Define a Pop-subculture Essay

According to the American Heritage dictionary, a subculture is defined as “a group within a society that has its own shared set of customs, attitudes, and values, often accompanied by jargon or slang. A subculture can be organized around a common activity or any unifying social condition (Dictionary.com).” But to me, subculture can be more than that. For example, take “coffee drinkers” who hang out in Starbucks. The key characteristic that ties this group together is the fact that each one of them is there for an escape from something. It could be from a hectic day at work, to get away from noisy roommates, or maybe a little break from the family to meet up with friends for coffee. In this paper, not only do I plan to prove that “coffee drinkers” have all the characteristics that define a subculture, but I also plan to prove that this element of “escape” is an additional contributing characteristic.

   In gathering evidence of proof, I plan to research articles, as well as doing a Starbucks participant observation and conducting a couple interviews with a customer and an employee. The goal is to gather evidence so it can be evaluated for determining whether a subculture exists. But why research Starbucks? In this case, the artifact is Starbucks because it essentially creates the subculture. To further clarify, “An artifact is something specifically produced by a culture or subculture (Lewis)”. Therefore, Starbucks is where I will find most of the evidence needed to either support or refute whether Starbucks is housing a subculture. 

As stated earlier, one of the characteristics of a subculture is jargon or special language (Dictionary.com). According to Lincoln Armstrong, “the drink business at Starbucks has its own language, complete with its own grammar, vocabulary and dialect.” For example, grammar determines the right order of selection. Vocabulary may include words like macchiato, misto, grande, or chai. The dialects can be confusing as well. Is venti pronounced “ven-TEE” or “ven-TAY”? According to Crystal, a Starbucks employee, “the language is still confusing for some customers, but mostly with the sizes of the drinks”. For Starbucks, small, medium, and large is actually tall, grande, and venti. I have to agree with her because that was the first thing that confused me when I first experienced Starbucks. I tried to order a medium Frapaccino and the employee actually pointed to 3 different sized cups on the counter and said, “These are our sizes, tall, grande, and venti, so do you want a grande Frapaccino”? Other things customers often question are related to the menu items. For example, “What is a macchiato or an Americano”? “What is the difference between Latte and Mocha”? But for the most part, Crystal says the majority of the customers who come in are already familiar with the language. In other words, American Culture has adapted to the Starbucks language, a characteristic of subculture. 

 Another characteristic of subculture is “the organization around a common activity or any unifying social condition (Dictionary.com)”. This is where my participant observation and my casual interviews come in. I decided to show up to Starbucks on a Thursday at 11:00 to catch the lunch hour. As I walked in, the place was filled with the aroma of fresh coffee. After I placed my order, a strawberry smoothie and chipotle chicken bistro box, I found a nice table and chair where I could set-up. The place was packed with people, some reading newspapers, others on their lunch breaks with friends, some sitting outside enjoying the weather, and directly behind me was a business meeting about taking in more accounts. The balance of people sat alone with their laptops, their discreet headphones in, and their phones on the table. According to Crystal, this was the typical crowd at lunch, as well as the usual activities that occurred; drinking coffee, relaxing, visiting, and viewing media. During the evenings and weekends, Crystal said students often came in to study. Curtis, a radiology major who frequently does his homework at Starbucks, says he likes studying there. He said that he comes in during the week on his days off from school, as well as on the weekends from about nine in the morning till roughly around seven at night. He said, “It’s hard for me to study at home because I have noisy roommates and I like that I have easy access to coffee and food, unlike libraries”. At that moment, I realized that Starbucks was a perfect location for all of these common activities. Where else could one easily set-up a laptop with access to many electrical outlets, hold a business meeting or study for an assignment, and have access to coffee and snacks at the same time? Not many establishments offer these kinds of accommodations. In my opinion, this displays the organization around a common activity that involves the enjoyment of coffee, media, and friends in a Starbucks. Again, all of this collectively reflects another characteristic of subculture. 

Now that I have safely established that “coffee drinkers” who hang out in Starbucks is considered a subculture, is it true that Starbucks planned on creating this subculture? The answer is yes. And there are many elements or aspects which had the intent of tying this subculture together. For example, according to mhhe.com, Starbucks implements what they call “best of class (Thompson)”. What this means is that their store locations often include unique seating areas with leather chairs, couches, occasionally fireplaces, ambiance, free WiFi, and local and national newspapers. And it doesn’t stop there. Mhhe.com also states that a “stores of the future” team was developed in 1995 and the basic concept was – “an authentic coffee experience that conveyed the artistry of espresso making, a place to think and imagine, a spot where people could gather and talk over a great cup of coffee, a comforting refuge that provided a sense of community, a third place for people to congregate beyond work or home, a place that welcomed people and rewarded them for coming, and a layout that could accommodate both fast service and quiet moments (Thompson)”. And from my personal experience as a participant observer, I can confirm that most of the listed elements above were included in the Starbucks I was at. It had unique seating areas that included leather chairs, News Paper stands, the wall art and color themes all seemed to celebrate coffee, and from what I saw, everyone was truly enjoying the atmosphere offered. The “stores of the future” team had the intent of building a subculture within their stores and they were very successful.  Moreover, they have also proven my earlier theory about the element of “escape” being a key characteristic that ties this subculture together; except they called it “a comforting refuge”. So if you ever get the chance to go into a Starbucks, keep in mind that it is not just a simple coffee shop. Instead, it houses one of the most popular and meticulously planned out subcultures in America today.

 

Reflection

I felt that I learned quite a bit about myself as a writer and mostly because you took the time to meet with me and analyze my work-in-process essay. From that, I realized that I have developed some habits in the way that I write, for example writing summary conclusions in instead of leaving the reader with some thought. But because this was brought to my attention, I was able to open my mind to different ways of writing. I also caught myself repeating this habit half-way through writing the conclusion in the in-class "technology" essay, luckily I changed it. I have to say, I like this new way of writing, summary conclusions are boring.
     In addition to that, I was happy to have some notes to take home with me because it truly helped me in analyzing my work. And I also appreciate the feedback once my essay was graded, I could clearly see that there were areas where I should have connected my thesis more often. And from this, I believe I did a better job at improving that for my technology essay. Also, the peer-review helped as well. The students were mostly right on the things that needed to be improved. Overall, the peer-review experience helped in influencing my final draft for the better and it always helps to write about a fun topic.