Intriguing Popularity of the Valley Mall - Essay Example

Running Head: A Day at the Mall A Day at the Mall Inserts His/her Introduction: Intrigued by the popularity of the Valley Mall, located in Halfway Maryland, I was sure this was my destination for my next research. The huge and beautiful building with several stories that accommodate hundreds of local and international brands has emerged as one of the city’s paramount shopping places. If it is a hangout of friends or people needing to buy something otherwise hard to find or even men taking their partners to enjoy some scrumptious food, the Valley Mall has attracted all. I make my way though the glimmering glass doors pass the security checks and settle into a chair next to a famous coffee outlet. The Valley Mall shopping centre attracts a large number of people every day; from window-shoppers to serious buyers. Sitting here and sipping my just-served cup of coffee, I closely observe these people moving from one shop to the other, looking for trends these people show while interacting. With the entrance door within sight, I am no less than surprised at the huge influx of people making their way through the doors, giving me the benefit of assuming that an exuberant number of people find this mall a place of their taste. My observations inform me that the inflow of people at this particular mall is mostly from a class one can define as financially much stabled in an otherwise economically shaken state. These people tend to look much wealthier than their fellow countrymen, on account of their clothing, their behavior and their interaction with each other. For the younger lot the mall is mostly a place to hang out at, while for the older, it is either buying or a venue for business discussions. Since this mall welcomes mostly the wealthier class of an economically unstable country what I observe within the Valley Mall is in a bit of contrast with the overall American society. The people here appear very much satisfied with their lives and when they talk, they do so with delicate manners, showing the best of their behavior. Most of them are adorned with branded clothing indicating that this specific class enjoys much more luxuries than many in the country cannot afford. I maneuver my way through the well-designed staircases and pass several branded outlets showcasing their products from the back of their glass frontals. Resting down on a comfortable sofa in the food court, I order myself an ice-cream to earn myself some time to observe people around this area of the mall. Here I see an array of people; young and old equally engaged in casual discussions over burgers and sandwiches, others seemingly discussing important matters over cups of tea and coffee. These people are readily influenced by the environment, talking in low tones so as not to be over heard. They eat carefully, much more than they would have done at their homes, making sure nothing spills onto the tables or stains their exuberantly expensive clothing. A dab of tissue paper against the lips after each bite seems like an overly practiced job. Taken the fact that I was going through this observation in terms of sociological perspectives, I need to see my observation in light of the many perspectives of Sociology. We shall look at them in a small brief. The symbolic interactionism theory describes society as a group of people communicating through organized and patterned interactions (Web.grinnell.edu, 2000). My observation at the Valley Mall led me to believe the same. Here, people communicated with each other through different symbols; these included languages and even mere smiles. Through the glass frontals of elegant shops I witnessed buyers interacting with the sellers in casual manners while in food courts I again witnessed people who communicated important news in calculated ways. The Functionalist perspective of sociology observes society as an organized network of co-operating groups that coordinate under a shared set of rules and values (Horton and Hunt, 1972). The functionalists see society in a constant battle for balance and bringing equilibrium to the society. Anything that harms this balance is seen as dysfunctional and has to be eliminated. This in the real life context of the Valley Mall can be explained fairly easily. Amongst all those present at the mall, everybody communicated within their circle and made sure nothing was done such that may harm the mall or its occupants in any way. A mere action of a child throwing his ice-cream wrapper into the dustbin placed around the corner of the mall is a proof of the way everybody co-operates avoiding any misbalance being brought to the environment. The Conflict perspective sees society as held together by the power of the dominant and influential groups. The conflict theorists find society in a constant rivalry where different groups fight for greater rights. Thus a conflict arises between those groups who enjoy power, wealth and authority and those who can only dream of such (Henslin, 2008). In its application we can vividly explain the consequences of the conflict perspective and deduce that it is in fact true that people who are present at the mall to shop are envied by those classes who cannot afford the exuberance of branded shopping. This difference gives rise to a conflict between the haves and the have-nots; in sociological terms, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat (Campsall, n.d.). If I applied one of the perspectives of Sociology to explain in greater detail, the event and my observations at the mall, it should definitely be the Functionalism perspective. It was through shared values and norms that I witnessed a fairly smooth shopping experience of buyers as compared to the hustle and bustle of the city’s other shopping streets. Bargaining with shopkeepers of these branded stores is discouraged and has thus become dysfunctional in this elite environment. People tend to buy products at their tagged prices and do not bargain. Additionally all elements or people play their role accordingly; buyers, sellers and socialites, all behaving in a way they are expected to. The shared elite environment lets everybody to behave in a polite manner so that the functioning of the mall isn’t affected negatively. The salesmen greet their customers with respect, not just because of their consumer policies but because the environment suggests so. The presence of guards and security checks at the gates of the mall are also essential to its functioning. These measures are examples of enforcing social control in the mall and enabling an environment for sound business activity. They are also essential for the reason that in the background of security threats, such security measures function as an added comfort to the sense of security of all those present in the premises. If I were to describe any deviant behavior, due to lack of enough data I should settle on the behavior shown by a group of teenagers. I witnessed a young gathering of college boys and girls smoking at a corner around the food court, even though the mall is a no-smoking zone. Though nobody turned out to notice them, their behavior was an example of deviance. Even if teenagers’ smoking isn’t seen as such of a deviant behavior in another environment, under the roof of the Valley Mall, it is. Social inequality can be observed across the mall when to one side I observe extremely wealthy people and to the other extremely poor women, earning their livings from cleaning the floorings and lavatories. These two pictures are in stark contrast of one another and a question at the state’s progress. The Valley Mall though is stratified at the elites of the city – the upper classes – it also entertains the middle classes. As already mentioned that the mall experiences a flow of both serious buyers and window shoppers, the elites are the usually ones who are into buying and the middle classes are out there usually for window shopping or simply to hangout! References Campsall, S. (n.d.). Ideology. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/popups/ideology.htm [Accessed: 5 Jul 2013] Henslin, J. (2008). Sociology. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Horton, P. and Hunt, C. (1972). Sociology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Web.grinnell.edu (2000). Symbolic Interactionism. [online] Retrieved from: http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Symbolic.html [Accessed: 5 Jul 2013]. Read More