Social class is more than just an economic status. Class has social, cultural and psychological dimensions as well. In everyday life, class shapes our sensibilities, tastes, and perspective. For this blog posting, you will go to a local shopping center or mall and try to observe the cultural as well as economic aspects of class.
Sociologists use observation often. Remember that when you are observing people you must always be aware that the information you gain through observation is limited and based only on your interpretation of what you see. Still, what we observe can produce valuable information about the world. So, when you are at the shopping mall, pay attention to the following questions and write a reflection based on your responses:
1. What are some of the stores that make up the shopping mall or shopping center?
2. Do these stores offer different price ranges (low to high) for customers? Or are the majority of these stores low or high priced stores?
3. What can you tell about the clientele that the different stores are designed to serve? What do the stores’ décor, products, prices, layout, organization and music reveal about the kind of people that each of the stores are designed to target? (Specifically take notes on these things).
4. Choose three people in the store or entering the store who appear to be “representative” of the people shopping there and assess their social class. Would you consider them to be lower or working class, middle class, upper middle class or wealthy?
5. What “status markers” are you using to make your assessment of the social class of the 3 shoppers? (e.g. style of dress, tattoos, makeup, weight, race, fabric, writing on clothing, purse, jewelry, shoes, or any other status clues like a lap top, baby stroller, shopping bags, etc.)
6. Why are the status markers that you used to help you make your assessment good indexes of social class? (Be specific in explaining what each marker might reveal about the class status of the person). Why might some of these status markers be misleading indexes of social class?
7. After observing the shopping center or mall, would you say that it is a predominantly working class, middle class, upper class or mixed class shopping center?
