The Global Sociology Blog

Everybody has been linking to this video and how it makes people smile and generally produce some happiness and indeed, it’s hard not to get a goofy grin while watching it:

What makes people happy? The making-of gives a few clues:

Release / relief: that is, for a few minutes, people step outside of the prescribed roles and norms ("being a commuter at a large train station") and join in a collective dance (hello, Durkheim!). All of a sudden, the pressures (albeit invisible) of the social structure of the situation are released and the collective dance exudes liberation and joy. Now, the fact that it takes a little while for some people to join in tells us that it’s not that easy to step out of a role such as "commuter" just for a few minutes of dance. And indeed, once the people are asked about the experience, liberating joy is the common theme, and this brings – at least temporary – happiness.

This was also accomplished through using very well-known (culturally relevant) pieces clearly associated with certain dances that anyone would know (twist, waltz, etc.) and would be able to dance without feeling too embarrassed or dumb, making it easy for people to join in.

Watching this, I was, of course reminded of this video, which also renders visible the social structure and norms of the situation, but for a different purpose and with different results:

Here, the goal is to break the most invisible, taken-for-granted norms of the situation: the fact that being a commuter involves moving at a certain pace and negotiating crossing paths with other commuters using Goffmanian interaction skills such as studied non-observance. When the rules are broken and a few people freeze in place, then, the usual frame of understanding of the situation no longer applies. The frozen people step outside of the commuter role, so what are they? And one can see the puzzled look on the faces of observers. Faced with uncertainty, they suggest alternative frames of understanding that would explain the situation: it’s a protest or it’s an acting class. But all understand is that it is a performance that breaks the routinization of the social structure and even though a proper frame has not been found to explain it, beyond "performance", it is satisfactory enough to make sense of it and provide the proper reaction: applaud at the end.