Arambulo, Araquel, Bismark, Flores, Gil, Lintag, Martinez, Medriano, Nepomuceno, Yano

Breaching Experiment Paper

Sociology and Anthropology (SA 21)

10 December 2015

Public Dining Assistance: A Breach and Inquiry on Space and Social Class

       I.            Introduction

A.    Background

Looking at the context of Filipino Culture, we can note that there have been a few traits that have been attributed to being a Filipino. These traits are how people distinguish us as compared to other cultures. Our traits are focused on being non-confrontational (Danao et.al, 2008). We are marked as a people known to be polite and respectful to our peers and to the elderly. This is most likely due to the influences of the colonial culture which has influenced our behavior to be much more subservient to whoever we deem as a higher authority (Coroza, 2015;Fanon, 1968). Due to this, it is a matter of question on how much it will take to make a person confront the thing that bothers them.

B.     Scope and limitations

The amount of people being tested is limited in terms of sample size. This is due to the restraints in time and resources. The ‘breaching’ of norms also prevents us from being able to continue some parts of the experiment due to the participants asking us to leave. Thus, making our sample size smaller. The broadness of the control sample prevents us from giving a detailed analysis on the data in fear of having a wrong generalization to the outcome present. The study also did not take into account the possible difference in reaction with regard to the gender of the researcher performing the experiment.  The public dining venues namely: the UP Town Center (UPTC) [high-end location] Gateway Mall Food Court [middle-end location], and the a local carinderia along Katipunan [low-end location] were also assumed as characteristically high-end, middle-end, low-end locations respectively by the researchers.

C.     Significance of the Study

In terms of significance we should note that the study is focused on trying to determine the various differences between the reactions of the respective social class. This is shown throughout by using the comparison of the venue of the perceived high-end establishment and low-end that is dictated by the demographic that is being catered to in that area. We should note that the extent of the reaction  that we are trying to get is more of being overtly helpful in the way that comes off as overbearing. This sort of behavior, though not illegal, tries to test how far a person can go in terms of the acceptance of a behavior that is unnecessary to the person subject to it.

II.            Methodology

The researchers selected (3) three popular dining venues for the breaching experiment based on the surrounding social conditions as well as the demographics of the population within each of the three chosen places.  The group made use of the random sampling method. The random sampling method is a statistical apparatus wherein each individual is chosen randomly, such that each individual has the same probability of being chosen at any stage during the sampling process (Yates, Moore, & Starnes, 2008).

In this experiment, the social conditions surrounding the dining places served as the independent variable, the people’s reactions to the breaching experiment constitute the dependent variable, and the group representative’s script (“Pwede po bang linisin?”) was the constant variable. The high-end dining place chosen by the researchers are the various restaurants in UP Town Center (UPTC), the middle end being the Gateway Mall Food Court, and the low-end dining place, a local carinderia in Katipunan.

In the Gateway Mall Food Court, one representative from the group approached an individual, a pair, or a group of people and offered to help them in clearing their table. Specifically, the group representative approached people who were currently eating their meal and had a few unused utensils (i.e. plates, glasses, trays) that had to be cleared away. On the other hand, due to the physical proximity of the tindero and the customer brought about by the small size of the carinderia, the researchers were not able to perform exactly the same actions as they did in the food court. However, they were able to show exaggerated helpfulness by offering water and performing similar acts of kindness. 

In all settings, a member of the group was tasked to document the experiment through video recording and another through observation. The data gathered from the video clips and the observations are presented in the next section. 

III.            Findings

Subject	Approx. Age (years old)	Observation
High End Area: UP Town Center Restaurants
Female	60-70	When the researcher approached the table offering to help as he starts wiping the table, the woman said, “Abnoy ka ba?”
Male and female	20-30	(Mad Mark's Creamery and Good Eats) The researcher approached the only customers having brunch at the restaurant. When the researcher offered to clean their table, the “couple” allowed him, and the researcher did without getting much reaction from the “couple.”
Male	12-15	(Pepper Lunch) There were a few customers in the restaurant. The respondent seemed like he seemed like he wasn’t alone (perhaps he was with someone who was still ordering). When the researcher offered to clean his table, he showed confusion but eventually allowed the researcher to do so without much concern.
Female	20-24	(S and R New York Style Pizza) There were many people in the establishment, but the respondent was alone with her Macbook. When the researcher offered to wipe her table, she looked surprised and expressed visible discomfort. She allowed the researcher to do so, but she was subtly eyeing the researcher with caution and/or slight suspicion.
Middle End Area: Gateway Food Court
Three (3) Males	18-22	When offered to help clean the table, the males were taken aback with confused look as they nodded slowly and awkwardly. They continued talking afterwards.
Family	2-4 (male) 4-6 (female) 30-35 (couple)	The family accepted the help. When the researcher turned back with the trays, the male father figure laughed and the female with the rest of the family just stared at the researcher until he got lost in sight.
Male	20-25	When the researcher offered to help with the cups on the table, the male denied the offer. He said, “May kasama pa ako,” in a strict and annoyed tone accompanied with a confused and irritated look.
Two (2) females	17-19	The teenagers looked annoyed because their conversation was interrupted. One girl raised her eyebrows at the researcher while the other one looked confused.
Family	12-14 (female) 8-12 (male) 40-45 (mother figure)	The mother figure was sleeping while the two kids were talking to each other when the researcher approached. The two kids’ jaw dropped and the older sister woke her mom up to deal with the researcher. The mother figure rejected the offer saying, “May kasama pa kami.”
Male	30	The male accepted the offer to help, but one of the waiters approached and took the dishes from the one performing the experiment. The waiter who was returning the dishes was approached by the security guard.
Security Guard	30-35	The guard approached the researcher and told him that he cannot do the job of the waiter. When the researcher apologized and explained that it was for an experiment, the guard said, “Kailangan ninyo po ng permit sa admin para sa ganyan.”
Low End Area: Carinderia in front of the UP Jeepney Station
Male	50-55	When the researcher offered help, the man just smiled and kindly declined as he explained that he will be the one to clean.
Male	40-50	This man laughed and declined the offer saying that he was not done eating yet.
Female	40-45	When the researcher was about to approach another customer, the waitress of the carinderia noticed what the researcher was doing. She jokingly told the researcher to stop by saying, “Kumain ka na lang.”

IV.            Analysis of Findings

            Considering all the data that have been collected, there are certain dynamics in the concepts and factors that became prevalent during the experiment. Significant results concerning location, demographics, social class, roles, and material culture that the group expected to see were observed.

A.    Location

The experiment assumed that the persons present in a particular social setting [high-end, middle-end, low-end locations] reflect their social class.

The high-end location, UP Town Center, is characterized by the presence of internationally-known establishments and franchises and local, independently owned high-end restaurants offering international cuisine as well as local cuisine [e.g. Mad Mark's Creamery and Good Eats, Pepper Lunch, IHOP]. It is also marked by the prevalence of various high-end specialty shops. The various shops are characterized by an element of privacy [a separate space -- usually with a particular ambience complementing the nature of the restaurant, specifically for dining in contrast to open food courts]. UP Town Center primarily caters to members of the middle to upper class.

The Gateway Mall Food Court was classified as a middle-end location considering its lack of of privacy. The location is marked by a self-service culture wherein the customer is expected to acquire food without the use of a waiting staff. There are varied food establishments present offering international and local cuisine in the food court.

The traditional carinderia was assumed as a low-end location considering its lack of privacy and the close proximity of the dining customers within the space. Carinderias are usually found perched along busy streets and are often within the household of the proprietor. These establishments also primarily offer local Filipino cuisine. The space also lacks some elements of the Gateway Mall Food Court, such as air conditioning and its location within an enclosed building.

B.     Demographics

The experiment had approximately twenty-three (23) participants utilizing the random sampling method. The participants varied in terms of age and in the total number of persons eating at the time [The researchers approached families, individuals, couples with varied ages and sexes]. Four (4) groups were approached in the high-end location, seven (7) in the middle-end location, and three (3) in the low-end location. The participants were distinguished through their social class. The general assumption is that the presence of persons in a particular social setting, in this case, high-end, middle-end and lower-end dining venues, constitute/reflect their social class e.g. persons eating in a known high-end restaurant, Mad Mark’s Creamery and Good Eats in UP Town Center, regardless of their perceived general appearance and characteristics were generally assumed as members of the middle to upper class.

C.     Status and Roles/Material Culture

A combination of the factors concerning the minutiae within a certain location and the disparity between possible demographics, the roles associated with a certain status vary greatly from the areas in which we have conducted the experiment. One such example of the difference between the assumed roles within a status are the tasks assigned to the workers. In the higher-end areas (Gateway, UPTC) we were able to observe that the delegation of roles were evenly spread out across a plethora of personnel (ex: Cooks, Waiters, Security Guards, Janitors etc.) as expected from big establishments. In places like the carinderia along Katipunan, though barely a handful of people were present, the roles of cook, waiter, security guard and even janitor were taken up by the lady behind the food service stall. There is an apparent compression of roles to one individual in the low class area, which can most likely be attributed to the size of the space and the capacity of the owners of the establishment to afford security personnel and more employees.

It is also of paramount importance to consider the various devices in which such roles are legitimized via the material culture apparent in interactions. The costumes used by the staff at the second and third locations (Gateway Mall Food Court, UPTC) were formal and consistent. All staffs at the Gateway Food Court wore a pair of black slacks and orange shirts. The guards also wore the standard uniform required of them. The servers also had different props enabling them to clean the tables easily. However, in the carinderia, the personnel manning various small food stalls wore informal costumes (pambahay).

D.    Elucidation of Answers

The size of the location contributed to the quality of enforcement of norms in the three locations. As seen in the findings, in both the Gateway Mall Food Court and the carinderia, attempts were made to stop the researchers from conducting the experiment. So called “gatekeepers” (security guard the lady behind the food stall) had the roles to enforce widespread norms in both locations. The pervading norm was to let servers clean the area. In the Gateway Food Court, the sample size was greater since we were able to conduct the experiment an ample amount of times before we were noticed by the security guard and asked to stop what we were doing. However, in the carinderia, we were able to conduct the experiment at a fewer number since we were easily noticed and stopped by the lady behind the counter. Meanwhile, the perils that the location size of the breaching experiment contributed to the group was significantly amplified at the restaurants we marked as being “high-end” in UP Town Center. Since the dimensions of the various restaurants we had visited in the area are multiple times smaller than that of the food court and carinderia, the enforcement of norms in the restaurants can be said to be much tighter than the previous two. However, unlike the physical intervention by authority that marked the previous two locations, only occasional glints and dazed faces marked the tools that enforces the norms in the restaurant. In fact, the restaurant staff were much more preoccupied with obtaining our orders rather than observing our movements, which in itself is a much more restrictive enforcement given that the failure to even order food in 3 of our 4 sample restaurants were meted with suggestive tones and gestures from the staff. It is very clear, then, that the characteristics of the location contributes to whether the norms are enforced easily or not.

The roles and status, and material culture also contributed to the efficacy of the enforcement of norms. The roles in the first and second location were stratified, there were people assigned to sell the product (Cashiers). People assigned to cook (Cooks). People assigned to clean the tables (Servers) and people assigned to guard against deviants (Security Guards). The third location, however, only had an individual carrying out multiple roles, as cook, chef, server, etc. For both the high-end and low-end areas, the gatekeepers had attempted to exercise their authority, with both attempts resolving at varying degrees of success. For the Security Guards in both UPTC and gateway had both asserted themselves in a manner that seemed to resonate authority as they tried to prevent us from continuing with our experiment. For the lady in the carinderia  however, she carried herself and spoke in a voice that made it seem like her request for the cease of our activities was merely a suggestion. This disparity in voice and empowerment could be attributed to the costumes that they had on, where one had that of a mediating officer, a costume most people are all too familiar with and for the longest time has symbolized authority and the law, a meaning imparted to it by both official institutions and the people who frequent any area with a security guard in sight; whereas the lady (who was very nice, mind you) only wore casual clothing, and although she had authority in the store seeing that it was hers, did not command any authority at all. The stratification of roles into multiple actors accentuated the effect or legitimacy of their status because the imposed roles are direct and specific per individual. Whereas for the lady behind the counter, she is assumed to enforce multiple statuses at once, making it hard which one of the roles to recognize. The given material culture accentuates the authority of actors in the first two locations whereas in the third, it diminishes it.

Conclusion

A.    Summary

            In sum, it can be discerned that within the context of modern-day Filipino society, the traditional values of fellowship and bayanihan that have elevated the nation to a state of warmth in the eyes of foreigners still exist as an undercurrent theme in the dynamic of social relations. However, these exercises in courtesy have been significantly diluted in comparison to times past and are not as predominant in society. In what is considered nowadays to be a dog-eats-dog world wherein every individual’s focus is primarily centered around the fulfilment of his/her own needs without much regard for others, extending unsolicited help out of one’s own volition without being monetarily compensated for services rendered is an almost unfathomable concept. This is where the crux of the study conducted comes in, as the researchers gauged just how much this disconnection from random acts of assistance and benevolence affect people’s ability to relate to others in their surroundings.

            The factors notable in the process of evaluating people’s responses to receiving aid from strangers are chiefly: the social class of the respondents as well as their demographic and the location in which they were present, and their age and social roles. Encapsulating the findings of the group, it can be perceived that one of the most relevant signifiers of people’s telltale reaction to receiving unexpected help would be the echelon in which they belong.

The respondents from the higher class set were mostly unaffected by the researchers’ request to wipe their tables, however they did display a modicum of wariness when regarding the researchers and in the event of objection, the particular participant would attest strongly. This suggests that while still on their guard, perhaps because of their upbringing to be more careful when outside due to their higher status and material Wait advantage, it was still evident that they were raised

Wait strongly influenced by manners; they were not utterly evident in displaying negative reactions and were able to maintain a front of politeness when interacting with the researchers.

On the other hand, the middle-class respondents mostly rejected the researchers’ attempts from the get-go and if they begrudgingly allowed it, they had no qualms in openly expressing their discomfort and awkwardness. Most of them showed little etiquette when it came to subtly rebuffing the researchers’ for breaking the norms and exhibited displays of informal sanctions by manifesting their annoyance at the situation--a formal sanction even took place in the form of the guard impeding the activities of the researchers.

The lower-class respondents were perhaps the most amiable when it came to interaction, though they seemed surprised when approached. This could be attributed to their sense of not being used to being served, they were probably the ones accustomed to helping others. Nevertheless, they did not showcase any possibly upsetting feelings over the exchange: they were not skeptical or alarmed at the prospect of being asked if the researchers could clean their table. Instead, they showed amusement at the spectacle and it can be inferred that they appreciated the goodwill embodied by the researchers.

Secondarily, another prominent factor involved was the age and social roles of the participants. In most instances, the participants were able to assert themselves more and let their voices be heard if they were older, especially if they were adults and played the roles of parents. Children and teenagers were more hesitant, either relying on the adults present for guidance and direction or merely allowing the researchers to perform their tasks without fuss. It was noticed that adults who were alone or with fellow adults were more likely to let the researchers wipe their tables and sometimes even got a good laugh out of it, but adults with children were more reticent and sometimes cut the researchers off before they were able to accomplish the task at hand. Perhaps this stems from protectiveness toward their offspring.

The location and other factors in the environment also contributed whether the enforcement of norms would be easy or hard, whether it would be strict or lax.

B.     Recommendations

            Ultimately, the researchers would recommend a closer evaluation of people’s behaviors vis-à-vis interactions with strangers in the event of receiving unnecessary attention; as well as examining the divergences in their reactions due to a societal gap caused by class division, as well as age differences and the like. Further studies could also center on the ways different individuals regard traditional values such as kindness, compassion and consideration, as well as how they factor these into their own lives either by way of responding to people in their surroundings exhibiting these traits or they themselves showcasing them. It could center on dynamic relationships as to how people (especially individuals in differing social classes) view themselves and the treatment they receive versus the treatment they actually receive, and the similar expectations they hold for others in the society. Moreover, further studies that could be an offshoot of this experiment would be the people’s perception and implementation of concepts such as etiquette, security, and social ties.

References

Brill, Michael. 1989. “Transformation, Nostalgia, and Illusion in Public Life and Public Space.” In Public Places and Spaces, edited by Irwin Altman and Erwin H. Zube, pp. 7–29. New York: Springer.

Coroza, M. M. (2015). Lecture on Mito ng Subanon. Lecture, Ateneo de Manila University, Kagawaran ng Filipino, Quezon city.

Danao et al., C. P. (2008). Kalinangan 6. Quezon City, NCR, Philippines: Phoenix Publishing House Inc.

Fanon, F. (1968). Wretched of the Earth. (C. Farrington, Trans.) New York, NY, USA: Grove Press. Retrieved

Iveson, Kurt. 2007. Publics and the City. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Yates, D. S., Moore, D. S., & Starnes, D. S. (2008). The Practice of Statistics (3rd ed.). Freeman Press.

Video Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/geca.arambulo/videos/921965944566220/

https://www.facebook.com/geca.arambulo/videos/921966367899511/

https://www.facebook.com/geca.arambulo/videos/921966127899535/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8pfpMw_3EMcexf7v6WdjnaxyWj1F2e8M