Rachel Leite English 1102 Elizabeth Hinnant 5 March 2014 UNCC Students in Uniform Ethnography My ethnographic study focuses

primarily on how social interactions change for UNC Charlotte students in uniform. This topic caught my attention since I pass UNCC students in uniform every single day while walking around campus. I began to think of many questions pertaining to these students in uniform. Are these students treated differently simply because of their attire? Do they enjoy wearing their uniforms because they are treated with more respect from everyone else? Do they wear their uniforms properly and for the right reasons? Does their uniform affect their own attitude, such as making them feel more confident as well as sexually attractive? I also wondered how these students in uniform were perceived through the eyes of onlookers. If onlookers treated students in uniform differently than the average bystander, were they aware that they were doing so? Do the majority of onlookers find students wearing uniforms more sexually appealing? These were all questions that flooded my thoughts so I decided to go and figure out the answers to these questions myself. I sat in the heart of campus for many hours just watching and observing how the students in uniform acted as well as were treated, and how bystanders treated these students and their general attitudes towards them. I also interviewed a student in uniform and gave out fifteen surveys to both students in uniform and onlookers. A good amount of data was collected and connections and conclusions were able to be drawn between different observations. These conclusions are discussed in the last paragraph of this paper.

After witnessing how students in uniform interacted with others, in every instance they were treated more respectfully. In one particular instance there a young man in uniform waiting in the Wendys line at UNC Charlotte. When he was called up by the cashier saying Ill take the next customer, he was greeted nicely with a smile and was asked how he was doing. He replied with I am doing great and then ordered his food. Once he received it, he began to walk away and looked into his bag. He then stopped and turned back around to ask the cashier if they had any honey mustard sauce. As the young man started to hand his card to her to pay for the sauce, the cashier replied with oh dont you worry about it hun. He gave her his thanks and they said their goodbyes. However, once the cashier took the next customer, not in uniform, she did not bother to ask how he was doing. She simply took his order and no more words were exchanged. It was very apparent in this case that the young man in uniform received both more respect and the benefit of not paying for his sauce. This however was not the only instance in which students in uniform were treated with more respect than the average person. After watching who was polite enough to hold the door open for others behind them, almost every single person that walked out of the student union was kind enough to push the door open enough for the person behind them to catch it. There were only a few exceptions out of the hundreds of people leaving the building that did not push the door open at all; they just let it fall shut in front of another persons face. This may have been because they were distracted by looking down at their phones or were not aware of their surroundings. However, in many instances in which a student in uniform was a few glides away from a door, those already at the door were kind enough to wait and hold it open until the student in uniform reached it. Not once did anyone let a door fall shut in front of a student in uniforms face. This is clearly another example of students in uniform getting treated better than the typical college student. It can be

seen that students are more conscientious and aware of these students in uniform and do their best to treat them with a greater amount of respect. Students in uniform also received a significant amount of more smiles and hellos sent their way. It seems like people instinctively did this because they wanted to show their thanks and appreciation towards these individuals. All of the smiles and happiness seemed sincere and not just because the students felt like they should be that way. Based off of my survey, about ninety-three percent of people are friendlier because they want to be. They want to make it apparent that they are thankful the students in uniform are fighting for our country. As for the one person who did not feel this way, I felt as if I should ask him his reasoning for why. He claimed Its overrated. They probably just walk around in their uniforms to get attention. Although a portion of students in the military could possibly walk around just for more attention, the majority of the students I talked to were wearing it because they were on duty. This led in to my next question of whether students enjoyed wearing their uniforms simply because they enjoyed getting treated with more respect. After asking a few individuals in uniform if they have ever worn their uniforms to get more attention or use it to their advantage, their answers were mostly no. However one young man named James said he previously used to uniform when he had to pick up his friend from a party. This young man claimed that he thought girls would find it impressive. I asked him if it was because he was wearing his uniform that he would be more confident when talking to girls. James said yes, my uniform definitely gives be a confidence boost. I feel like girls will want to talk to me more and will be more drawn to me. I heard girls like men in uniform (haha). I was curious if he thought it was appropriate to use his uniform for any purpose besides being on duty. He replied no I dont think it is appropriate to misuse the uniform but I respect my uniform a lot and always wear it properly when I am on duty. I do not think of it as misusing it when I wear it

off duty. I do this because I am proud to wear it and it helps my self-esteem. This shows that students enjoy wearing their uniform because they have more positive social interactions. After hearing that James gained confidence from wearing his uniform, I wondered if other students in uniform felt this same way. More information on this topic was needed to back up that it was a true statement. After asking another individual the same question, it was found the statement could definitely be true. Another young man named Kyle said I do feel more confident in my uniform. I love people knowing that I am fighting for our country. I am proud to represent our country and I know people appreciate it. Everyone is always nice and I love being treated that way. His statement was able to back up the fact that students are treated more respectfully when wearing their uniforms, that the students both enjoy and appreciate the respect they receive, and that the uniforms give the students more confidence/make them feel more sexually attractive. Determining whether the uniforms affected the individuals overall attitudes/personalities was more difficult to determine since it was uncertain how students in uniform, that I had never met before, acted outside of their uniform. This is why I decided to observe how the attitudes and/or personalities of some of my close friends changed when they wearing their uniforms. After walking around in public with them for a while, it was very apparent that each of them (3 total) appeared much more confident with their uniforms on. They walked with their heads held a little bit higher, their backs a little bit straighter, and spoke in a more demanding tone. This however is what was expected since the students in uniform should be proud that they are representing our country. They need to fulfill their deed of acting as role models to others and not let those individuals down that look up to them. Also, they all acted much more mature and professional when their uniform was on. They did not act childish or goof off (which was typical

for them). It would not look very good for the people who are representing our country to appear as if they do not take things seriously or have little to no concern about acting in a professional and adult-like manner. It was very apparent that the uniforms change how the individuals present themselves, not only physically but mentally. When their uniform is on, they are more serious and mature. After getting inside information from students that wear uniforms, I wanted to get a look from the other side, from the bystanders, to know what runs through their minds when they see someone in uniform. Although it was very obvious bystanders were friendlier and more respectful to students in uniform, it was difficult to observe whether or not they were aware that they were doing so. Going back to my observations previously mentioned above about the people that help the door open for the students in uniform, I ended up going outside to ask them if they purposely waited to hold the door open simply because they noticed that a person in uniform was going to go through it or because they would have done that for any person. Most of the people were honest and said they simply held it because they did not want to be rude or disrespectful to someone who is representing our country. While others said they would have held the door for anyone that was walking behind them, this may not necessarily be true. Eighty percent of the people surveyed claimed that they are aware of students in uniform and try to act more mature and respectful around them. They do their best to treat them well, such as by holding the door open, smiling, and giving them head-nods. However, a majority of the bystanders that were surveyed feel like students in uniform are always serious and will get annoyed by people acting immature or crazy around them. One girl, Haley, even said that she does not want to act crazy around them because she is intimidated. She feels as if they are more powerful and judgmental. From this I concluded that some bystanders may feel like students in

uniform look down upon them because they have a large amount of self-confidence and are aware that they get treated with more respect from others. However, this idea seems to be slightly contradicting. Why do the people that individuals look up to and consider role models cause themselves to feel diminished? Students in the army are risking their lives to fight for our country, therefore we should feel appreciative and safe in their presence, not intimidated. I was not sure how this idea benefitted my data because I did not know how to tie it in. I was only to assume that some students in uniform become cocky from all the attention and possibly do look down upon others. I was not able to witness or prove this myself however. To determine if bystanders find students in uniform more sexually attractive, surveying seemed like the best bet for this question. It was hard to observe since exchanging smiles or other subtle gestures could either be out of politeness or because they are flirting. However, many girls gave male students in uniform double takes, the typical head-to-toe look, and began to fiddle with their hair. This was still hard however to prove that it was true most of the time for bystanders to think of students in uniform as more sexually appealing simply by taking observations. Therefore, the question of do you find men in uniform to be more sexually attractive? was included in my survey. The results of this survey question showed that eighty six percent of the women surveyed (fifteen total) found individuals in uniform to be more attractive. The general answer for why this was true for girls was because they felt safe and protected being around them, which is found to be attractive. They also viewed the men as more manly, confident, and muscular. Women may also find the men to be attractive, maybe not necessarily physically attractive, but attractive in the way that is admired and the characteristics looked for in a significant other. After taking all of the data I collected into consideration, I was able to conclude a few

things based strictly off of what I observed. I was able to see how social interactions changed for UNCC students in uniform as well as how those interactions affected the students personalities and attitudes. My data showed that students are treated more positively when they are in uniform, meaning they receive more respect, kindness, and the benefit of getting certain things for free. It appears that the students in uniform are aware of these positive outcomes and enjoy the respect. It makes them feel good to be treated so kindly, which thus helps boost their confidence and self-esteem. Although it should be expected for them to be confident since they are representing their country and serving as a role model to many individuals who look up to them, it appears the social interactions have a significant impact on their attitudes and personalities. These social interactions however seem to have either a positive or negative affect on the individuals in uniform. Although it is great that the students gain confidence and feel more sexually attractive, the students use their power to their advantage in certain cases by wearing their uniform off-duty simply to attract females or for other reasons. The students that misused their power potentially gave bystanders the impression that they were looking down upon them. However, the majority of females indeed found men in uniform to appear more sexually attractive, in which most of the men were aware of. Females are attracted to these males because they feel protected, safe, and enjoy the curiosity of wondering how the males appear under their uniforms. It can conclusively be stated that social interactions definitely change for UNCC students in uniform, mostly in a positive way.