Social Class

I hadn't been to a mall in ages, so this assignment was hard to do. Luckily for me, though, I was able to ground myself a little while I was there by going through the back corridors and having a bite of Cinnabon, things I used to do back in my mall rat days.

Valley Fair is made up of the "standard" mall shops: Vans, Hot Topic, MAC, Apple, Macy's, Forever 21, etc. I would say that the majority of the stores are catered to the low to middle classes.

For my study, I decided to focus on Hot Topic and the Apple Store. Hot Topic, as the name implies, adorns itself with the latest trendy counter-culture items. Basically the whole store is a commodification of that which is on the fringe of acceptance. The music is full of angst, as are the shirts. Because not many people went into there, I didn't feel like it was a good place to stake out. However, those that did walk in came with bags from places like the Sunglass Hut, Pacific Sunwear, and Levi's.

The apple store was strategically designed to put their newest item up front, the iPad. Tons of people hovered around these contraptions, but I don't recall seeing too many people actually purchasing any.

Here's what I used as status markers from both stores: shoes, bags (as in purses and shopping bags), and glasses. At Apple, there was a wide range of shoes. I often look at people's shoes to get a sense of their personality. However, in all these things, shoes notwithstanding, I've found that it's not so much what people carry on themselves or wear that determine class, but more their behaviors.

I didn't stick around long enough to observe individual behaviors, but in terms of classifying people into an economic status, at Valley Fair I'd say that a good majority are working-middle class. Those articles of clothing and accessories that stood out as "fancy," were the exception to the rule, and not the norm. It might be conspicuous consumption, where someone spends beyond their means to produce a false class status, or it might just be that those people are of the minority that had extra money to spend.

Either way, malls aren't fun for me. Looking back now, I should have probably gone across to Santana Row to really see the distinctions between the two groups of people.