Concierge or Information Desk: Teaching Social Stratification through the Malling of America

Abstract

This paper presents a sociological synthesis of critical pedagogical and andragogical teaching techniques for a multidisciplinary classroom. Field research was conducted by undergraduate students at a popular social setting: local urban and suburban malls. The objective of the assignment was to explore critically the basic sociological concepts of stratification along such dimensions as race, class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. By extending classroom heuristics into the social of everyday life, this approach enables students to explore a familiar social place-the postindustrial shrine to American consumption culture-through the critical lens of the sociological imagination. The application of sociological principles learned in the classroom to the larger community or real world helps to enhance the relevance of sociology as a scientific discipline to students when they return to the traditional academic setting. Although the paper is based on experiences from a multidisciplinary class (N=63) that was not trained in qualitative research techniques, the assignment can be utilized effectively in more advanced undergraduate and graduate courses, including research methods classes.