The Social Norms of a Healthy Lifestyle - Essay Example

Ethnography Paper Name Course Name and Code Date According to Topol (2012), the present day is enthralled in healthcare and fitness. There are millions of articles, websites as well as television commercials regarding latest miracle diet along with workout approaches (Brooks, 2004). Work out facilities and gyms are popping up almost everywhere, and personal trainers are very busy with the clients who are crazy about fitness. The no-carb, as well as high protein diets, appear to be the main thing. Recently, it appears that the general society is very concerned with washboard abs as well as toned arms compared to mental, social and physical well-being. After considering these things, one should ask himself self the social norms of a healthy lifestyle. Recently, Ohio State University invested huge sums of money in developing a state of the art fitness center. Certainly, the novel Recreational and Physical Activity Center (RPAC) has many things to be offered. The center has newest weight and cardio machines, volleyball, several basketball as well as racquetball courts as well as track that can make a student to be very busy while using the facilities. The RPAC has food court and juice bar, which provides healthy dining alternatives to individuals participating in the exercises. Since a healthy lifestyle involves working out, I was prompted to conduct my observations at RPAC. For some time now, I have been spending some time in RPAC trying to observe the norms and culture at the gym. During this period, I mainly focused on workout facilities and not on the dining area and the juice bar. In addition, my observation entailed interview of a particular student who was very active with the RPAC facilities. I focused my observation on one main area since RPAC is a big facility. My main attention was on the ‘Upper Gym,' which is situated at the top of steps. Generally, RPAC is an open space. The walls bordering different courts are made of glass, therefore, both participants using courts and the passerby can see ongoing activities. The ‘Upper Gym’ that entails bikes, ellipticals and treadmills overlook dining area and juice bar. The inside structure has brown cement blocks; however, most sections of RPAC are an open space. The ‘Upper Gym’ has several televisions, which line the walls, though all of them are tuned to one station. The demographic in the facility is diverse. There is a balance between the number of men and women attending. During the workout exercises, most of the participants wore comfortable, loose fitting clothes as well as sports shoes. Typical attire included tee shirt and sweat pant or gym shorts. Most girls wore their hair off their face in a ponytail. Averagely, most of the participants took about twenty five to fifty minutes while working out. Most participants used an iPod while others read books or magazines. Almost all participants had some entertainment while doing the exercises. On each machine, there was a bottle of spray and a towel. Most of the participants wiped off their machines using towel and bottle of spray after they had completed the exercise. However, I saw two people who did not bother wiping off their machines after completing a workout. At the ‘Upper Gym,' there is little interaction between people. People only interacted when they knew each other. Mostly these people select machines that are close to each other and did similar workout routine. I managed to interview an OSU freshman regarding his thoughts on healthy lifestyle. When I asked him if he considers herself living healthy lifestyle he replied, “Yes, I live a healthy lifestyle. Usually, I eat right and work out on most occasions. I also drink on rare occasions. Brian works out seven times in seven days for approximately one hour each time. His workouts entail cardio as well as weight training. When I asked Brian why he works out he replied, “I want to avoid ‘freshman fifteen.’ I always feel much better after completing workouts. When I asked Brian if there is anything else which he does which could be considered within the healthy lifestyle, he told me that he hardly take bus since he feels much better when walking. Brian also said that he prefers using stairs compared to elevator. There are differently sociological reasons, which can be instrumental in explaining these observations. One of the sociological reasons is that most people who hit the gym regularly visit the place since that is their subculture. Subculture can be defined as ‘part of society which shares distinctive pattern of folkways, mores as well as values that differ from the larger society’s pattern. Even though, wiping work out machines upon using them is a folkway of the gym one cannot be sanctioned when it has not been wiped. Another folkway in the gym is the norm of putting on tee shirts and sweats when exercising. Even though, one cannot be sanctioned for putting on dress pants or high-heel when working out, they can be considered to be out of the norm, participants with odd-one out outfit can be given different treatment or can be considered to be very awkward. This subculture has conceptions of what society considers to be proper and good verses improper and bad. These values are an approach for assessing other people’s actions. Such values can help to explain why there is no interaction between people when they are working out unless the people interacting during workout sessions know each other pretty well. During the workout sessions, most of the participants concentrate on the workouts therefore it would improper for someone to interrupt another person during workout sessions. Apparently, the media has an instrumental task in the need for a healthy lifestyle (Volkwein-Caplan, 2013). Media is very possessed with Hollywood as well as its young starlets. Most headline touch on weight. Usually, media portrays fat people as being unattractive. The obsession with appearance and weight can be transmitted easily to public. Many individuals would love to have bodies that most celebrities have, but this thought is unrealistic most of the time. Media portray of the body image could be the main reason the freshman I interviewed did not like “freshman fifteen.' Maybe he thinks he would be considered ugly when he gained extra weight around the waistline. Apparently, this kind of mentality is, as a result, of the emphasis by the media on body image and appearance. I think there is some labeling approach that has a key task in the need to live a lifestyle that is very healthy. Labels associated with health and fitness reshapes how people treat each other and how people perceive others in the society. It is easy for someone to label another person out-of-shape or unfit. On the other hand, it is very for someone to look at someone who is thin and decide immediately that he or she has the right shape and very healthy. On most occasions, such labels are very wrong. When one has a big waistline, it does not mean that; he is unhealthy or a small waistline implies that he has a healthy lifestyle. The person with a big body or waistline could be living a healthy lifestyle. When someone is always labelled out of shape or unfit, it can easily skew his thoughts regarding himself. The society attaches negative stereotypes on labels that suggest less-than-perfect mental and physical health. This helps in explaining why the health sector has had more attention in the recent past. Many people are hiring personal trainers or joining gym so that they can avoid labels and consequences associated with big bodies. This is the main reason RPAC was established, and it is also the key reason as to why most students have subscribed to the RPAC. Interestingly, instead of most of these individual sincerely wanting to live a healthy lifestyle they want to avoid being labelled ‘out-of-shape’ or ‘unfit.’ Apparently, the society has fixation with fitness and health (Graeme, 2010). This can be envisioned through hundreds of articles and books on best approaches of toning up or reducing the waistline. A day cannot end without seeing such books that touch on health and fitness. My observation while at RPAC, and it is apparent that Ohio State is part of it. Student’s population, which regularly uses RPAC facilities, can be considered to have their own subculture. With such a subculture, I think the media as well as labeling approach have an instrumental role why student hit the gym often. While most of the students want to meet expectations of the media standards of what is acceptable and attractive, they also attempt to avoid consequences and stereotypes associated with being considered unhealthy and out-of-shape. Briefly, when one observes norms and culture of the gym, there are many elements of societal norms that become clear. Conducting ethnography study In one end of pure narrative, a story is explained, and there is no reference to research findings or theories. On the other end, there is pure research report, academic essay or explication of the theory that does not have narrative devices. In narrative continuum, there is a story between the essays. In between extremes, have ethnographic short stories as well as fictions, essays about narratives, narrative about stories. Layered accounts have a combination of story and output. Layered account, have narrative beginning, culturally loaded terms, break in the storyline that is marked with an asterisk to illustrate the transition as well as a conclusion of academic theory that welcomes knowing readers to share the interpretation of the account. Texts have three parts beginnings, middles and endings. The beginning needs to bring the reader in the unique context develop a theme of the piece, make the reader feel the story and develop a mystery. The middle part informs the reader regarding the theme and content of the writings while the end concludes the piece of work to the reader. References Brooks, D 2004, The complete book of personal training, New York, John Wiley & Sons. Graeme, B 2010, Media and society: Critical perspectives, New York, McGraw-Hill International Topol, E 2012, The creative destructive pf medicine: How the digital revolution will create better health care, New York, Basic Books. Volkwein-Caplan, K 2013, Sport fitness culture, Sydney: Meyer & Meyer Verlag. Read More