field study at a local coffee shop

 field study at a local coffee shop

For many people, a coffee shop is a place where they go to satisfy their cravings for the beverage while getting a cup of coffee to start their day. In America, coffee is among the most taken or consumed beverage alongside beer and water. Thus, a coffee shop is the ideal space for people to gather and carry out social interactions. Social interactions are an integral part of the human relationship with each other and the cornerstone to the relationships people have with others. Coffee houses are filled with people daily who visit the shops to attain some services that are important to them. Apart from serving coffee, coffee houses also serve light snacks, other beverages, muffins and sandwiches. A trip to the coffee shop and one notices that there are people who have come to perform other activities other than buying coffee. Some come to utilize the free WIFI services that come with buying a cup of coffee. Others use the chance to catch up with their friends while others use the facility to catch up ion their professional work. The coffee shop has become a centre of social gathering that promotes different people to come together and interact with each other. It is through these interactions that a person can realize some of the social issues that our society still suffers from or some issues people that are thought to be extinct. One of the current social problems that can be identified at a coffee shop is the issue of race. Thus, during the field study at a local coffee shop, racial profiling was an important issue at the local coffee shop.

For our field study, a visit to the local Starbucks franchise outlet was made. Starbucks id one of the largest coffee house chain in the country that has been in service for the last four decades. The company is acknowledged for helping popularize coffee drinking in the country. Lots of people visit the local Starbucks during the day. The coffeehouse provides the best venue for the social study because it is located at the heart of a college town, and it is visited daily by different groups and ages of people. The differences presented by the people visiting the coffeeshop provide different social perspectives that are presented by the customers as they interact with each other. The study taken was through a series of visits to the coffee shop to establish the frequency of different customers and their views and attitudes towards different races. The coffeeshop offers the customers an excellent customer service that other coffeeshops should adopt. The coffeehouse offers a suitable environment for the customers to express themselves freely as well as offer a range of different people from different backgrounds that were instrumental to the study. Since the coffee shop offers a variety of different customers whose ethnic background also differ, it was the perfect choice for our social research. The customers offer different views and attitudes towards the question of race and how it affects modern society. Through interviews and observing the interaction between different customers, it is evident that racism is still a current issue in today’s society.

The coffeeshop enjoys good traffic of customers during the day who come to enjoy different services provided by the outlet. The coffee outlet is situated at the heart of a college, meaning that a high demographic presence includes college students. Also, some families visit the coffeeshop because the outlet serves muffins and light snacks. The coffeeshop creates a perfect haven for different people to air their political and social views that influence how people view different races and people of different ethnic background. Aries Susanty and Eirene Kenny have written an article titled The Relationship between Brand Equity, Customer Satisfaction, and Brand Loyalty on Coffee Shop: Study of Excelso and Starbucks that focuses on examining the importance of brand quality and loyalty among the customers of both Starbucks and Excelso. According to Susanty and Kenny, “the coffee shop sells not only the items in its menu but also an atmosphere that makes people feel comfortable” (Susanty and Kenny 1). The coffeehouses ensure that they meet the demands of the people to meet the financial revenue needed to maintain and run the coffeehouses.

The suitable conditions created also create a haven for customers to express themselves around people freely. The authors conclude that “more than one-third of the respondents visited the coffee to socialize with others” (Susanty and Kenny 6). The importance of such facilities within society cannot be ignored because people can share their experiences with other people. However, it is through the creation of such suitable environments that the customers become rooted in their beliefs that one race ins inferior to another. The coffeeshops illustrated in the article have led to the creation of an environment that people can make racist charged comments and not fear the consequences of such comments. The coffeeshops end up creating an environment that promotes brand loyalty and quality but also supports the use of racially charged comments and wordings.

Apart from Susanty and Kenny, an article by PoraneeYeetin discusses the role of coffee shops and cafés as places for encouraging social interactions. The article itself aims at examining the social interactions relating to political communication among urban residents of Trang province using Kopi coffee shops. The article acknowledges the role of coffeehouses as centres for social activities and interaction centres. Through in-depth interviews with them, the authors found that the research method of the study on Kopi coffee shops: Spaces for political interactions among people of Trang province in some local administrative areas used qualitative research. The information of this subjective research was gathered through non-member perceptions, and the network under the examination is nine clients covering three diverse age periods, and three workers and Kopi café proprietors. Through inside and out meetings with them, the creators found that the exploration technique for the examination on Kopi cafés: Spaces for political associations among individuals of Trang region in some neighbourhood authoritative regions utilized subjective research.

The principle discoveries are that the Kopi cafés can be found in each path in the Mueang area of Trang region; Kopi coffeehouses in Mueang locale can be partitioned into two gatherings as indicated by their opening times: morning and evening. There are just slight contrasts between these two gatherings; it was discovered that individuals in the network offered significance to associating in Kopi bistros and had various criteria for picking their Kopi coffeehouses. It was likewise discovered that Kopi cafés are get-together places for individuals with nearby authoritative power. The article shows the significance and importance of coffeeshops in creating chances for people to meet their local administrative leaders who help to meet their grievances and make the community better.

Isla Vista Starbucks is a small franchised coffee shop located in Isla Vista, a small community by the beach comprised mainly of college students. The group selected the coffeeshop because it offers a diverse population that best suits the study being conducted on the issue of racism in the coffeeshop. The Starbucks outlet offers a variety of services apart from serving the customers coffee. The coffeehouse offers a suitable environment for people to express their views and ideas on various issues facing society. The group used observational skills and holding interviews with the workers and some customers to collect data on the various views of ethnic prejudice. The data and field study information were collected over two months in blocks of time throughout the morning, afternoon, and evening. The most notable observation about the coffeeshop is the number of customers the shop receives. There is a substantial amount of entering and leaving the premises every day. People are constantly chatting with each other and gossip is one of the favourite activities taken up by the customers. Apart from gossiping, there are people in the shop wearing suits and working on their computers while others are looking at their smartphones. During the research process, I noticed a group of girls seated at one of the tables and enjoy their coffee. While they were talking, I noticed that one of the girls named Lily was growing distant from the rest of the girls. The other two girls, Samantha and Jasmine, seem to be discussing another girl that Lilt is acquainted with. Lily starts to use the phone to cover the awkwardness even though she feels left out by the other two girls. Upon interviewing her, she states that the girls are gossiping about another girl who lives in their apartment and is also an Asian American just like Lily.

Holding interviews with the customers helps us to understand the presence of racial prejudice and stereotype within our societies. The coffeeshop offers a diverse number of people with a varying opinion on various social issues such as racism. By having an interview with Lily, the issue of stereotyping and racial prejudice is still evident in our societies. The girls in the coffeeshop are discussing or gossiping about one of their friends. Lily becomes uncomfortable with the discussion and starts to use her phone. The girl being discussed in an Asian American who lives in the same apartment as Lily and her friends. The two girls are discussing her ethnic background and the type of work she does to earn a living. They laugh at her, and this makes Lily even more uncomfortable. The type of work the girl does is a common stereotype towards Asian women which is working on nails and beauty salon. Samantha and Jasmine are making fun of the girl because she is doing a job they consider demeaning. Lily is uncomfortable because her mother and aunt used to make a living doing the same job, and she believes her friends are ignorant about the girl. Thus, the coffee shop creates an environment that makes people comfortable to discuss others negatively.

In conclusion, the study identifies the existence of racial prejudice and stereotype in society. The Isla Vista Starbucks coffee shop offers a diverse number of customers who show varied opinions on various social issues. Apart from satisfying their customers with great tasting beverage, the coffeeshop ensures that people are in a safe environment that allows them to express their views on various issues openly. The method used in collecting information and data on the study included observing the activities in the coffee and interviewing customers. The most notable interview was with a customer named Lily. She feels uncomfortable as her fr4iends start gossiping and ridiculing one of the members of their apartment. Lily’s friends represent the ignorance that is present in society because they are judging the girl because she is an Asian American student from Korea. They are making fun of her because she is making a living by working at people’s nail and also at a beauty salon. The job is stereotyped to be done by Asian women in America.