Gabriel Delos Reyes, Denise Gamboa, Jerome Imperio, Nicole Sun, Jet Tamin
SA 21 G
February 24, 2015
Breaching Experiment
SA 21 G
February 24, 2015
Breaching Experiment
High School Clubbing 101
1.) What norm did you violate?
Social Status of the
Typical Clubgoer
When entering a club, one
will certainly not expect to find a high school student lounging at the bar
area or smoking on the dance floor. Bars and clubs are intended for adults
which are composed mainly of college students and those from the working class.
These are places for the 18+ to unwind, meet with old friends or make new ones,
and at the end of the night, maybe even get “lucky”. In addition, upscale clubs
(like the one we went to) are exclusive venues where the rich and famous go to
have fun and in the process, spend a lot of money which high schoolers
typically do not have. In our case, the club had a required Php 15000
consumable in order to avail a seated table or Php 5000 consumable for a
standing table. This was the type of establishment where the likes of Vin
Diesel and Lebron James partied while they were in Manila.
Age Limit
Generally, high school students, taking into consideration those from public and private schools, range from 13 to 18 years of age; with 18 year olds (normally, seniors from private schools) consisting only a handful of the population. As a result, the majority thinks that high school students are still minors. Hence, they are under the acceptable drinking age. If ever these students want to drink alcohol, they would have to do it within the privacy of their own homes or in commercial establishments that aren’t as strict as the bigger and more famous clubs in Manila like the one we went to. Also, the bigger bars and clubs make it a point to not allow high schoolers and anybody below 18 to drink alcohol without proper identification. Anyone who would find a high school student in this kind of establishment would probably think that he is a minor and still unsuitable for this type of environment.
Generally, high school students, taking into consideration those from public and private schools, range from 13 to 18 years of age; with 18 year olds (normally, seniors from private schools) consisting only a handful of the population. As a result, the majority thinks that high school students are still minors. Hence, they are under the acceptable drinking age. If ever these students want to drink alcohol, they would have to do it within the privacy of their own homes or in commercial establishments that aren’t as strict as the bigger and more famous clubs in Manila like the one we went to. Also, the bigger bars and clubs make it a point to not allow high schoolers and anybody below 18 to drink alcohol without proper identification. Anyone who would find a high school student in this kind of establishment would probably think that he is a minor and still unsuitable for this type of environment.
Dress Code
Clubs provide its patrons
with a dress code that they must follow in order to maintain the prestige of
the establishment. In addition, it is a venue for socialites, therefore making
it an unwritten rule to dress to impress. Men usually wear polos or collared
shirts with pants and closed shoes, while women usually wear provocative
clothing like cocktail dresses, short skirts or anything of the like, usually
matched with high heels. Very rarely would people go to a club wearing just
high school uniforms. Even so, real students are the last group of people
expected to dress as such for the reason that if they wanted to go and drink in
clubs, they would try their best to look like adults and blend in by dressing
like the rest of the crowd.
The Experiment
Three members of the group
(Jet, Gab and Denise) wore high school uniforms while the two other members
(Jerome and Nicole) wore typical club goer outfits. For the experiment’s
purposes, we treated Jet, Gab and Denise as the experimental group, and Jerome
and Nicole as the control group. We did this so that we could better analyze
and have a base of comparison for the results we get. The whole group went into
the club together and we were escorted by a waiter to a standing table. The
members wearing high school uniforms didn’t venture outside our table’s area
during the first hour we were there
since there weren’t much people inside the club yet. It was very
important for us to have many people inside the club because the more people
the experimental group could interact with, the more observations and data we
could collect. When the club started to fill up, the three “high schoolers”
started walking around the club doing things that typical clubgoers do. First,
they tried to ask for cigarettes from a random man and then they asked him to
light the cigarettes he just gave. Second, they would approach different groups
of people then they would start talking and eventually dancing with them. They
first engaged in small talk by saying their fake names and saying that they’re
from high school, and after doing so, they would start dancing and fistpumping
wildly around the strangers. Lastly, they would tried to draw the attention of
bystanders within their proximity by chugging down on large amounts of alcohol.
While the experimental group was doing the said tasks, the control group
observed them from a distance and they took note of the reactions of the people
around the three high schoolers.
Figure 1. The "highschoolers" before the experiment
The Venue
We conducted the experiment in one of the high end clubs in the Fort area called Prive. We chose Prive as our venue because it’s known to be one of sauciest clubs in the Metro where young millionaires and celebrities both local and international go to party. We expected that type of crowd to react the most to our experiment since we would be really deviating from their standards/norms. That type of crowd is used to partying with the more refined, sophisticated and well-off personalities, not so much with wild and rowdy high schoolers. Another factor that influenced our decision is the fact that the floor manager of the club is a relative of one of the members. We informed him of the experiment beforehand so that we wouldn't get much interference from the bouncers and also because of this, we were partly assured of a secured environment just in case any problem arose.
We conducted the experiment in one of the high end clubs in the Fort area called Prive. We chose Prive as our venue because it’s known to be one of sauciest clubs in the Metro where young millionaires and celebrities both local and international go to party. We expected that type of crowd to react the most to our experiment since we would be really deviating from their standards/norms. That type of crowd is used to partying with the more refined, sophisticated and well-off personalities, not so much with wild and rowdy high schoolers. Another factor that influenced our decision is the fact that the floor manager of the club is a relative of one of the members. We informed him of the experiment beforehand so that we wouldn't get much interference from the bouncers and also because of this, we were partly assured of a secured environment just in case any problem arose.
Figure 2. The typical people and surroundings inside Prive
3.) What were the different
reactions of the people? List all possible actions you observed. Why do you
think they reacted this way? What caused these reactions? Did the deviant act
reaffirm/reinforce the existing norms based on this reaction?
Gab and Jet initially wore sweaters during the first hour we were in the club since it was quite cold and there weren’t much people to interact with yet. Later on though, when they took off their sweaters to initiate the ‘ultimate phase’ of the experiment, a man gave them looks of approval and raised his eyebrows a few times as if it were a gesture of encouragement instead of disapproval – something we really didn’t expect especially after receiving so much looks of distaste when we went into the club. The man’s gestures of approval points to the fact that men value a gutsy demeanor.
Gab and Jet initially wore sweaters during the first hour we were in the club since it was quite cold and there weren’t much people to interact with yet. Later on though, when they took off their sweaters to initiate the ‘ultimate phase’ of the experiment, a man gave them looks of approval and raised his eyebrows a few times as if it were a gesture of encouragement instead of disapproval – something we really didn’t expect especially after receiving so much looks of distaste when we went into the club. The man’s gestures of approval points to the fact that men value a gutsy demeanor.
The first thing Gab and Jet did was to interact with a group of women beside our table. After a few minutes of small talk, they said that the women seemed open and eager to converse with them but politely declined when Jet tried to dance with them and when Gab invited them to go to our table and share drinks with us. They said they were waiting for their other companions which was indeed the case after seeing them with other women a few minutes later. We expected the women to converse with Jet and Gab out of decency and manners but we really didn’t expect them to go to our table to share drinks with us which was reaffirmed by their reaction to Jet and Gab’s invitation. In the club setting, inviting someone to your table and offering them a drink is usually taken as a sign of interest which is the main reason why we think the women didn’t accept the invite or went back to Gab and Jet after meeting with their friends. Seeing that they wore high school uniforms, the women probably closed out all possibilities of reciprocating the interest Gab and Jet showed.
Figure 3. Selfie moment of one of the "highschooler" at the front desk
The next thing Jet did was ask the man beside our table for
cigarettes and despite Jet’s outfit, he still gave him cigarettes and even lit
them for him – not just once, but twice. He did not give judging looks or
anything of the like. Although they were able to get away with it for that
person, they received glares from the woman he was with whom we believe was the
one that got us kicked out of the club later that night. We were surprised the
man gave Jet cigarettes, but then it’s interesting to point out the fact that
it was also a man who gave gestures of approval when Jet and Gab removed their sweaters
to show their uniforms. It seems as if men are more open to these kinds to our
deviation as compared to women.
Another interesting observation was even though Denise appeared to be a minor, some men still seemed to give her ‘looks of intent’. From here, we can say that regardless of the social construct that minors shouldn’t engage in adult activities and the construct that adults shouldn’t try to manipulate high schoolers/minors into sexually engaging with them, men still prey on them, perhaps seeing their vulnerability as an opportunity.
Another interesting observation was even though Denise appeared to be a minor, some men still seemed to give her ‘looks of intent’. From here, we can say that regardless of the social construct that minors shouldn’t engage in adult activities and the construct that adults shouldn’t try to manipulate high schoolers/minors into sexually engaging with them, men still prey on them, perhaps seeing their vulnerability as an opportunity.
After an hour or so of gathering data, some of the customers in the
club eventually complained to management about our presence because they deemed
us to be minors, which in truth, was partially correct. The floor manager
approached and asked us to change our uniforms to more appropriate clothes. He
explained that our experiment was bothering some of the clients and would
create a bad image of their establishment. He needed proof that we were all in
our legal age by showing our real ID cards, or else we had to leave the place.
To add to this, he took away our drinks to further reinforce the punishment
implemented. Our group decided to finish the breaching experiment so that we
can all go home since it was already late and we did not want any trouble. In
the end, we saw that regardless of your age, people would judge you if you’re
wearing something contextually inappropriate which in our case is a high school
uniform in a club.
Figure 4. The group enjoying a drink in Prive
4.) Aside from the norms, what
sociological themes are at play for people to react in a certain way? Is it a
function of gender, social class, value/beliefs of institutions?
We were not able to observe any reactions that rooted from different social classes because the experiment’s scope and limitation subjected the researchers to an environment exclusive to the upper class.
We were not able to observe any reactions that rooted from different social classes because the experiment’s scope and limitation subjected the researchers to an environment exclusive to the upper class.
Gender Differences
Gender differences proved to be significant in our breaching experiment. Although the scope limited us to the reactions exhibited inside the club, we believe that the information gathered outside the premises can contribute to the significance of gender differences in this breaching experiment. While we were at McDonald’s making necessary preparations – such as changing into our high school uniforms and eating to prevent early intoxication – we received more looks from women than men. This also applies to when we were walking on our way to the club from McDonald’s. Stares and a few laughs from what seemed like college students – mostly from women – were directed to the three of us in uniforms.
Between men and women, men appeared to be more accepting. A guy in the bathroom gave Gab the eyebrows of approval. Guys beside our table gave Jet a cigarette and lighted it twice without any hesitation. The floor manager was still accommodating even though we could compromise their club. He still gave us ample time to finish our drink before asking us to leave. There were still men staring at us and judging us but these three instances just show that many men do not care enough or are just laid back. We are not doing anything bad to them so they won’t bother us.
Due to a complaint from one of the clubbers, we were asked to leave the premises. We have learned later on that it was the woman beside our table that gave the complaint. We are not sure whether it was out of concern or an expression of displeasure because of the interaction we had with her fellow male partygoer. Gender was definitely a noteworthy factor in our experiment as it was always the women that gave disapproving reactions despite the number of men we have encountered.
There is a noteworthy difference between the reactions of men and women in our experiment as men appeared to be more open and accepting than the women when it came to tolerating the high schoolers’ behavior. We attribute this behavior to the conservativeness of women and how society expects them to have a nurturing role.
Gender differences proved to be significant in our breaching experiment. Although the scope limited us to the reactions exhibited inside the club, we believe that the information gathered outside the premises can contribute to the significance of gender differences in this breaching experiment. While we were at McDonald’s making necessary preparations – such as changing into our high school uniforms and eating to prevent early intoxication – we received more looks from women than men. This also applies to when we were walking on our way to the club from McDonald’s. Stares and a few laughs from what seemed like college students – mostly from women – were directed to the three of us in uniforms.
Between men and women, men appeared to be more accepting. A guy in the bathroom gave Gab the eyebrows of approval. Guys beside our table gave Jet a cigarette and lighted it twice without any hesitation. The floor manager was still accommodating even though we could compromise their club. He still gave us ample time to finish our drink before asking us to leave. There were still men staring at us and judging us but these three instances just show that many men do not care enough or are just laid back. We are not doing anything bad to them so they won’t bother us.
Due to a complaint from one of the clubbers, we were asked to leave the premises. We have learned later on that it was the woman beside our table that gave the complaint. We are not sure whether it was out of concern or an expression of displeasure because of the interaction we had with her fellow male partygoer. Gender was definitely a noteworthy factor in our experiment as it was always the women that gave disapproving reactions despite the number of men we have encountered.
There is a noteworthy difference between the reactions of men and women in our experiment as men appeared to be more open and accepting than the women when it came to tolerating the high schoolers’ behavior. We attribute this behavior to the conservativeness of women and how society expects them to have a nurturing role.
Age Stratification
The whole time we were inside
the club and even before going in, we observed a lot of people staring at the
high schoolers -- snickering, whispering to each other and giving them
distasteful glares. We attribute this to the age difference between high
schoolers and the typical clubgoer. The typical clubgoer would want to party
with more mature and refined adults since socializing with that age group would
be more natural and would yield more meaningful conversations and interactions.
High schoolers in a club can be presumed interesting by clubgoers since it’s
not everyday they’d see such a scene. In the end, they would find it useless to
exhaust their energy on interacting with high schoolers when they can interact
with people they deem are more worth their while and closer to their age group.
Upon further analysis, we were able to observe that there were also different reactions between the clubgoers based on their age. It seemed that the clubgoers who looked 20-35 years old are less tolerant as compared to the clubgoers who looked 40+ years old, who reacted more passively and seemed to care less. We attribute this to our belief that once young adults pass a certain age/age group, they tend to look down upon the the new generation of young adults who have taken up the positions they previously held. On the other hand, we believe that the older clubgoers are more passive because they’ve probably gotten accustomed to the inflow of younger generations into the club scene. Also, we believe that they would have more more important things to care about other than annoying high schoolers getting wasted in a club.
5.) How did you feel when you
did this experiment? How does it feel to deviate from the norms? Were you
hesitant to do the activity?
Our personal experiences were terrifying and
thrilling at the same time. When we were about to enter the club, all of us
really thought we would have been held up by the bouncers. It gave us a sigh of
relief when we were able to get past the receiving area. Despite the awkward
and intimidating looks from the guards and staff employees, we continued to
keep our composure and cool to seem that we were really legitimate high school
students when in fact, we were already feeling quite uncomfortable and nervous
deep inside (it did not help that it was most of the group’s first time in a
genuine club which catered to the elite of the society).
A calm feeling followed through right after we got to our table and and each got a swig of Johnnie Walker (note: drinking was required). We were quite hesitant about drinking because we didn’t know the people around us but we just went through with it since we needed it for the success of our breaching experiment. Although half the group did get a bit intoxicated at some point, it was not hard for us to take note of the people around us and their reactions because the only thing we had in mind was our main purpose of gathering data for the experiment. It did take some strong will to condition our minds in keeping up the façade while storing the reactions of the people around us.
A calm feeling followed through right after we got to our table and and each got a swig of Johnnie Walker (note: drinking was required). We were quite hesitant about drinking because we didn’t know the people around us but we just went through with it since we needed it for the success of our breaching experiment. Although half the group did get a bit intoxicated at some point, it was not hard for us to take note of the people around us and their reactions because the only thing we had in mind was our main purpose of gathering data for the experiment. It did take some strong will to condition our minds in keeping up the façade while storing the reactions of the people around us.
Figure 5. The "highschoolers" dancing and partying
After the experiment, the group felt alive having been able to deviate from the norms. Noticing the reactions of the people was priceless even if it came with initial feelings of uncertainty on our part. Some of us have already been watching deviant acts on Facebook before and were already fans of these kinds of people, admiring their guts and bravery. We are proud to say that we were able to become brave souls as well. We acted like what was considered normal in clubs, but we were also able to take it up a notch by doing all these in high school uniforms. Eventually, all traces of nervousness fell away and got replaced by a whole lot of excitement. Some members were even able to relate this excitement to being able to go back to our high school days when we knew nothing of the world beyond school and academics.
Overall, there may have been hesitations at the very beginning, with some members even trying to back out and refusing to wear the uniforms; but in the end, we felt relieved and thankful for pushing through with the activity which provided us with a lot of new lessons and experiences. The group also felt that trust and teamwork were very valuable during this unique breaching activity. We had to rely on each other so that no one would get into trouble and that everyone would be able to contribute with the experiment. Overall, we found this to be a very fun-filled and thrilling experience and we were able to enjoy everything we did.
6.) Other observations you
might have on the activity and on deviance in general.
Given the varying reactions we
observed, the group thought that like everything else, what is considered
“deviant” is contextual and changes from person to person depending on his
background. Based on our breaching experiment, deviance is contextualised
according to the social conformities and ideologies it opposes to. The human's
perception of this counter flow of norms depends on one's background, social
upbringing, culture, laws, tolerance, etc. According to the World Health
Organization (2004), the minimum legal age to drink varies around the world
dramatically from ages 16 to 18 years old, 21 years old and above, and no age
limitation at all. In the Philippines, the legal age to drink is 18 years old
while other countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Morroco have no legal
requirements. If we were to conduct our experiment in the aforementioned
countries, we would’ve probably gotten different results.
Another observation we had on based on the activity, is that social constructs are always at work. We believe that everybody lives separated by social constructs like gender race and class. Social constructs unconsciously exist in our actions and reactions which we manifest in the environment/society we live in. With continuous manifestation, the social constructs are institutionalized into norms which are based on the collective perception of majority or one whole social class. This is evident on how the norms of a clubgoer looks down upon high schoolers partying in clubs.
Reference:
World Health Organization (2004). "Global Status Report: Alcohol Policy". Geneva: WHO Publication
World Health Organization (2004). "Global Status Report: Alcohol Policy". Geneva: WHO Publication
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