If Looks Could Talk, and How Talk Would Look

Megan McDermott

    Randall Collins said that “[s]chools primarily teach vocabulary and inflection, styles of dress, aesthetic tastes, values and manners” (quoted in Domhoff, 2001: 198).  Adjusting to life at Skidmore as a freshman provided me with a unique experience to see people from many different backgrounds and schoolings move in together and form a community.  In each of our lives, my friends and I had already been shaped in the way Collins described by a variety of institutions.  The fact that we held many rather basic norms in common when we arrived at Skidmore helped us get along and succeed in this new setting.    
    Different groups of people embrace specific styles in order to define themselves.  Among my female friends, the norm for dress includes mostly pants, a few skirts, and shirts that are well fitted.  Pants have flared openings and more often than not are blue jeans.  Males generally wear looser clothes than females, and rarely wear skirts or dresses.  A general definition of the norm is that clothes should flatter the person wearing them.  We expect that others will clean their clothing regularly and not wear something dirty or smelly.  
    As simple as these norms seem, many larger social forces shape them.  The countless spokespersons for the media define what styles are popular at any given time.  Family values from home might affect what an individual considers appropriate to wear.  The economy plays a large role in the norms of fashion as well.  My friends and I come from families with enough income to afford many clothes, including some expensive name brands.  Since we wear clothing of similar styles, we feel comfortable associating with each other.  In addition, at college we have enough money to pay for laundry on a regular basis, keeping our clothes clean.  
    On the theme of appearance and presentation, an unspoken rule exists among Skidmore students concerning hygiene.  I subscribe to the norms that I have seen among my friends, meaning that I brush my teeth twice a day, wash my face in the morning and at night, wash my hands after going to the bathroom, and I shower at least once every two days.  Many institutions shaped these norms.  The first that comes to mind is family, as parents or caretakers generally have the first opportunity to instill norms and values in children before exposing them to outside influences.  For example, when I was young, my parents enforced rules about brushing my teeth, washing my hands, and how often I bathed.  Even though I am no longer under their care while at college, their teachings have stayed with me.  Scientific findings reinforced their beliefs.  For example, dentists encouraged me to brush my teeth twice a day whenever I had a check-up.  In some cases, the government enforces norms.  Law demands that employees in food production wash their hands any time that they might be soiled.  The media often provide negative examples of people who do not adhere to these norms.  
    However, other institutions limit our participation in these norms.  In Liberal Studies I last semester, the faculty encouraged us to eliminate water waste by showering less often or reducing our time in the shower.  Under the guise of education, the educational institution seeks to influence the norms surrounding hygiene.  Moreover, economics might prevent some individuals from following this norm if they cannot afford to buy products like shampoo or soap or pay for water consumption.  This is not a problem for my friends, though, partially because we live in dorms and water consumption is included in the overall price for room and board.  The consistency of hygienic norms among my friends helped us avoid any awkward situations resulting from a friend who we might have deemed unclean.  And after all, brushing teeth can be a highly social activity.  
    For a group of strangers to get along, they must have something in common to talk about.  I found that knowledge of pop culture, including music, movies, and TV shows, proved essential to connecting with new people at college.  At the mention of Lindsey Lohan or Ashlee Simpson, people from all over the country could respond with their opinions.  Moreover, my friends and I could share common experiences, such as watching “The O.C.” on Thursday nights.  As Kevin Young and Laura Craig asserted, people join particular groups because they are “able to share similar values and experiences” (Young and Craig, 2001: 93).  Obviously the media have a large influence on this norm, because the media industry propagates the people and stories we cite so often.  It is a real testimony to the power of the media that even my friend from Taiwan could participate in these discussions.  
    Education is also complicit in the propagation of pop culture, however.  Many professors I have had at Skidmore allude to pop culture or play clips from songs and movies in class.  This very assignment included an instruction to consider lyrics from famous songs for the title of my paper, which assumes that I know songs that the professors would recognize (Scarce, 2005).  Families may either encourage or discourage members from watching movies or listening to certain types of music.  An education in pop culture depends upon the individual’s ability to pay for and access technology to enjoy these forms of entertainment.  One must have money to buy CD’s and concert tickets, or else a computer to download songs.  The same is true of DVD’s and movie tickets.  Many popular TV shows are only shown on cable TV, which not all individuals can afford.  Here at college, our friends with cable share their TV’s so that we have similar opportunities to keep up with pop culture.  In addition, we share a common music repertoire since we can listen to each other’s music through dorm networks.  Early discussions about things like music created the foundations for what soon grew into strong friendships on my floor.
    Elijah Anderson asserted that “[i]n the streets, through their play, children pour their individual life experiences into a common knowledge pool, affirming, confirming, and elaborating on what they have observed in the home and matching their skills against those of others” (Anderson, 2001: 83).  It seems that we have used Skidmore as our street, playing different kinds of games, yet accomplished basically the same goal.  We each brought our knowledge from home to campus, compared what we had learned there, and used it as a foundation for our academic endeavors and personal journeys that will carry us through our college years.  

References

Anderson, Elijah.  2001  “The Code of the Street.”  Pages 80-91 in Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, editors, Sociological Odyssey: Contemporary Readings in Sociology.  Stamford, Connecticut: Wadsworth.

Domhoff, William G.  1998.  “Who Rules America?  The Corporate Community and the Upper Class.”  Pages 195-200 in Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, editors, Sociological Odyssey: Contemporary Readings in Sociology.  Stamford, Connecticut: Wadsworth.

Scarce, Rik.  2005.  “Writing Tips: Advice, Hints, and Teensy Pearls of Wisdom for Weary and Wary Writers.”  Sociological Perspectives.  Online.  Available at: http://www.skidmore.edu/~rscarce/ClassWebPages/Writing_Tips/WritingTips.htm.

Young, Kevin and Laura Craig.  2001  “Canadian Male Street Skinheads.”  Pages 92-101 in Patricia A. Adler and Peter Adler, editors, Sociological Odyssey: Contemporary Readings in Sociology.  Stamford, Connecticut: Wadsworth.


Return to the Exemplary Student Essays page.