Group differentiation in a metropolitan high school: The influence of race, class, gender and culture

A three month field study of informal student interaction within a lunch court was conducted in a city high school in Southern California. Attention was focused on the easily observed factors of student appearance, behavior and the use of space. Considerable group diversity differentiated the students. The principal cleavage was by race and ethnicity with whites, Blacks, and Chicanos segregating themselves. Within each group further subgroups were observed to cluster separately. Whites were the most differentiated with five subgroups, Blacks had two, and Chicanos had three. Whites and Chicanos differentiated themselves principally on the basis of cultural differences, while Blacks made distinctions amongst themselves on the basis of class. Each of the main groups, however, had their own anti-mainstream counter-culture. The implications of group diversity and the differential role of culture and class in subgroup interaction are also considered.