Ethnography

The Observation
My observation took place September 18th 2010 at Schooners, a bar and grill in Lancaster, California. The environment was lively; walking in the location four men were involved in a game of beer pong about five feet from the front entrance and the tables that ran parallel to the bar on both sides were full of patrons. The clusters of patrons were diverse in age, yet the employees on the other hand all appeared to be under the age of 40. The employees consisted of at least four female waitresses and three bartenders, two male and one female. One table to the right of the bar consisted of four older adults, most likely above the age of 50, three male and one female. The table shared a pitcher of beer and ate food while they socialized at their table for over an hour. On the back end right corner of the bar, one man sat solitary while he drank a beer and watched the television. Another single man on the other side of the bar conducted very similar actions. There were at least four large flat screen televisions in the bar. One displayed a baseball game, another a football game, and two other televisions were on the SPIKE television show, “MANswers”. There was a couple, man and woman, that occupied two seat to the center right of the bar. The pair had their barstools faced slightly inward towards each other while they conversed amongst each other. Across at the other end of the bar, stood a cluster of younger adults, two female (X and Y) and one male. The male subject was goofing around and attempting to put his arm around female X. In response, the female X casually dismissed his actions by pushing his arm away and continued to talk to female Y. Another female Z walked up to the group, whom female X excitedly greeted and quickly divulged her attention to. The male then walked over to female Y, and began to make conversation and joke around. Many of the women at the bar, but not all, had clearly put effort into prepping themselves for the outing, for example many were wearing heals and/or flattering attire. Many of the men, on the other hand, were dressed in very casual attire such as a t-shirt and jeans.

Analysis
Concluding the observation, although I didn’t observe much romance, my analysis seemingly gravitated to the issues of social behavioral differences between men and women. What dictates this behavioral separation among men and women? The prospective expectation we hold towards behavior traits displayed by men and women are undoubtedly set at different standards. Consequently, there is a prone tendency to evaluate behaviors on the basis of perceived social norms which are governed by cultural constructions. According to feminist influenced by the poststructuralist, it argued that sex and gender are not terms of biology, but rather social and cultural constructions. Within cultural constructions, femininity and masculinity are ways of describing and disciplining human subjects (Baker, 283). In the observation for example, there were two separate men that remained unaccompanied at the bar, yet there was not one woman to display this behavior. In this particular environment, for a man to display such behavior is view to be rather common. Yet, I think if a woman happened to do the same it would stand out more, perhaps even seem obscure. To what degree are female behaviors dictated by this concept of femininity and social norms? For instance, consider how women display themselves, particularly in a setting such as a bar. The majority of the women I observed were dressed to impress, they all had makeup on, and their hair done. Attractiveness is a main focal point for how women are perceived. Therefore, in response to this, women mold themselves like putty into what men consider desirable. The television show that was on at the bar, Manswers, in itself reaffirms this idea. From the reading The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvior:
“…She cannot think of herself without man.’ And she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called ‘the sex’, by which is meant that she appears essentially to the male as a sexual being. For him she is sex – absolute sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute – she is the Other” (Beauvior).

The impression of femininity itself suppresses women to submit to men’s desires. Therefore, I think these social norms are governing the very idea of romance through, that is, what is desired.


Work Cited

Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2009. Print.

Beauvoir, Simone De. The Second Sex: Woman as Other. New York: Knopf, 1953. Print.

Identities' Unity to the 'Self'

“The subject assumes different identities at different times, identities which are not unified around a coherent ‘self’. Within us are contradictory identities, pulling in different directions, so that our identifications are continually being shifted about…” (Hall, 1992).

After considering these issues of subjectivity and identity, it leaves a lot to wrap one’s head around. Ways of conceptualizing identity has shifted from an “essential centre of the self” to identities not being fixed, rather changeable throughout time and space. While it is agreeable that self-perception can vary substantially, it is hard for me to conceive how one’s identity is not unified around a coherent ‘self’.
The outside shapes our identities through social, cultural, and political interaction. Yet, there is to some degree a threshold to how much we go in one direction or the other. Furthermore, influences carry different weight in terms of their ability to alter our identity, not everything we are subjected to is going to change our identities. I think there is something that restricts the amount or degree of change which we incur. Maybe identities are not unified, but rather gravitated to a ‘self’.
Identities are like play dough; they are moldable from outside influences and conformable to position. Yet, through regular practices, play dough doesn’t completely change its consistency. The 'self' provides subjects with a sort of consistency. And like play dough, throughout development I think we become harder to shape. I think there is some connection to self-identity and one’s ‘self’.