Christine Kim

ANTH 102 F-001

Fall 2014
Fullerton College
30 September 2014
Activity: Ethnographic Activity Part 2
Location: Starbucks, 1951 West Malvern Ave, Fullerton
Time: 3:40, Monday 29 September 2014

Cultural knowledge is the information about society and the world that children learn and
apply as adults during their lives (Peoples 22). Patterns of behavior is the behaviors of individuals
that may or may not be idiosyncratic. Cultural identity is the identity individuals define
themselves partly by the cultural group in which they were born and raised (Peoples 23).
Socialization and enculturation both are the process in which infants and children learn the culture
of those around them (Peoples 25). Roles are the rights and duties that individuals receive because
of their personal identity or membership in a social group (Peoples 29). Norms are shared ideals
or rules about how people ought to act in certain situations or how particular people should act
towards other people (Peoples 30). Values are peoples beliefs about the way of life that is
desirable for themselves and their society (Peoples 31). A symbol is something that represents,
connotes, or calls to mind something else (Peoples 32). Dialects are variations in a single language
based on factors such as region, subculture, ethnic identity, and socioeconomic class (Peoples 50).
Nonverbal communication is when we send messages by body language and facial expressions.
Kinesics studies the role of bodily motions in communication. Proxemics studies the meanings
conveyed by space and distance (Peoples 55). Ethnology explains the past and present diversity
found in cultural systems in the world. Ethnography was created to collect and record descriptive
data about those cultural systems and contain ethnographic fieldwork, which collects cultural data
by studying and interviewing living members of a society, and ethnohistoric research- studying a
peoples culture using written accounts and other records. It can be either synchronic, which
pertains to just one single period of time, or diachronic, which studies change in a culture over a
period of time (Peoples 116). Participant observation is when anthropologists no longer merely
recorded interviews and analyzed peoples statements; they took up residence with the people they
were studying and began trying to learn about the culture by observing people in their daily lives
and participating in their daily activities (Peoples 118). Ethnic stereotyping is the preconceived
generalizations concerning a particular group of people. Bias is prejudice in favor of or against
one thing, person, or group compared with another (Bias). Ethnocentrism is the attitude or
opinion that the morals values, and customs of ones own culture are superior to those of other
people. Consultants are members of a society who provide information to a fieldworker, often
through formal interviews or surveys. Key consultants are members of a society who are
especially knowledgeable about some subject and who supplies information to a fieldworker
(Peoples 123). Culture shock is the feeling of uncertainty and anxiety an individual experiences
when placed in a strange cultural setting (Peoples 125).
For this assignment, I went to the Starbucks at TC in Fullerton next to the Jamba Juice.
When I went inside, I noticed that almost all the tables were occupied by young adults with
laptops and books probably studying. There were mostly white, Asian, or Hispanic people sitting
down at the tables and ordering drinks. Most, if not all, wore headphones and had ordered some
iced drink. It was never crowded or overly loud and people came in to order either alone or in
pairs. Overall, the atmosphere was quiet and did not feel like a social setting. This is probably
because out in public, most people dislike interacting with strangers. Behaviors such as standing at
least 3 feet away in a relatively cramped space, constantly checking phones, and crossing arms
also made everyone in the room feel isolated (Chapman). These non-verbal physical signifiers
used kinesics and proxemics to belay the message that nobody wanted to talk. Even couples and
family members, although they stood closer together, displayed these closed-off body messages.
Almost nobody ordered a hot drink, although that day was colder than usual. This might be
because the weather in Southern California is often unpredictable, and ordering a chilled drink no
matter what the weather might be at the time is easier than trying to compensate for any sudden
temperature shifts with a hot coffee.
One of the first things that caught my attention was the large table in the center of the
room. I noticed that there were 5-6 people, young adults or older teens, sitting at the table.
Normally, a group like that would be loud and rambunctious, but this group was studious- there
was little talking and lots of papers and books strewn about. They had been there for quite some
time, as far as I could tell, and there was no sign of slowing down or packing up as I left an hour
later. The entire time they were hunched over with earbuds in and heads down. Each persons
body language was closed off and focused on their own work. These kids, by staying at a
Starbucks with their friends for several hours and do nothing but diligently study, showed their
dedication to their role as students and the value they placed in their education and future.
While sitting in Starbucks, there was an incident where a young man went to the
bathroom while his stuff was lying on a table. He had out his work, a laptop, and his phone. While
he was in the bathroom, someone stole his phone. A woman standing in line had watched it
happen and told the young man when he returned to his seat. The woman had a loud and
bombastic voice that could be heard throughout the entire room as she asked the young man about
his phone. Throughout the entire event, she walked around with aggressive body language and
almost reveled in the attention she was getting. Her pride and self-confidence, as well as the lack
of shame of getting the attention of the entire room simply by talking, were reflected by her wide
and aggressive posture and her insistence on being heavily involved in the robbery. The young
man, by contrast, slouched, crossed his arms, and talked softly. The attention that he was getting
was obviously as uncomfortable for him as getting his phone stolen. The barista that offered both
of them an incident report was entirely neutral. Her voice, intonation, and posture betrayed
nothing other than her regular day at work attitude. Seeing as so many people in the Starbucks
not only sat alone, but also carried around expensive laptops and phones that they would have to
leave behind while going to the bathroom or pick up their order, the barista mustve seen quite a
few thefts before already. Her attitude about the situation suggested that, at least.
The people sitting down at the table were interesting because they were a group of young
kids who not only managed to organize a substantial study group at Starbucks, but also stayed on-
course throughout their time there. They werent unique in the context of the environment and the
behavior of everyone else sitting down at a table studying. To the contrary, they were almost
exactly identical except for the sheer largeness of the group- a contradiction to every other tables
single occupancy. Both the large group and all the other tables, however, were relatively isolated
in terms of body language and lack of verbal communication. Everyone in the Starbucks kept to
themselves, except for the woman who pointed out the theft. She was unique in her attention-
seeking nature and ignorance of the insular mood that everyone else, including the young man she
was helping, had adopted. Like I had stated before, the general attitude of isolation and staying
far, far away from other people in public places was prominent here. Because there wasnt much
talking, body language became the thing I relied on most to read other peoples moods and
attitudes.

Works Cited
"Bias." Def. 1. The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 1989. Http://www.merriam-webster.com/.
Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.
Chapman, Alan. "Body Language." Body Language. Businessballs, n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.
Peoples, James G., and Garrick Alan Bailey. "Chapter 2: Culture." Humanity: An Introduction to
Cultural Anthropology. 10th ed. N.p.: Cenage Learning, 2012. 20-45. Print.
Peoples, James G., and Garrick Alan Bailey. "Chapter 3: Culture and Language." Humanity: An
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. 10th ed. N.p.: Cenage Learning, n.d. 46-65. Print.
Peoples, James G., and Garrick Alan Bailey. "Chapter 6: Methods of Investigation." Humanity: An
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. 10th ed. N.p.: Cenage Learning, 2012. 115-32. Print.