Essay about Ethnography 1

Ethnography: Gym Culture As a long time gym member and a highly active participant in the local New York Sports Club, I decided that for my ethnography report I would immerse myself deeper into a culture I had experienced for years prior. The New York Sports Club in Dobbs Ferry would transform from a building dedicated to training to a microcosm of the real world. With enough observation and analysis, I was able to uncover the meaning behind the gym culture. The gym floor is separated and classified just like the real world. Each group of people inside the NYSC represents a larger one outside of its walls. In addition, I noticed that gym-going was a ruthless habit that resulted from a society obsessed with body image and conformity. Even though this gym had been a familiar place for so many years, I had never noticed the patently structured environment. I was just another individual attempting to stay fit with my own daily routine. In order to perform accurate and unbiased analysis of my environment, I tried to pull myself out of the situation, shifting my involvement from myself, which I normally so nonchalantly do, to everyone else, a practice so rare in this sort of setting. I visited the gym on three separate occasions for my studies, dedicating my time to intense observation. Each time, instead of arriving at the gym, magnetically dragging my feet to my typical treadmill, and diving into my own world of self-involvement, I would pick myself out of my tunnel vision and take a look around. I saw things that were truly fascinating to me. I went at different times and different days each visit as an attempt to experience all possible variations that the gym culture had to offer. As I went through my notes after the observation period terminated, I concluded an important phenomenon; the gym culture is much like any other, subtly cliquy and highly codified. What had gone under the radar for so many years became painstakingly obvious. The gym was a subculture filled with social rules and regulations that were only uncovered if one dug around a little bit. At each time and or day, different people stuck to their areas of the decently sized and widely adored sports club, hardly interacting with the disparate personalities in other sections. This phenomenon is much like an environment of a high school, divided by stereotypical cliques and subtle judgement. Each “clique” has a lot to be said about itself and what it represents in broader society. The “Socialites” have been and still are present in every sub-culture and grander culture. In high school they are classified as the popular girls who gossip and have a social life to die for. In the gym, these “Socialites” are mostly stay-at-home moms who fill their schedule with effortless workouts and lunch dates that follow. On weekdays from around nine to eleven in the morning, the gym is packed with moms from ages 35-55, in their top of the line workout clothing. They mostly walk or jog on the treadmill with a friend nearby, or indulge in a mediocre elliptical workout. The gym time for these women is a time to catch up with friends, gossip about the latest neighborhood drama, or in some cases just focus on getting their day started. A few things unite these women together. Primarily, the socialites take pride in arriving everyday at the same time. They know the workers and trainers who they see everyday. They constantly ask them how business is going or a number of other personal questions. When observing a workout class (Total Body Conditioning as it was called) I noticed that each woman had clearly been there before at least once and in most cases numerous times. They called the instructor by her first name and asked her how her kids were. As I timidly walked by some of the women already preparing for the class, it was clear that I was the outsider. No one told me what equipment to grab or how to set up my individual station of a step board, yoga mat, and dumbbells. Instead I

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