27
Grand gesture marriage proposals in public are embarrassing and weird.
#28
Everybody hates being sung happy birthday and everybody hates singing happy birthday, so what the hell are we doing here?
Image credits: funkyjiveturkey
#29
Balloons. Here’s a plastic sack of my breath. Happy birthday.
Image credits: stepdadsperm
#30
Forcing or encouraging a child to hug a family member that has known them since their birth but the child doesn’t have any sort of bond with said family member.
Image credits: WickedBasket2000
#31
Having listening devices hooked up to the internet in most homes.
Image credits: ButterEmails54
#32
Education should be fully free across the board. It makes 0 sense that a country would impoverish their own people rather than invest in a strong, educated and healthy population.
The ONLY reason that university costs money is to perpetuate social stratification. You could probably take 5% of the military budget and it would more than cover it.
Also, isn’t that what “free market” people always b***h about? That once people are rich they will give back and trickle down? Tax the 1% sell slightly more and you would have it paid for.
Germany has free education. It works just fine.
If you are smart and ambitious enough to attend a university, it should be fully state sponsored. The only reason people are against this, is that some kids who grew up rich and didn’t have to take out a mortgage to enter the rat race are jealous they don’t get to keep their advantage.
#33
Uniforms at work and I’m talking retail spaces. IMO Lowes has the right idea with a simple vest that says “I work here” but you can wear pants or shorts and a t-shirt so long as it isn’t offensive. Some freedom of expression helps in the day to day. Saying it’s gotta be our shirt (usually polo) and dress slacks is stupid and society doesn’t really give a s**t .
#34
Acquiring debt as soon as you’re an adult whether it be student loans, buying a car, or signing up for credit cards.
#35
Encouraging people to drink more alcohol. I’m guilty of it myself, ‘go on, just one more!’ Or I’ve bought shots for people who have said no, which then pressures them to drink it.
I didn’t see a problem with it until I saw a guy taking the p**s out of another guy for drinking alcohol free beer. Imagine being ok with being pressured to take drugs? It’s madness when I think about it.
#36
Blowing out birthday candles – basically blowing your germs all over cake you’re sharing with others.
#37
The topic of sex being generally taboo despite the fact that it is the reason we’re all here and that a majority of people love it.
#38
Posting about others’ lives on social media, I guess. Or maybe it just annoys me that apparently, I(a legal adult) am not in command of my own privacy because my mom wants to publicize things about me at her seriously misunderstanding discretion.
#39
Women’s shoes. I am a man btw but I had this argument with my wife, I told her women’s shoes were impractical, uncomfortable, many of them like heels are very bad but flat ones are also just as awful and just damn right pointless. Eventually, when i explain with most Men’s shoes they are comfortable and robust and a little bit of rain doesn’t soak them she suddenly went ‘yea they are s**t’ but said that’s what we wear. Literally, a social construction for women to wear s**t shoes.
#40
Showing excessive gratuitous violence is fine, and will get you at most a PG-13 rating, which most people will think is too strict anyways. But show even one uncovered booby and people will lose their minds.
#41
You can’t use swear words on TV, radio, or in movies under PG-13; but you learn most of the swear words that exist by middle school. What’s the point?
#42
I can’t think of a single reason for ties being the standard for business attire other than it’s a reminder to everyone in the room that you could be easily strangled at any time.
#43
Fireworks on the 4th of July. We celebrate independence by showering our land with expensive toxic chemicals from China.
#44
Taking photos of your food and sharing it to strangers who don’t care. Most of social media posts are just a waste of time, people mindlessly just click like and move on.
#45
Bikinis vs bras. If you bra is made out of swimwear fabric, suddenly new social rules apply.
#46
Long sleeve shirt and tie no matter how hot the weather.
#47
Suppressing emotions = “strength”.
#48
Elbows on the table is apparently rude.
Shame they’re often *exactly* the right height to rest my elbows on.
#49
Holding the door open for someone perfectly capable behind you so they feel compelled to speed up to not inconvenience you from holding it for too long.
#50
All these random “rules” about texting people. Texting is supposed to be a medium to talk to people and they can respond at their own convenience.
Instead it’s turned into a puzzle of deciphering how long messages should be, how long should I wait before replying, do I double text them or not, did they read my message, why did they leave me on read, list goes on and on…
#51
Gen Z using various apps to keep tabs on the location of all their friends. They’ve literally normalized stalking. Then they flip out when someone turns off their location.
#52
Acknowledging other peoples sneezes. I’m done with it.
#53
I feel like too many people talk on speakerphone. Do you remember when conversations were private?
#54
You cant fart in public. I mean WTH man it’s natural.
#55
Open casket funerals. I know it helps some people with closure, but I’d just rather not.
#56
Not going to a restaurant by yourself.
I am on a business trip, I want to eat somewhere nice, drink some wine, dine nice since the company is paying for that stuff, I didn’t bring anyone because its my arrival night or I just want to have a moment for myself.
And then I get treated like I have a leprosy, or the waiter tries to strong-arm me to go to the communal area or patio to eat because then I would have some company from the random patrons.
#57
Caring what another person wears or what they look like.
#58
The absurd obsession the US has with the flag and the “reverence” surrounding it. It’s a godsdammed piece of fabric. Actually, US patriotism as a whole.
#59
Everything considered drinking culture.
At first I wanted to mention the normalizing of casual interaction with AI companions and how dating Eva AI in your smartphone becomes socially acceptable as a social status, but we have a much simpler thing to remind. We’ve already created a dominant culture of self-intoxication and skill of going wasted *in an appropriate way*. That itself is so weird that all modern-day innovations seem negligible in comparison.
#60
Bringing a tree in your house once a year to celebrate the birth of a magical carpenter from two thousand years ago.
#61
Cards.
I’m just giving Hallmark money in exchange for a piece of paper that someone’s going to look at for about 10 seconds and then completely forget about.
#62
In the US, some jobs pay overtime and some don’t.
#63
Suspending kids for cutting class.
#64
Getting really upset that sports team didn’t win at sports game.
#65
One day my husband and I were getting groceries and we needed more litter for our cat’s litterbox, and then I had a thought.
How weird is it that we have to buy special dirt for our cat to poop in?
#66
How domestic violence against a woman is seen as awful, but when it happens to a man it’s funny.
#67
Getting small gifts for friends/family after a trip or vacation. At least for me this puts me in a perpetual state of giving and receiving gifts neither party wants so we just end up wasting money.
#68
Having social media.
#69
Garter toss is weird.
#70
Women’s pants don’t have pockets.
#71
LAWNS!!!!! ornamental grasses leech nitrogen from the soil while trapping almost no carbon. And then people spend time and money keeping their grass healthy, only to spend more time and money cutting it down when it does what healthy plants do ie: GROW
Meanwhile there’s perfectly available varieties of clover that make great ground cover, grow to be less than an inch tall, and that actively sequester nitrogen deep into the topsoil.
I feel like a crazy person because nobody else seems to even notice the problem.
#72
Sending hungry kids to school and not feeding them for free.