the United States this scenario would have been entirely different. First of all children waited in an orderly line. Everyone would have taken one turn have been to get off after one ride. If a child wanted another ride, he would have had to the end of the line again. Everyone would have understood that the procedure had to be fair to everyone and not be based on bullying. As conditions in big cities become more crowded, traditional acceptable verbal and nonverbal communication be may face major challenges. pushing and shoving on Japanese subways, was pointed out traditional value of personal distance and harmony. Japan is not the only country that must deal with a breakdown of traditional behaviors. In Mexico City, for example, the subways are overcrowded with commuters on weekdays during rush hour and with families on week. ends. Traditionally, unrelated Mexican men and women do not mix in public. In particular, unmarried women are protected by their families to preserve their virtue. In this traditional environment, men are seen as protectors of women and women are expected to behave modestly and shy away from public places In modern Mexico many women, young and old, married and single, have jobs. They must get to and from work on their own without any chaperon or male protector. In the past young women moving about on their own were suspected of dishonorable behavior. Men knew that such women did not require the same courteous treatment they extended to their own sisters. Today the lines are blurred, and many men do not know how to behave. In this case the changing social environment has had a profound influence on nonverbal communication. During rush hour many female riders were being molested by men in over crowded subway cars. The solution was to separate women and men on the subway during rush hour. Now men are not allowed into cars reserved for women, and women who go into the men's cars do so at their own risk. The crowded conditions encouraged behavior that was not acceptable in normal circumstances. As the environment of a changes, society must reevaluate its standards of nonverbal communication and develop safeguards to protect those standards. cannot in public spaces is over into offices and business practices. One The separate general cultural behavior from together. way we approach people way we deal with space and issues of privacy have and deep cultural roots. We may not agree with or like what is not the the point is that we must understand the are doing and why they are doing it.