Social Class Experiment

Amal Jose

Writing assignment 1

31 August 2017

Sociology, section:10

Social Class Experiment

The subjects which were observed were located at the Starbucks, many of which are frequent patrons of the business. It can be assumed that a large percentage of these customers belonged to either the middle or upper class. These findings cannot be guaranteed, of course, as nobody there that day I know on a personal level or am in any way affiliated with.

Many of the students entering the facility went straight to the counter to order promptly upon entrance. A smaller portion of the patrons went straight to tables—assumingly congregating to take advantage of Starbucks free Wi-Fi. I can assume, that these students represent the lower class in the hierarchy, while those who went to place their orders can, in part, represent those of a higher-class level.

Many of the “paying” customers were dressed in clothing which appeared to me more sophisticated than those merely using the facility's advance Wi-Fi services. Over half of these paying customers appeared to be Caucasian, the majority being female.

Another interesting fact that I observed was that a lot of those who ordered from the Starbucks simply went in to make their purchase then promptly left after receiving it, while many of those that never placed an order remained in the location to take advantage of the Wi-Fi. Based on my findings, those of the “upper” class were less likely to remain at the location.

While these findings can obviously not be absolute, one can assume that the social classes within the Starbucks facility were, for the most part, rather obvious. While those of the upper class continued with their day, others simply staid to take advantage of the free internet service. Based on stereotypes, we can gather what we recognize in our world as the lower and upper class, even though this will greatly vary based on who is making that observation and their own standing on the hierarchy.