Sociology

Evidently, the coffee shop seems like the central meeting point for the young adults in this part of town. Why? One may wonder, for many different reasons perhaps, seeing as it is the setup, the ambience, the crowd and culture displayed in this coffee shop is appealing to this age cluster. On this particular day coffee shop is exceptionally full of clients. Probably the time; early evening on a Wednesday is a refreshing time for most college going and some working people to catch up on the highlights of the week and the day. Its location; it is situated in the heart of the city near the central park. It’s convenience on location allows all who love the aroma and the fresh taste of coffee in the city to sample the finest coffee and enjoy the ambience of the beautifully interior designed coffee house. It has inside sitting areas and a secluded outside sitting areas where each table is covered by a canopy. This is excellent for people who need fresh air and some quiet. It not only offers good coffee it provides the one of the best social meeting place for young adults  who can pay for the price of a good coffee house. “The meeting point” or the environment of socialization is very instrumental in the shaping the social patterns of a society. In the observation I gear to relate the norms and sanctions of groups or individuals within the environment of the coffee shop.

As I observed the culture and the norms of the human interactions in the coffee house it is important to note the definitions of norms and sanctions. Norms can be defined as a set of rules that govern a groups beliefs, values and behaviors, they can be the “social customs, ways, traditions and conventions” appropriate within a given culture (Dubois 1). Norms are the expectations of behavior with a certain cultural setting. Sanctions on the other hand are a restrictive set of formal rules or guidelines that are imposed on a group, nation or individual and they are meant to control the group patterns and behaviors. They can relate to boundaries outlined within certain norms enforced by the authorities appointed. Sanctions can be given to members of a club, a gang or a social place. Failure to adhere to sanctions will mostly result in some form of disciplinary action on individual and also best practices to this sanctions will receive approval or some reward. Folkways are more or like norms conventions followed by groups and the patterns they adapt to.

Within this social context there are different forms of interactions. It is easy to note that groups within this coffee shop both management and patrons have adopted certain social norms and cultures. The management and staff are friendly and inviting with eloquent American English and with the knowledge of the customers tastes and preferences, the young adult waiters and waitresses are trendy and easy to talk to one would confuse them for patrons. One can observe that most of these staffs are recent college graduates or college students on vacation. No wonder it is a very popular place for the young and middle aged adults. On the corner of the wall next to the cashier, one observes a well done wooden plaque with inscriptions of “our commitments as management to the customer” this are about five customer service commitments listed and one of them is being kind and friendly to customers. These are “injunctive norms” described as being accepted behavior by all and also there is a display of “explicit norms”; norms that have been written down or spoken openly (Straker 2009). Such sanctions ensure a good environment for staff and patrons. It would be considered a ritual or expected norm for any patron to be treated in a friendly manner by the staff as they entered and settled in the coffee shop. If waiters break the sanctions prescribed by management by being rude or ignoring a customer it would be expected that some sort of disciplinary action would be taken for such attitudes. It is also expected in such a place that super performance of staff would be rewarded as per the laid out sanctions.

Sociability is one of the norms observed visibly within the activities of the patrons. Collective groups sociable behavior; described as “seeking company of others” (Flanagan 1999 9) is what the social network of the coffee shop demonstrate, for instance among this setting there is a display of the young adults grouping together as they catch up on the latest “vibe”; others have their laptops browsing the web as they discuss topical issues among themselves. One will easily notice some individuals’ sited on corners enjoying their peace as they work on their laptops, the place is dotted with one or two couples possibly on a date. In the center of the coffee house, round tables are graced by collective groups of young ladies talking cheerfully together mostly likely having a “bonding” session. Such group and individual set ups adopt certain norms and the culture portrayed in this set ups portray different social patterns. These would be described as;

Descriptive norms; perceptions of how other people are behaving, implicit norms; not openly stated but one will find out when they transgress them. Subjective norms; expectations that valued others have about how we will behave. Personal Norms; standards we have about our own norms (Straker 2009).
If a young gentlemen would join the group of ladies bonding it would be considered uncustomary and unaccepted, because in this particular case the ladies seem to be having a ladies chat he would be breaking an implicit norm. Similarly the young adults talking together about the latest vibe would consider it intrusive if a strange middle aged or elderly person joined in along their conversation, it would be an unaccepted norm among them since they view such a person as not fitting in or out of place breaking a subjective norm. The persons doing their own work on laptops would expect the surrounding to be free of interruptions for his concentration this is particularly portrayed as personal norms.

Sociological findings portrayed in this set up reflect on theory and principle. It is worth noting that the culture displayed in this coffee house is predominantly of the modern of 21st century and the dynamics of human behavior.  Plato the great philosopher observed that human beings have social needs that have to be met within groups thus group formation because in isolation man can not meet his own needs (Graham 2007). A group of people catching up on the latest “vibe” meaning latest news around town; this is a term in urban slang, such groups will display similar norms, like wise, a group of ladies sharing information together will also have attributes that draw them together as friends.  The make up and set up within the coffee house which is trendy and fashionable is appealing to young adults and creates an atmosphere for socializing, interaction and personal development.

The human behavior displayed within this set up is greatly influenced by the prevailing culture of the time. The development of behavior is greatly explained by psychoanalytic theories which have contributed to understanding why human beings act the way they do in certain structures. Firstly, Personality development; a person will posses the Id, ego and superego thus explains how humans identify themselves and the networks they want to associate with, as explained Sigmund Freud (Black 1995). Young people will connect with others like them who share similar norms and appeal to their ego. Secondly the socialization patterns that are set for people; man will behave according to the standards and norms laid out in the society. And finally another psychoanalytic aspect that affects behavior is culture in which one grows up; culture shapes habits and is a basis for internalized values that have been institutionalized inside us.  

    Groups and individuals norms and attitudes that shape their socialization patterns are also governed through cognitive theories that have been shaped by their collective behavior. In understanding collective behavior, social networks group together to achieved certain goals, for collective behavior to succeed in positive social action and mobilization has to be a component of resource allocation and utilization The coffee shop setup provides for a place where resources are available; in this case finest blends of coffee and a suitable located meeting point this creates an opportunity for the growth of collective action.  It is also appreciated that this groups posses or hold closely similar cognitive functions that deal with behavior, firstly attitude; there is a link between attitudes and behavior issues like self awareness and inner strength. Secondly Freud illustrates that there is a link between language and thought. The dialect of man can not be separated from his thoughts persons from the same set up will have to understand each others dialects. There is also a display of game theory where parties in a group follow repeated norms according to the rule of thumb.

    Mutually accepted appropriate behavior between the staff of the shop and the customer are exhibited within the confines of respectable and guided relationship by particular norms. Any one who walks into this shop will notice that there are certain ways of doing things in that place.   Socialization is greatly fashioned by social norm and sanctions of human interactions within a particular environment. Sociability set ups function best, where, groups meet and agree within the confines of what they feel is the best suitable environment for their collective activities match their appropriate behavior. Coffee shops and other public social places appeal to different classes and cultural groups. The culture and orientation of an individual greatly affect their selection criteria as to what they will consider acceptable within their social norms. The clusters of persons within a particular common area posses self awareness traits that shape their personality and who they attract to themselves. Human interaction in the age of technology greatly influences cultural and social norms; these places high value on expected norms on those who interact over the internet.