Discussion of the MicroCulture

UNC, the university of the Tarheels, but amongst the growing Tarheel culture lays hundreds or maybe even thousands of smaller cultures known as microculture. For those of you who do a not know a microculture is a small group (some are actually pretty big) of people who have a common interest or share similar goals. Some may call these groups “cliques.” The microculture that interested me was the “gym goers,” to the point that I actually went to the gyms on campus to observe this growing group. My goal was to discover what the norms were and how was the atmosphere. I compared two gyms on campus: Rams and the Student Recreation Center (SRC). I believe that each gym would share similar aspects which would most likely be the norms, and that the atmosphere of each would be very sociable.

I spent two hours observing this microculture, an hour at each gym. I have already stated my observation in the previous blogs below, so now I just plan on comparing the two set of observations. Through comparing I will explain what were the norms, and even giving my explanation of why certain aspects were the way they were.

Upon entering the gyms the first prevalent characteristics among the people was their attire. Majority of people wore t -shirts and shorts. This I believe to be the normal gym attire; the reason being is that it is a lot easier to work out in shorts and a shirt then jeans and coat. However I did notice one “gym goer” in jeans. My only assumption to this is that he was not prepared to come to the gym that day. I’m guessing it was a “spur of the moment” kind of thing.

Another big similarity was that gyms were somewhat segregated by gender. My explanation behind this is that the male tend to be on the “weight-side” because they were interested in gaining muscle mass or in other words “getting bigger.” Unlike the men the women tended to be on the machines (treadmills, bikes, etc). I believe this to be because women tend to go to the gym to stay in shape or lose weight which would explain the segregation.

There were a lot of similarities, but there were also a few differences between the two gyms. When observing Rams I noticed the lack of people and the small number of groups. Most of the people worked out alone, and they didn’t talk as much; unlike the SRC which was very sociable, had a nice amount of people and majority of them were in groups. I believe the reason for this difference was due o the fact that I observed these gyms at different times. I went to Rams in the morning, in which a lot of people have class then which explain its emptiness. On the other hand I went to the SRC in the afternoon and on the weekend which would explain the crowdedness.

In the end after looking over all my observation I believe the similarities shared between the two gyms to be the norms. I also believe my hypothesis about the similar environments to be correct except for the fact that the SRC was more sociable due to the fact that I observed the gyms at different times of the day.

Day 2 of Observations

My 2nd day of observing this microculture also went well. Unlike Day 1, this time I did my observation at Fetzer Gym. I started at 5:30 pm and finished at 6:30pm. This gym is split between an upstairs and downstairs.

Downstairs

• Weights and Machines
• Mostly weight machines
• Big mirror in front of weights
• A few Treadmills
• Mostly men and a few girls

Upstairs

• Treadmills and Bicycles
• An aerobics room
• Mostly women and a few men

Observations

• More social then Rams gym
• Everyone was wearing T-shirt and athletic shorts
• When lifting weights people tend to look in the mirror
• There were more groups in here then in Rams. There were actually only a few people who were alone.
• Overall the atmosphere was good, and the people seemed nice and helpful.
• Mostly young men and women, but there were a few more older people then there were in Rams.