The Miller textbook defines age set as a group of people close in age who go through certain rituals, such as circumcision at the same time. This is a photograph of the third floor of Gelman Library. In this image, you can see students studying in groups, alone and socializing. All of the students in the image are college-aged (17-21). Studying is a ritual that is extremely important to college life. It can occur on a daily or weekly basis. Most students come to libraries to study, because of the quiet spaces and because it is a space where they can focus. Gelman Library is always filled with students from the weekdays to the weekends. I usually don't study in libraries because I do not like sitting at desks. Recently, I have been working in Gelman because it has helped me focus and get my work done quicker. If I was conducting further research library designs to see which are more conducive to productivity.Â
The Miller textbook defines a secondary group as a group of people who identify with one another on some basis but may never meet with one another personally. The other students in Gelman can be seen as a secondary group because they all identify as students of George Washington University. GWU has approximately 11,000 undergraduate students so it is unlikely that these students in the library would ever meet face to face. I personally rarely see my friends when walking to classes or getting food. I usually see new faces on the street every day. If I wanted to conduct further research on secondary groups, I would look into the micro-communities that arise from such a large community. GWU has 475 registered student organizations that cater to a wide variety of demographics. I am apart of Black Women's Forum, Black Student's Union, and the Feminist Student's Union. These could be classified as primary groups because they are socially and politically focused but meet on a face to face basis regularly.Â
