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.