For the Sociological Perspective Project, our
group decided to take a closer look at a select few stores on Guadalupe Street,
more commonly known as the ‘drag’ by the students of the University of Texas at
Austin (UT). The purpose of our analysis is to reveal why these stores
have been so successful, and what that says about the culture of college
students at UT. The three stores we decided to analyze are 1) Diablo Rojo,
2) Urban Outfitters, and 3) The University Co-op. We
intentionally chose a variety of stores, instead of say all restaurants, to
help highlight as many different aspects of college culture as possible.
In this analysis the sociological concepts of the strange in the familiar,
subcultures, cultural capital, and the six principles of culture were used.
Diablo Rojo
Diablo
Rojo is a local tattoo parlor that offers piercing and tattooing
services. Tattoos and piercings are a distinct intangible component of
our culture, and their growing acceptance highlights one of the six principles
of culture: culture is not fixed. Over the years, the parlor has grown to
be one of the most popular tattoo and piercing shops in Austin. In fact,
it has top ratings from Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Austin City Search. These
high ratings along with high sanitation standards have allowed Diablo Rojo to
offer their services at a higher average price than their competitors.
For example, a nose piercing (one of the simpler services) will cost you $75
whereas Platinum Ink, another tattoo and piercing parlor, only charges
$45. People are more than willing to pay higher prices for a guarantee
that their tattoo or piercing will not become infected, which highlights a few
important cultural values. Our culture values cleanliness, sanitary
practices, and the reputation of businesses. Similarly people value the
fact that they use only the highest quality metals in their piercings.
This lowers the risk of infection, which is one of the primary concerns when
one is considering getting a piercing.
Another interesting aspect of Diablo Rojo is the
advertising on the outside of the shop and the interior décor. As you can
see in the image, the front of the store is covered with neon signs and images
that look like tattoos. Even the lettering on the signs is intended to
look like tattoo script and entice potential customers to go in and get a
tattoo. Furthermore, the store is painted black which gives it an edgy
and mysterious appeal, which stands out amongst the other stores on the drag.
Inside the store, the walls are covered with awards recognizing the stores
services and sanitation as well as licenses allowing their employees to perform
the listed service. This again alludes to the importance our culture
places on reputations and cleanliness. Additionally, the walls are a
bright red color, which symbolizes excitement, danger, and strong emotions all
of which are associated with the tattooing process. Another staple on the
walls is images of previous tattoos and eclectic posters that help inspire new
customers and provide proof that they indeed do provide high quality ink
tattoos. All of this adds to the overall experience of getting a tattoo
or piercing and creates the perfect ambience for getting the service.
Their clientele is mainly comprised of college
students and adults ranging from their late teens to their early 40s, which
makes a college campus area the ideal place to set up shop. The specific
subcultures that tattooing and piercing appeal to include but are not limited
to punks, hipsters, and the hip hop culture. However, the culture in
Austin in general is more accepting of tattoos, which means that their
clientele also includes average college students. One reason that tattoo
parlors are so popular around college campuses is because students are usually
living on their own for the first time in their lives, and they enjoy asserting
their independence by participating in deviant activities such as piercing and
tattooing. Additionally, being so close to campus helps them get more
business because when college students get the spur of the moment impulse to
get a tattoo or piercing, Diablo Rojo is the first place they think of.
Deviance is considered any transgression of socially accepted norms.
Tattooing and piercing are considered deviant depending on the context, but as
a whole our society is not completely accepting of tattooing or piercing, which
makes them considered deviant behaviors. The baby boomer generation in
particular frowns down upon tattoos, which can be problematic because they are
likely to be the ones hiring our generation upon graduation.
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters is
an American Company, which runs several retail stores throughout America. It
has grown to become very popular among people in their late teens and in their
20’s. This makes a college campus an ideal place for the location of a store.
Urban Outfitters’ success amongst people of this age group reflects a lot about
college and youth culture. In order to explain this, it is important to know
the merchandise that is sold and displayed in the store. As indicated above, it
is a clothing store with just about every type of clothing available from coats
and T-shirts to tank tops and socks. Also, like other stores, Urban Outfitters
has its own style that the majority of its products conform to. This style can
be simply described as: different. The pieces of clothing found show a sort of
uniqueness that most adolescents and young adults look to define themselves as.
One way
of being unique that ironically has been growing in popularity is that of
dressing throwback. By dressing throwback, I mean to explain how young adults
are now dressing in a fashion that reflects that of the past such as in the
fifties. Apparel such as cardigans with big buttons on front, or cliché
lettermen jackets easily reflect this. T-shirts and jeans are purposely made to
look worn and torn as if they are used. Not dressing modern, or what has been
the norm is a way college students try to become their own self and find their
own style by being different from the norm. The norm being, why would you buy
and wear something that looks old and worn out? Common sense used to be that
one would want to look like they just bought their clothes: clean and spotless.
This attitude has changed since then, with worn and torn being desired because
it goes against the norm of being ‘new and fresh’, creating one’s own personal
and different style. Many of the clothing items have certain brands and
television show logos printed on them, mostly from the nineties or eighties, a
period during which many of Urban Outfitters’ customers were children. These
pieces of clothing bring up a sense of nostalgia with the customers and they
may wear these to associate themselves as fans and individualize themselves by
their specific interests. Rather than being influenced by popular media
or major corporations, customers feel they are expressing themselves by wearing
these brands.
Yet
another thing I would like to point out is that the style of the men’s clothing
goes against the social norms of masculinity. While interests such as cars and
sports could be found on many of the men’s clothing items, the apparel itself
was in a way feminine. Tank Tops, skinny jeans, and cardigans are now more
acceptable for men to wear. Colorful socks and shoes can be found in the men’s
department, reflecting that masculinity and femininity are not as defined as
they used to be. There is more freedom for people to wear what they like
without being judged. The atmosphere of the store itself was very uncommon
compared to most retail stores. The store’s atmosphere was that of a sandlot. Wood
paneled floors and stairs, with many of the shelves and racks looking scrappily
put together. One particular aspect that intrigued me was that of the clothing
racks. Many of them were made to look like water pipes, and rusted ones at
that. Overall the store reflected the merchandise, which is laidback and
comfortable but boasts a unique and different feel. This store definitely
reflects college culture; adolescents are experiencing their first tastes of
freedom and discovering whom they really are while trying to stay comfortable
with themselves.
The University Co-op
Dr.
William Battle who served as president of the University of Texas from 1914 to
1916 founded the University Co-op, known as the
“Co-op” by students. The
Co-op contributed to the funds to enlarge the campus from its original 40 acres. The University Co-op's mission
is to advance the educational interests of
the University by selling school supplies ranging from class textbooks, pencils, pens, papers, calculators,
notebooks, staplers, various books, and study
guides. Also in the University Co-op there are numerous spirit wear and tourist merchandise. For instance,
they sell burnt orange t-shirts, hoodies, shorts,
polos, coffee mugs, decals, sunglasses, desk items, Bevo posters, and many more longhorn symbol decorated
items. This shows the importance of the store
to the University of Texas’ culture and one of the six elements of culture.
Since culture consists of material and non-material components, the University
Co-op is central the University of Texas’ culture since it contains various
material components of culture.
This
place serves as a bookstore for students - a place to show their school spirit
for game day or just in general - and it is a tourist attraction that many
people visit to buy souvenirs to remember their experience. The Co-Op shows the
core values of college culture, which are the support of our school, the
understanding of education as students’ top priority, and pride in our school
colors and values. All souvenirs that are purchased contain a longhorn logo or
phrase such as “hook’em”. This shows that culture is learned. When coming to
the University Co-op and purchasing a souvenir you learn either a gesture or a
part of Longhorn language. Every college has their own logo and stores like the
“Co-op” help to spread this key part of college culture. Lastly, the Co-op has
a reimbursement program that helps students spend less money. This says a lot
about college culture because students are always trying to save money due to
the rise in tuition costs and living expenses. The “Co-op” is known by
everybody on campus and has the power to influence our values, which displays a
lot about the significance and impact it has on the college culture here.
