Ethnography: Starbucks, On-Campus
The world comprise of different cultures and people each having unique features and attributes thus creating a cultural diversity. Understanding the people and the cultures requires a systematic study through ethnography. Ethnography helps researchers explore the cultural phenomena through observation from a point of view of intended discipline. Ideal ethnography entails involves a comprehensive study of a people with emphasis on the analysis on of the climate, terrain, and habitat accompanied by a brief history. The paper is a reflection on the ethnography of a coffee shop, Starbucks, with specific considerations of the lighting, plants, sounds, smell, furniture, vibe or energy, temperature, time of the day,
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Cultural anthropology has a number of concepts that help in the study. The observation made at the Starbucks relate to different concepts which help in understanding the cultural anthropology of the within the café regarding humans and their surroundings.
One concept that is apparent in the observation is cultural relativism, where an observer suspends judging the behavior of others with a view to comprehend the cultural terms of others. The approach is essential in understanding the basis of the institutions and behavior of the others (Haviland et al., 2010). While carrying out the observations, the approach aimed at not interferences of the operations of the customers and the service providers at Starbucks. People tend to downplay certain aspects of their culture once they realize that they are under observation. There were neither questionnaires nor interview in order get the natural process of interaction at the
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Functionalism as theory tend to explain the role of each aspect of the society. The doctrine of functionalism holds that the function of an object determines its role and not its aesthetic considerations. Functionalism considers society as a system that comprises of interlinked components working synchronously to create balance (Mooney, Knox, and Schacht, 2007). The observation followed that each component of the café play a significant in attracting the customers and maintaining their influx. Coffee shop sells the basic commodity, coffee, that is a beverage and has stimulating capacity. Students, institutional staff, and other customers go to the café to enjoy coffee. The place attracts mostly students owing to the strategic location. The place is fitted with tables and chairs to allow customers to enjoy their coffee while seated. The cool music, the interior design creates a serene beauty that thrills the customer. In this way, Starbucks creates a lasting impression in the minds of the
Coffee lab environment: The theme of the coffee bar is more like an island, which allows customers to walk around and interact directly and indirectly with baristas. The interactive which also allows customers to express their thoughts, needs, and expressions about the coffee lab. This can bring up to an improvement of the overall coffee lab. It creates inviting environment for its
Further, participant observation enables one to better understand the participants or group being observed through its practicality and lack of bias. This form of Ethnography is founded on the philosophy of
Ethnography Works Cited Missing Anthropology is defined, in the most basic terms, as the study of other cultures. This field can subsequently be divided into more specific sections, and contain more precise defining characteristics, but this definition is essentially all that is needed. Anthropology is a science that attempts to look at other cultures and draw conclusions to questions that are raised while studying. An anthropologist is someone who accepts what is presented before them and is driven by an urge to understand each presentation as thoroughly as possible. Once the concept of anthropology is accepted, one must identify the means of reaching the goal of this field.
The foundations of Functionalism are built on food, shelter, clothing, and money. Which as stated before functionalists believe gender roles serve to maintain social order because they stabilize these four foundations.
Functionalism is the oldest and most commonly used theoretical approach used to understand social issues. Functionalism is a macrosociological perspective that presents the idea that society consists of different components working together to help a society function as one. Sociolog...
The term functionalism is used to explain social events in terms of the functions that they perform. The functionalist approach is also used to show how something affects the continued existence of society. A functionalist approach to gender inequality shows us that gender dominant careers help society continue to function, but we can already see the long term effects of how gender inequality has created issues in today’s society. Even after all of the massive...
Starbucks is a company in which purchases and roasts high quality whole bean coffees and sells them along with fresh, rich-brewed, Italian style espresso beverages, a variety of pastries and confections, and coffee-related accessories and equipment (starbucks.com). During my environmental scan in which took place at the Starbucks on the corner of Fair and Newport across the street from vanguard, I noticed many things in which where never brought to my attention in prior stays and visits at Starbucks; such as the many social groups in which choose to have their meetings at Starbucks. Thus in this essay we will discuss things in which many people do not really notice when going to Starbucks.
One strength of functionalism is that it operates on the macro-level. So instead of placing the onus of responsibly for social problems on a single person, it considers the larger issues in society. The analogy of society as a human body also makes the theory easier to understand and apply. Considering a human body, high levels
For the majority of the the twentieth century, the concept of functionalism mainly characterized American Sociology. Which was basically were studies avoided grand theory and gathered most thoughts through the collection of observations of people in their environments. Functionalism is a macro-sociology and it focuses on the large theories of society. It’s name came from the idea that the most effective way to examine society was to identify the roles that different characteristics take apart in. It is essentially it is a more in-depth version of a theory called organicism which compares society to a living organism, with each (cell, tissue, organ system) playing an important tole in keeping the organism (society) alive.
Ethno-relativism allows people to see culture within the context of different cultures, it is an attitude of acceptance, and seeing things from a different perspective. This can occur by promoting multiculturalism in school, in neighborhoods, as well as in the business community. The best way to lower the level of ethnocentrism and encourage intercultural communication is with one-on-one experiences with people from different cultures (Dong et al. , n.d.).
phenomena in terms of the functions they perform. The society conceived in functionalism is a
Since humans have come together, there has been culture, and while we continue to live there will continue to be culture. Culture is a thing that we as humans all have in common, but our culture is also what keeps us apart. Anthropology is the study of humans, how we work, what are our rituals, the study of our past. The anthropological perspective is how one must look at culture or at another society to observe it without bias and without judgement. There are four important parts to observing through the anthropological perspective the first being the concept of culture, holistic perspective, comparative perspective, and culture relativism. Through the study of cultural anthropology one, will understand how societies as people are the same and how they are different. The same things that make societies different make them the same. It is also important to understand why and how societies work. The anthological perspective is an important part of viewing cultures.
With clear core values towards providing quality coffee, the best service, and atmosphere, Starbucks has enjoyed great success since it was founded 30 years ago. The company has being doing very well for last 11 years with 5% or more store sales increase, even with the rest economy still reeling from the post-9/11 recession. However recent research, conducted to Starbucks, have showed some concerns regarding company’s problem meeting customers’ expectations.
The purpose of their research is to acquire ethnography data. They anthropologist obtaining qualitative data and observing how the people they are researching are living and their day -to-day activities. Some of their methodology includes participant observations in which the anthropologist is involved in the day-to-day activities to observe from first-hand experience of how the people live.
consensus”. The adage is “nothing”. Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus (an agreement amongst society’s members about what. values are important to us). Functionalist theories assume the different parts of a society each have their own role to play (their own).