Summary: Beach Observation

The social setting, I chose was the beach in Hilton Head Island South Carolina. Due to the relatively close proximity to where I live, it was easy to make an extended weekend getaway not to mention perfect timing for this observation experiment. My spouse and I rented a condo along the beach which also has public access for anyone to use. In between the parking lot was a gated walk way that led to the beach. This beach at low tide had a large area that can accommodate everyone from walkers, bickers, runners, and tanners, and for people to put out lounge chairs and beach chairs. During high tide the beach becomes much smaller therefore much more crowded which is not ideal especially when having an 18 month old with us. Along the beach there was some lifeguard posts spaced roughly around 150 feet. The lifeguard at one post was female and the other was male around their early or mid-twenties wearing a red swimsuit and/or red shirt and shorts as well as sunglasses and a large umbrella over their observation post. Nearby there was a small stand where attended by someone offering to rent beach chairs and umbrellas. This observation was done on a Monday morning, June 18, 2016. It was mostly sunny with some cloud cover, but nothing that would dampen the mood of being on the beach. The water was fine temperature wise, however for the beach the waves were nearly

nonexistent. The sand was light brownish-gray color with some sea shells here and there. Most of the shells were broken but the non-broken shells were somewhat small and not impressive. It was a good day for the beach moderate wind with a temperature of the mid-80’s to low 90’s degrees Fahrenheit. For this experiment, I stayed at the beach from 10 am to 12:30 pm. From 10 am -11 pm, there were six families, including myself and a few walkers and runners. Around 11:30 am more people began to appear. During my time at the beach for this experiment everyone seemed to be very happy and care free.
As anyone could imagine, there were people of all ages from toddlers to retirees. Everyone was in their small groups minding their own business and seemed to keep their distance from the others. As I kept observing, it was easy to tell there were primary groups which consists of family or close friends. Primary groups are defined by “intense emotional ties, intimacy, and identification with the membership in the group” (Chambliss & Eglitis, 2015). These groups were small the most in a group was 5 people and the smallest was two people. The only time that some people would be away from their group was when the rest of their group is in the water.
Aside from the bikers or runners, the people that came to the beach seemed to be with at least one other person, no one came alone (at least on this day). According to C. Wright Mills when discussing sociological imagination, “...the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society.” Social norms, and social context give meaning that the things we do, how are molded by the situation we are in, and the way people act around us. Sociological imagination can be thought of as “the ability to see things interactively, between the personal and the societal, rather than form the narrow lens of personal experience.” (Cpp.edu, n.d.). In this observation experiment I felt like I tapped into this notion of sociological imagination to help me understand the reaction of the beachgoers in reaction to my deviant behavior.
As I watched the beach goers, I noticed that for the most part no group seemed to be paying attention to another group and barley acknowledging others. There was a toddler who kept screaming and crying because their mother was trying to get him to go in the water. While this was going on, it did not seem to bother anyone and I did not notice anyone looking over or acknowledging the child’s behavior. There was another toddler aged child who just sat in the sand playing with her toys. The other children were making a sand castle or burying themselves in the sand. There was a small group of teenage girls trying to stay above the waves but here and there a wave would drag them under, when they came above water they would begin to laugh. There is another group of teenage boys that have boogie boards who are deliberately throwing themselves onto the waves. They had what appeared to be a Go-Pro type of camera. I think they were trying to do tricks to be next viral YouTube video (this is purely speculation on my part).
Additionally, I noticed that most primary groups come with a tent, umbrella or some sort of shade and they are somewhat lined up one after the other. I do not think this was done intentionally, perhaps the “herd mentality” had something to do with it. Overall the mood was carefree the various groups were bonding with their significant others. The only ones watching were the lifeguards observing who/what is the water. None of the groups conversations seemed to be talking about anything serious. One could imagine that when someone thinks of a beach they think of relaxing and temporarily forgetting any worries they may have.
When we go to a public setting we all have a presentation of self, even when we are in our primary groups. Goffman refers to this as the dramaturgical approach, which refers to the social interaction of people like a theatrical performance with the backstage of a theater being our home. The back stage like actors, is where we are our true selves. However, the home can become the front stage when people come over and the host (home owner) entertains (Chambliss & Eglitiss, 2015).
Since this is an observation of a social setting, it’s necessary to examine ethnomethodology. Ethnomethodology is “understand[ing] exactly what goes on in social interactions after observing that our interpretation of social interaction depends on the context”. For example, the way people interacted at the beach would not be proper if it the setting was at a funeral. This seems to hold true with Garfinkel’s theory about ethnomethodology; “social interaction and communication are not possible unless most people have learned to assign similar meaning to the same interactions (Chambliss & Eglitis, 2015).
The norm that I broke was interrupting the beachgoers serenity. Instead doing the typical things one would do at the beach. I started running up and down the beach screaming with my hands up as if I had lost my mind. This went on for about 20 minutes off and on. To my amazement no one seemed to pay attention as I went from one life guard observation post to the next. However, when I began to make my trek back, I spent more time just standing while I appeared to be terrified. It was then when two women approached me and asked if I was okay while the others around in the immediate area were not. The group of teenage boys stopped and seemingly stared to ask me what was wrong but no one in their group did so. It turns out that the two women that asked me if I was okay were mothers. One of them was African-American and the other lady was Caucasian. I was not sure what to expect but figured that more than two women would check on me. Perhaps age of the person acting in this manner has something to do with it? Additionally, I thought that perhaps the teenaged girls would come up to me but that was not the case. Only two people out of about 25 that were on the sand came to ask me what was wrong. The others stared at me, or ignored me and stayed within their group. Once I “calmed down” many people continued to stare at me while I made my way back to my spot I was occupying on the beach. Soon after breaking the norm I felt very self-conscious. I felt judged or being talked about behind my back. My thoughts were; What if I was really having a panic attack, or worse? Would anyone care? Are we so into our own worlds to not look out beyond our personal horizons?
Observing people behaviors is interesting.

Seeing the reaction of people is fascinating especially what they do when the norm is interrupted. I admit I did feel kind of bad interrupting their day even if it was for a moment. Reflecting on this experiment, I personally will make a conscious effort to be in tune with my surroundings with hopes I will act in a different manner than the two women did. The Department of Justice came out and told the public if they see something say something. Could I ever forgive myself if someone was in real trouble and I turned the other cheek or pretended not to hear or see

it?