Sociology in Action
... a laptop with headphones dressed in casual clothing, yet with a “business” look about him. The first thing I noticed was there was a direct correlation between style of clothing and discussion. The women, dressed in nice, casual feminine clothing shared gossip, told jokes, and talked about their husbands and family. The teenagers (two boys and girl) were rather silent, but every now and then a joke would arise and chuckles would emit from a seemingly whispered conversation. The two men seemed to own the room. They spoke confidently, chuckled, used formal vocabulary, and there was little body language or physical contact between them. Finally, the casual man on the laptop although understandably silent, still participated somewhat socially by looking at the others, apparently interested in their topic of conversation. He even looked at me occasionally and smiled. Another thing I noticed was a correlation between gender and conversation. The women tended to be excited, loud, giddy, and even a little silly (typically socially feminine). The teenagers (a co-ed group) never appeared to talk specifically about masculine or feminine topics at any given point, but I was unable to hear the exact words. They treated each other like equals but their conversation lacked a definite goal/path. Their topics appeared to be sporadic, short, and pointless to me, as an outsider. The men talked little about business, despite their setup of clothes and papers. They tended to talk about political issues, social issues, and a little about women. For the most part, their conversation lacked the casualness that the others had. It was obvious, though, that they maintained a socially masculine front. To be silly, giddy, and excited like the other women would probably turn heads, or even cause...