Week 8- Stick to the Code

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In everyday social interactions, there exists codes of conduct (set of social norms), which prescribe/describe how participants in the social interaction ought to behave. The reading, Telling the Code, closely examines the 'convict code' and how it was used to rationalise deviant behaviour and activities among convicts in a half-way house. Although, no one could recite all of the specifics of the code, Sociologist, Laurence Wieder, formulated the code from what residents said about the code. Here is his interpretation:

1. Above all else, do not snitch.

2. Do not cop out.

3. Do not take advantage of other residents.

4. Share what you have.

5. Help other residents.

6. Do not mess with other residents' interests.

7. Do not trust staff- staff is heat.

8. Show your loyalty to the residents.

Wieder found that those who breached the code were met with negative sanctions, which ranged from labelling (eg. kiss-ass, snitch or sniveler) to abuse and violence, depending on the severity of the breach. The code was enforced through the application of negative sanctions. The staff also had an understanding of the code, which allowed them to identify and make sense of the residents' actions. They rendered the residents' action sensible or rational by the way they conducted themselves in achieving goals specified by the code.

According to Robert Garot, gangs' use a 'street' code, which is similar to that of the residents' convict code. Both, street gangs' and residents' use the code to maintain, transform and elaborate meanings in routine activities. Social identity and respect are seen as the most important features of the street code, which is a set of informal rules governing public behaviour, including violence.

There are many unspoken codes of conduct that exist in society, which ordinary citizens abide by to maintain the social order, such as being quiet in a library/ movie theatre. This discussion on codes made me think of the dress code. The dress code is a prominent code that everyone will follow throughout life. Dress codes are unwritten codes with regard to clothing. Clothing has a social significance, with different rules and expectations being valid depending on circumstance and occasion. For example, many muslim women wear head and/or body covering to proclaim their status as respectable women.

A single person navigates between two or more dress codes each day !

**Just an extra note. I thought I would show my SOC250 blog to my sister and see what she thought about the weekly posts. She reminded me of the pirate code off Pirates of the Carribbean. 

 "Any man who falls behind, is left behind"- Captain Jack Sparrow

References

Wieder, D. L, 1974, 'Telling the Code' in R.Turner (ed.) Ethnomethodology: Selected Readings, Penguin Educations, Harmondsworth, pp. 144-172.

Garot, R. 2007, 'Where You From!- Gang Identity as Performance,' in Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, vol.36, no.1, pp.50-84.

Cartoon- http://gdbrenan.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/well-dressed-bitch.html