Historically, anthropologists have focused their research on foreign cultures, often considered exotic to westerners. Yet, globalization has created a continuously shrinking world and is increasingly providing sovereignty for developing nations, which may impede research opportunities for modern anthropologists. In their book, “The Cocktail Waitress,” James Spradley and Brenda Mann explained how this semi-recent issue threatens trust and acceptance in these foreign communities and obstructs unique opportunities and research funding. Luckily, there are countless subcultures in America’s back yard, in which most are eternally evolving, providing a multitude of research opportunities for anthropologists. Alcohol establishments are home to a plethora of subcultures that display clashing and harmonious interactions enjoyable for even the untrained human observers. Noticeably, bars contain the local regulars, occasional boozers, business men, college students, and multiple others, all there for a common goal, leisure. Whether the responsible sober driver, moderate drinker, or completely inebriated, every patron has exchanged workday courtesies for uninhibited behaviors. Additionally, lounges often exhibit social interactions between men and women which provide ethnographers opportunity to study the cultural roles considered masculine or feminine within our society and subcultures. Formerly, women employed in alcohol establishments were prohibited from managerial, bar keeping, or
There are three ethnographical principles that guided the study at Brady’s Bar. The first principle states that “Every human group creates its own reality, a shared culture” (6). This concept was put in
Throughout the eighteen hundreds saloons were the site of rockus drinking, profane drunkards, and unthinking violence. This drinking culture was defined by masculinity and by free flowing alcohol that permeated all throughout America, city to city. The saloons became so popular with working men because it was time they could spend away from their wives and their homes. In Catherine Murdock’s book Domesticating Drink she argues that these elements of saloon culture, exclusivity, inebriety, and violence, were eliminated by the increase in popularity of mixed sex speakeasies, cocktail parties, and the overall domestication of drink. But this conclusion misinterprets the history of alcohol from Prohibition to the present. Although alcohol is now consumed without the exclusively of the past, it has evolved to be over sexualized and associated with a masculine culture of binge drinking over sexualized and domestic violence.
Drinking alcohol is a behavior that diverse ethnicities and cultures have adapted as a form of leisure, celebration, socialization, or cultural practice. Mexican American males have engaged in drinking alcohol for all of these reasons. It is important to analyze the process of acculturation Mexican American experience and how it affects their ability to persuade and control their alcohol consumption. The stress of adjusting to a new place than the one they have been accustomed to and have already been accepted in, can lead males to drink alcohol to help them in coping with their issues. The gravity of extreme alcohol drinking is also
James P. Spradley (1979) described the insider approach to understanding culture as "a quiet revolution" among the social sciences (p. iii). Cultural anthropologists, however, have long emphasized the importance of the ethnographic method, an approach to understanding a different culture through participation, observation, the use of key informants, and interviews. Cultural anthropologists have employed the ethnographic method in an attempt to surmount several formidable cultural questions: How can one understand another's culture? How can culture be qualitatively and quantitatively assessed? What aspects of a culture make it unique and which connect it to other cultures? If
Gender plays a role in the alcohol crisis in the Russian-American culture, but differently than many will
An anthropologist usually, at the beginning of their career, conduct ethnographic research in a foreign country or remote location to validate themselves as a “bonafide anthropologist” (Brondo 43). Eventually however, the anthropologist will return home often to conduct research around their own familiar ethnic group. Tsuda refers to the anthropologists return to familiar territory as an “Ethnographic homecoming” (Brondo 44). The use of ethnographic methods in the anthropologist’s home or familiar environment is what Tsuda means by “native anthropology”.
Alcohol-Related Windows on Simmel’s Social World by William J. Staudenmeier Jr. from the text, Illuminating Social Life, dives into the topic of alcohol and how its role in society can be directly reflected back to Simmel’s work. The text was introduced by explaining how alcohol has been a major influence throughout American history and how it has shaped the interactions of difference cultures, races and ethnicities by characterizing drinking as “conflict between coexisting value structures” (98). Simmel’s ideas about the core differences between dyads and triads was applied in the context of how group interaction significantly changed when the role of alcohol becomes a factor to socializing. Three different group stratifications can be seen
If I had a choice to invite any six famous people to a dinner party, I would choose to invite some of the key figures in the American Women’s Liberation movement. There have been many strong, knowledgeable women who have spoken out against the injustices that women have faced, but I have picked 6 women that I find to be remarkable.
In Sacha Z. Scoblic’s essay, Rock Star, Meet Teetotaler, she recounts her societal struggles after coming out from troubles involving alcoholism. At the age of thirty-two, she had been a Teetotaler for six months and was meeting people at a restaurant in hopes of finding friends to be acquainted with her new found sobriety. However, when she declines an offer of wine, she displays conflict between her drinking and non-drinking self because she once conceived that entertainment could only be met through the consumption of alcohol. She portrays a desire for social acceptance, yearning to
The intervention would effectively challenge specific gender norms specifically in session one. I foresee the answers to the question asked “why do you drink” would have gender norms reasons. For example, in the male intervention group, they might share reasons such as looking or being perceived as masculine or it is easier to approach females drunk. After clients share their responses, we would discuss in details how gender norms have led
Sleep, sex, and food are the three most important aspect of a human life. Each of them represents resting, reproducing, and surviving – essential elements that form the foundation of human culture and society. The status of these elements always represents the social stature and cultural ideology, of the desire or dislike of people. Some standards are universal, while some are uniquely formed through generations of different cultural traditions. Food in this case might be the most simple and yet the hardest ideology of desire for anthropologists to catch. Its meaning is never as plain as a recipe of a cooking book, but always attached with the cultural and psychological ideology that is connected with individual and cultural identities.
Anthropology, as a discipline in the field of human sciences, is based on certain ethical principles to guide its practitioners through their research. This creates a stable framework on which to start any research project. Avoiding deviation, however, can be complicated. Anthropologists have a responsibility to their field,
It’s always nice to go out to eat, order a nice meal that you do not have to cook and be served everything you want. When going out to eat, have you ever thought about the person that is serving you food, getting you drinks, and making sure you have a pleasant experience at the restaurant of your choice? That person is a server. He or she is a waiter or waitress. I’ve gone out to eat a lot, and I’ve always been a little curious what is like to be the person serving the food and not eating it.
“Hello, my name is Stephanie and I will be taking care of you tonight.” This is my routine that sounds rather scripted. Waitressing is just one of the many roles in my life. Wait staff almost have a script for how to handle customers. Being a waitress is a positive role in my life. It is something I can enjoy while doing and work with people who appreciate working with me. This is one of my favorite roles that I have had in my life. Waitressing has made me a more open person. I have learned many different things in these two years of waitressing. There are certain expectations that all customers have upon entering a restaurant. Within waitressing, my role consists of serving customers, working with other wait staff, cooperating with
In addition to dinner, the menu included an open bar. What originally started out to be an innocent and business appropriate function turned into a wild free-for-all that lasted into the late hours of the night, and behaviors erupted that should never occur in any business relationship. The following morning, a large percentage of those in attendance at the party were absent from work, and many of those who did show up were tardy and ill, incapable of performing their duties. Productivity was significantly decreased for the entire day, and for some, even into the following day. In light of that single event, the practice of “open bar” social gatherings between the financial office and the dealerships was abolished. It is not surprising to note that according to the United States Office of Personnel Management, the rate of absenteeism is estimated to be 4 to 8 times greater among alcoholics and alcohol abusers (L'Etoile, 2011) .