Sociological Observation: Final Paper

Sociological Observation: Final Paper

Joletta L. Henry

San Juan College

Abstract

The sociological observation took place at Farmington High School on December 3, 2018. The venue was chosen because Navajo Preparatory High School differs from Farmington High School in many ways such as it being a public school, bigger in population, student ethnicity backgrounds vary, language differs, appearances differ, classroom environment differs, and teaching differs, thus the observation was done at the public high school. A sophomore high school student was shadowed for a half day. While at the high school, the four sociological perspectives were applied throughout the day including functionalist, conflict theory, symbolic interactionist, and postmodernist.

Sociological Observation: Final Paper

The place I chose to observe and analyze was at Farmington High School on December 3, 2018, from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm. This observation was a field research/ethnography. Farmington High School was occurring in its natural settings. Thus, there were not numerical values. I shadowed a sophomore student who did not share the same ascribed status (a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily late in life) as me (Kendall, 2007). I wanted to shadow a student who did not share the same age, grade, or ethnicity as me. I chose this place because this school is public, bigger in population, student ethnicity backgrounds vary, language differs, appearances differ, classroom environment differs, and teaching differs. My school, Navajo Preparatory High School, is private with only 180 plus native students who "dress for success". The students are taught in rigorous discipline classrooms with studies from Oxford and all is self-taught will little teacher guidance.

In addition, I wanted to experience a “regular” high school moment, a different nonmaterial culture from my own. A culture that includes language, beliefs, values, the rule of behavior, etc, (Kendall, 2007). It was a lot in my opinion. Also, I wanted to experience the material culture Farmington High School use or share. Some materials they use that I believe are taken for granted are the MacBook laptops. Yet, I had to be careful while shadowing because there are some things considered Navajo taboos, mores so strong that their violation is considered to be extremely offensive and even unmentionable (Kendall, 2007). Some students at Farmington High School will do, eat, or say that is considered a taboo in my Navajo culture.

Farmington High School population is large, one lunch is bigger than my whole school population. Students in a classroom are examples of secondary groups, groups that are impersonal and short-term. Students show teenage/youth culture. Some youth culture examples I saw were excessive use of foul language, listening to popular music hits, desire to want materialistic objects (phones, clothes, makeup), etc.  Students are mostly mixed ethnicities after I interacted with them. The dominant race/ethnicity are White and Hispanic. There is more than one language spoken at Farmington High including Spanish, Navajo, Apache, French, etc. Also, students are open with their sexuality, especially those who are a part of the LGBTQ community. These students are not afraid of their sexuality and express themselves freely. Gender is not an issue. In addition, Farmington High School has a lot of groups. I noticed this during lunch. Students were grouped into subcultures based on their identity. There was a band group, emo group, punk group, athletic group, ROTC group, etc. The biggest groups are athletes and students who perform such as band, orchestra, drama, etc.