Social Seating Behavior

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Inequality is a major topic in the 21st century media. Whether it involves, race, gender, sexual orientation, or economic means, countless stories portray the inequalities modern day society exhibits. In accordance with the structured paper topics, I wished to study the social seating behavior of students in Frank Dining Hall at Colgate University, and furthermore see if the observations exhibited forms of inequality. On a more detailed level of description in regards to social seating behavior, the study refers not only to who students choose to sit with, but also the area they pick and why. Within my observations I collected data on race, grade, athletic affiliation, time of day and more; however, I gave particular emphasis towards two unique …show more content…

Students on Monday’s and Thursday’s generally wore “casual everyday clothing,” attempting to look sharp for class with little to no sights of gym shorts or sweatpants except for members of the football and soccer teams involving both genders. The term “casual everyday clothing” can be described as clothing consisting generally of chino shorts, preppy t-shirts or polo shirts, and other fashion items of that nature. On Saturday morning the amount of casual everyday clothing versus sweats was almost even. Once again, the sweats attire was worn almost exclusively by Division One athletes. During the weekday lunch hours the findings were similar to that from breakfast, yet on Saturday the attire shifted to “partygoing” or “themed” outfits for parties later on in the day. During weekday dinner hours, clothing shifted to an almost three-way split between athletic wear for working out, sweats, and casual everyday clothing. As mentioned earlier, the sweats attire stayed true to Division One athletes. For the Saturday dinner hours, attendance was low, but those who came to Frank Dining Hall generally either remained in their “partygoing” outfits or wore casual everyday clothing. As for meals, breakfast on all days mostly consisted of omelets, bacon, french toast and other common breakfast based items. Lunchtime meals also remained similar in nature throughout the various days; …show more content…

Common topics seen across both genders during all observed days involved school work, politics, and future or past social events on campus. Each day however added a different flare or focus to the general focus of conversation. Common Monday conversation between both genders focused mainly on school work or politics. Discussion about members of the opposite gender also occurred for both parties; however, any discussion regarding sports was almost exclusively heard at male tables and any discussion involving same-sex gossip was almost exclusively heard at female tables. Thursdays’ non-gender specific topics featured a rise in weekend events, and events from the previous night, as Wednesday is a common social night on the Colgate campus. The more gender based discussion however, remained similar to that observed on Monday. On Saturday, general non-gender specific topics once again featured talk of previous or future social events on campus. Likewise, once more gender based discussion remained the same as the previous days. One common occurrence throughout all the days however was that athletes generally had a focus on topics relating to their sport such as coaches, previous or future practices, previous or future games, and more. However, on Saturday’s even the athletes

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