Introduction
The event that I will observe in that essay happened a month ago in the art gallery I visited to see the modern art exhibition. I chose the show because I was curious to look at the pieces of modern art and try to understand them despite my lack of knowledge in that topic. Those kinds of activities are scarce and unusual for me, so it was fascinating to attend the event. Moreover, I wondered what kind of contingent and people visit such events. There were many questions and guesses about the exhibition. I have tried to predict what social classes I will see the most, ages, gender, dilettantes that just attended to view the painting briefly, or art experts. Through the experience of attending that kind of event, I will observe various social behavior patterns.
Main body
The gallery was open during the whole working day. We visited it in the evening and spent there about two hours wandering along the hallways full of sculptures, paintings, and peculiar installations. The public was diverse, and as much as I was enjoying the works of art, I was also constantly looking at the people around me, observing them and their behavior. The place had three floors, and all of them were crowded with people, though it was the last day of the monthly exposition. There were many young people, primarily teenagers, students, and to my surprise, a decent amount of older adults. Some of them were quickly moving from one painting to another. Some took time to precisely watch every picture they saw and read the caption about the author and the remarks on the art object. As I was watching them, eventually, I classified visitors into several main categories based on their social patterns and interactions with each other.
The first group that seemed remarkable to me was the group of artists whose works were in the exhibition. They walked through the gallery separately; sometimes, they interacted with each other and discussed the installations together. They were segregated from other people, and by the way they looked, walked, dressed, and the wholesome impression they created, they seemed like the intelligent representative integrated into the artistic and intellectual community. Different social classes have culture-specific ways of thinking, acting, and representing themselves (Manstead, 2018), and the impression the artists created was the very confident and calm upper-class representatives. Considering that most Americans’ wealth portfolios rely on the cost of their households (Gibson-Davis et al., 2021), they built much greater capital compared to the middle-class contingent. Their painting was reserved or already sold, and the price started from five to fifteen thousand dollars per painting.
The young people that were the most significant part of the visitors have created another picture of social patterns. Although, as I have seen, everyone was observing and looking at the art, the youth seemed to have a very brief involvement. Wherever I went, I have seen teenagers and students taking numerous photographs in front of the art objects, filming videos, and posing for pictures. In the era of mass media, many people can hardly participate in any exciting event without sharing it online. Most likely, it feels as if the person did not experience it unless he or she shared it with others online. This illustrates the specific everyday activity patterns and the time people spend on it whenever and wherever they are (Vagni et al., 2018). There is a probability that some of them sincerely enjoyed the exhibition, although it mostly looked like the platform for the photoshoot. I have also seen there the social pattern of recognition for the accomplishment, such as attendance at cultural and intellectual events, which can be a way of social approval.
One of the most inquisitive for me was watching the older people in the gallery. Those who I have observed looked very modest dressed very simply and mostly visited an exhibition alone. Unlike the artists or youth, they did not take pictures or discuss the art with anyone. There was one woman who, for a long time and thoughtfully looked at every art object there as she was trying to analyze it and understand its core of it deeply. The generation of those people seemed to value the knowledge and possibility of learning something new and modern and trying to understand it. Simultaneously I see the appreciation of the accessibility of the cultural and social events that they can attend and enjoy independently of social status or financial income.
Summary
To summarize the observation, during the described event, I have identified several social patterns. Among the group of intelligence, I have seen the pattern of the preference for their specific narrow community of creators and inclination to the costly classical attributes. The young people demonstrated the tendency to overshare the information, thoughtless consumption, and a very brief interest in the subject that was mainly chosen to create the content. At the same time, the group of older people has illustrated involvement in the process and the pattern connected with belonging to the lower class with their prudence and thoughtfulness.
References
Vagni, G., & Cornwell, B. (2018). Patterns of everyday activities across social contexts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(24), 6183-6188. Web.
Gibson-Davis, C., & Hill, H. D. (2021). Childhood Wealth Inequality in the United States: Implications for Social Stratification and Well-Being. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 7(3), 1-26.
Manstead, A. S. (2018). The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behavior. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(2), 267-291. Web.