Mall Diversity Assignment

Our textbook defines social community as “a group of people who live within a dominant culture yet also belong to another social group or groups that share values, understandings, and practices distinct from those of the dominant culture.” This may sound familiar. We have discussed, or will discuss, the concept of co-culture in class: “a group whose beliefs or behaviors distinguish it from the larger culture of which it is a part and with which it shares numerous similarities.” These two concepts are synonymous.

Your assignment is to spend the class period in the mall and observe as well as analyze interactions and communication between the various social communities, (and members thereof) within this “larger dominant culture.” You may want to keep in mind that the mall is a commercial enterprise which has shops that each cater to very specific and different social groups, and use communication in their efforts to sell.

The written assignment attached to this experience. Within this written assignment you will identify at least two social groups that are represented at the mall, and the cultural markers that distinguish them. After identifying social groups, analyze and critique the communication skills/tactics/methods, utilized by specific stores to sell their products to their targets.

This assignment is to be 2-3 pages in length, using the writing criteria described in the “Assignments” section of your syllabus and is worth 20 points. Utilizing the grading rubric below will assist you in effectively completing the assignment.

Requirement / Point distribution
Assignment utilizes and highlightsat least 5 terms and concepts from the text, in context. / 5 points
Student clearly identifies two social groups and the cultural markers that distinguish them. / 5 points
Student discusses whether stores take into consideration and target specific social communities. Student provides an analysis and critique of the skills/tactics/methods utilized by the stores to sell their products, and / 5 points
Assignment is reasonably free of writing errors / 5 points