Examples Of Community Observation

1. Go to a public place and OBSERVE the community of people in that place for at least 30 minutes; perhaps as long as 60 minutes. In your report, describe the setting and note the date and time of your observation. Describe the element of “community” that you observed.

This past Saturday, at 10:00 in the morning, my seventh grade son had a basketball game. It was an away game and in attendance was average amount of people there for such an early game. It was fairly cold out that morning, as well as in the gymnasium itself. I was sitting alongside two other mothers from my son’s team. Looking across the gym, I noticed this young woman. She was slightly overweight, wearing a mini skirt, a long sleeved shirt, as well as sporting a pair
She appeared to be out of place and did not fit in with the majority of the crowd surrounding her. Regarding customs, the referees were dressed to code in their black and white striped shirts paired with black pants. Based on the appearance of this community, I would say that the majority has traditional mores and I would assume that they do not sway from them. Taking laws into consideration, both the basketball teams were following their dress codes in their shorts, jerseys, and basketball shoes.
4. Take notes describing your observations, giving special attention to your assessment of the forces influencing the fashions you observed.

I believe that the forces influencing the fashions in this small community are those of the elders. I would assume that the parents of these young children want to please or accommodate the elderly group. In doing this, the parents dress more conservative and casual and they instill this into their children’s attire, as well. They do not want to displease the elders in the community by allowing their children to dress scandalous or showing too much skin. The people are looking for a connection to the community (Stephens Frings, 2008). The role models in this small community are probably the parents and elderly. The adolescents may want to wear what is in style according to fashion magazines, but ultimately it is the parents who
Seeing as there is not a whole lot of variety in individual attire, this sets a subliminal base that everyone apparently adheres to whether they know it or not. This is not a negative aspect however, everyone was, for the most part, dressed appropriately for the time of year and were not trying to compete in some sort of indirect “fashion show” that you’ll often see in other, much more trendy communities. Aside from the young woman wearing the mini skirt, basic necessity is the underlying motive for the majority of the apparel here. With less attention to detail given to the “who’s who of fashion”, this allowed for the greater part of the crowd to focus on and more importantly, participate in their loved one’s junior league event that was taking place. At its fundamental core; not only does this show the strong family-centric approach these individuals seem to take, it also greatly demonstrates the modest aura in the sense that no one was trying to stand out or show off for personal