Ethnomethodology: Middle Class
Ethnomethodology
Is there ever a time that you feel uncomfortable at the most awkward times? When in line at a grocery store would be an example of this. When standing unreasonably close to someone in front of you in the checkout lane has an estimated limit to how close you really are. Our immediate expectation of the shoppers is for them to move forward in line or say something to you or get mad about what is happening.
The point of my project was to stand behind a person in a grocery store so close that it came to the point of awkwardness. I was in line at Wal-Mart and there were about 5 people total in this line. There was a middle-aged woman who looked like she is from an upper class family by the way she was dressed and how she associated herself with others that weren’t like her. My project was completely legal and ethical because it shows you how people who are in the upper class act. I’m not saying that all upper class people act one certain way, but with this really good example, you could get a good idea of it. Being a middle-class person, you could be intimidated by the way she was acting. It could be hard for many middle class people to find themselves associating with upper class people.
Many people that were in line with me reacted to as if I was being rude in her personal space. Their nonverbal cues were that I was just some annoying college student trying to rush through a line of people. Clearly, I was not acting like that because I didn’t feel like I was and because I would never stand so close to someone like that on a regular basis. There was an elderly couple in the lane beside me and they looked at me like I was crazy. They were staring me down and the lady was poking fingers and telling her husband things and then he’d turn around and look at me.
My reaction to all of this was that I know what I was doing it for. It came to my surprise though that some upper class people could really be rude. Also, I got to thinking that maybe they
Is there ever a time that you feel uncomfortable at the most awkward times? When in line at a grocery store would be an example of this. When standing unreasonably close to someone in front of you in the checkout lane has an estimated limit to how close you really are. Our immediate expectation of the shoppers is for them to move forward in line or say something to you or get mad about what is happening.
The point of my project was to stand behind a person in a grocery store so close that it came to the point of awkwardness. I was in line at Wal-Mart and there were about 5 people total in this line. There was a middle-aged woman who looked like she is from an upper class family by the way she was dressed and how she associated herself with others that weren’t like her. My project was completely legal and ethical because it shows you how people who are in the upper class act. I’m not saying that all upper class people act one certain way, but with this really good example, you could get a good idea of it. Being a middle-class person, you could be intimidated by the way she was acting. It could be hard for many middle class people to find themselves associating with upper class people.
Many people that were in line with me reacted to as if I was being rude in her personal space. Their nonverbal cues were that I was just some annoying college student trying to rush through a line of people. Clearly, I was not acting like that because I didn’t feel like I was and because I would never stand so close to someone like that on a regular basis. There was an elderly couple in the lane beside me and they looked at me like I was crazy. They were staring me down and the lady was poking fingers and telling her husband things and then he’d turn around and look at me.
My reaction to all of this was that I know what I was doing it for. It came to my surprise though that some upper class people could really be rude. Also, I got to thinking that maybe they