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18BCE0197 SAURABH KUMAR JHA

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
ASSIGNMENT 1
DRINKING COFFEE
SAURABH KUMAR JHA
18BCE0197

Question – Provide sociological understanding on the various realities


associated with the ritual of drinking coffee.
INTRODUCTION

Food and refreshments can be utilized as a social lubricant for social associations (Befu, 1974;
Humphrey and Humphrey, 1988; Stafford, 2003). Many examinations have referenced the overall
manners by which food and drinks add to social connection, however couple of studies give a good
clarification of the correspondence component behind these advantages. For instance, Humphrey
(1979) closed: "First, we utilize eating together as a cozy and significant type of correspondence,
consequently making attachment" (page 192). Be that as it may, what caused this expansion in
attachment? For what reason can food and drink join individuals? In another examination, a week
after week supper function assisted individuals with making associations (Humphrey and Humphrey,
1988). Humphrey and Humphrey (1988) called attention to: "Bread and wine are associated gadgets;
sharing food is an affirmation of an individual willing to share oneself" (p. 65). So food and
refreshments have become glues, yet how? Endless different works demonstrate that food
frequently goes about as a connection between societies (Befu, 1974; Blank and Leibrecht, 2007;
Harper and Faccioli, 2009; Wallendorf and Arnould, 1991), yet it isn't clear how or why this is really
happened onDrinks like espresso and tea likewise influence our physiological capacities. For , these
beverages increment circulatory strain and pulse, while likewise animating the focal sensory system
(Ramalakshmi and Raghavan, 1999).

SOCIOLOGY UNDERSTANDING

Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human
behavior. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies and how
people interact within these contexts[4].

Sociology has this wonderful way of taking things that seem mundane and revealing them to be
beautifully complex. Coffee as an example, for a lot of us coffee is a steady part of our routine that
goes completely unexamined on a daily basis. But if we look at out coffee sociologically, we can
actually use it as a window into our society and into ourselves. So to begin with, coffee is a drug.
And the fact that I can stand here and take this drug and not lose my credibility reflects the fact that
, in our culture , some drug are accepted while others are stigmatized. Yet also within our culture
there are subcultural groups in which this drug is actually outside the norms. It would be
stigmatized.

A coffee is not just a drink but it is basically a symbol of two people meeting and showing their
interest towards each other. Asking out for a coffee is basically symbolizing many sociological
understandings. Often the rituals associated with coffee drinking are more important than
consuming the drink itself. It is basically a way to interact with people, to have some chat over

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18BCE0197 SAURABH KUMAR JHA

coffee, this helps one to get connect with some new interesting people forming a social interaction
which offer a rich vein of subject matter for sociologist. The Sociological understanding here is coffee
is acting as a means for connecting a group of people interested to have a convo with each other.

Today, 4,444 business executives have promoted the benefits of coffee meetings on numerous blogs
and online media resources. For example, a business executive stated that meeting with in a coffee
shop can increase creativity, equitable status, encourages problem solving, promotes interpersonal
relationships and provides a friendly work environment (Antonatos, 2014 ). Additionally, Antonatos
(2014) reports that there are 610 coffee meetings per week, ranging from 2040 minutes. Other
examples of cafeterias used as temporary offices include: 4,444 lobbyists meeting with White House
officials in a nearby cafeteria 4,444 (Lichtblau, 2010), Millennial employees 4,444 using cafeterias as
a kind of public office 4,444 (Massis, 2015), the emergence of suggested articles on meeting
etiquette in cafeteria (Elkins, nd; Gordon, 2015; Kendall, nd ), and mentor relationships were formed
during the coffee period (Cooper, 2012). Other studies have shown that people see cafeterias as an
alternative to offices workplaces, which can reduce distractions and increase productivity
(Garne2012;Hampton& Gupta, , 2008; Sax, 2010, December 3). In short, many of today's employees
use cafeterias for business meetings, relationship development and alternative offices.

Coffee is used as a meeting drink from a long time, People meet and discuss billion worth deal over
a coffee that makes it the richest drink, these groups of rich class people prefer coffee as a mind
cracking drink that gives them the idea to think and invest on some innovative idea. If you have
heard there are many meetings which take place in cafeteria. So the sociology behind it maybe is
that they try to use their relaxation time as a opportunity to grow their self and Caffein as a drug
helps them a lot a do so.

The interview was conducted in a cafeteria. lasted from 5 to 38 minutes. Although longer interviews
would have been beneficial, one of the goals was to interview people while they had real-time
interactions with their conversation partners. In other words, the researchers interviewed up to
people who had coffee together at the time. Many participants have time constraints, making longer
interviews impractical. The researchers looked for a larger sample size of to make up for the shorter
interviews. By the end of , the same concept appeared repeatedly, thus researchers believed that it
had reached theoretical saturation (Charmaz, 2006; Glaser, 2002; Suddaby, 2006). The target
participants are coffee drinkers in pairs, so that people can check their behaviour patterns and
behaviours in interpersonal communication. Researchers interviewed 14 individual clients, 19
couples, and a group of five people. The script also benefits people at the level in interpersonal and
family relationships. For example, when two people used culturally influenced scripts when they first
dated, broke up to go to the movies (Honeycutt & Bryan, 2010). The script is based on memory and
"creates expectations" about what will happen to in a given relationship or context (Honeycutt &
Bryan, 2010, p. 14). Ritual scripts can even help to form a familiar "paradigm" (Wolin and Bennett,
1984, p. 403) and provide meaning for the mixed family dealing with a remarriage (Baxter and
Braithwaite, 2002; Braithwaite, Baxter and Harper, 1998). Ceremony Family meals also have
psychological, physical, and learning benefits (Fiese & Schwartz, 2008). In summary, the power of
food and drink combined with is a ritual script to build interaction, which is a powerful mechanism of
social interaction.

Many interviews take place over a coffee. These interview may be time constrained or sometimes
get longer take place in cafeteria. So the question which arise here is why such important meeting
takes place over a coffee. The sociology behind it according to me can be due to the mind relaxation
property of coffee (caffein) . As the most important thing in any interview is the interviewer needs to
be relaxed and calmed in front of the interviewer which get achieved over a coffee.

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18BCE0197 SAURABH KUMAR JHA

Coffee is basically a drug, which acts as a stress buster that relaxes the mind of individual. Coffee
basically helps a lot of working individuals to burst out their stress. In today’s world every individual
is busy in his/her work which is creating a lot of pressure and stress to that particular individual. For
reducing the stress and to focus on their work, People consume Coffee which makes them fresh and
they can continue their job. Coffee also helps individual to stay awake while working. So coffee
basically is very helpful for a group of hardworking individual. Hence this is the sociological
understanding of mine for such community of people.

Let’s focus on individual with some major problems like high blood pressure, these people may be
habitual of coffee or may be not get recommendation from doctors to consume coffee on regular
basic which helps to cure their problem. For these groups of people coffee acts as a need, a sort of
rebooting system. Coffee is Possibly Effective for Impaired movement of food through the intestines
after surgery. Drinking coffee might speed up the first stool and a person's ability to eat solid food
after certain gut surgeries. Diabetes People who drink more coffee seem to have a lower risk of
developing type 2 diabetes. The greater the intake of coffee, the lower the risk. People with type 2
diabetes who drink more coffee might also have a slightly lower risk of dying. Death from any cause.
Drinking coffee every day is linked to a slightly lower risk of dying from any cause or from heart
disease. It's unclear if drinking coffee is linked with a lower risk of death from cancer. Parkinson
disease. There is evidence that people who drink caffeinated beverages such as coffee, tea, and cola
have a decreased risk of Parkinson disease. Interestingly, coffee does not seem to help prevent
Parkinson disease in people who smoke cigarettes.

So coffee is a typical thing which needs to get understand as it works differently for the group of
individuals. Coffee also signifies the difference between the person like rich class and poor class, The
one buying drink from Starbuck and other from a Stall or CCD this differs the financial condition of
that group of individuals as well. This makes coffee as a means to Show the status symbol of a
group of individuals.

There are group of individuals that uses coffee as a morning drink that helps them to get awake and
to start their daily routing work. These group of people can even have tea as wakeup drink but
instead its they’re in the mindset that they are a coffee person. Hence more likely to go with coffee
rather than tea. Not only is Coffee consumed to stay awake, though. At all times of the day and in
many cases, Coffee is consumed. The social aspect of it is another significant component of Coffee.
Social factors also contribute to making Coffee one of today’s world’s most consumed beverages.
People enjoy caffeine’s taste and effects, as well as social interaction-related Coffee. Coffee shops,
for example, meet this need for social Coffee interaction. Coffee shops have been a meeting place
for intellectuals, artists, musicians and writers to share ideas and improve the community ever since
the fifteenth century. Today, as a meeting location or meeting place, restaurants or Coffee shops
work. It can work as a place where people can meet friends or enjoy Coffee in a relaxed atmosphere.

A cafeteria or cafeteria is the perfect place to bring colleagues, friends, customers and appointments
for an informal environment that relieves nerves with its relaxed atmosphere to relax. A good
conversation can combine Coffee. You could say that we live in a Coffee culture, which describes a
social atmosphere or a series of associated social behaviours that depend heavily on Coffee. Drinking
Coffee can give them the opportunity to meet, catch up with their lives or talk about different types
of things [2].

Coffee is one of the oldest drinks linked to a social activity, drinking together as a social activity. How
often did you hear, “Let’s talk to a cup of Coffee about this?” Starbucks even constructed an empire
by sitting down and debating distinct kinds of stuff while having Coffee through the social element.

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18BCE0197 SAURABH KUMAR JHA

Once Starbucks wanted to call himself the third place. A place for conversation and a sense of
community[2].

A place to relax, this third place is a place between work and home. Some individuals are looking for
a good-tasting Coffee, but they are also looking for a hot and comfortable seating region which will
provide an general pleasant experience. So, besides caffeine, the social environment and the
environment may be another reason to drink Coffee. This resulted me to the following issues: from
what perspective is Coffee being discussed on a platform like Twitter on social media? Are Coffee
tweets related to energy growth or are they related to an atmosphere and social environment?[2]

Keywords such as caffeine, enhanced energy, addiction, sleep, tiredness are linked to the energy
category. Moreover, keywords such as conversation, environment, atmosphere, cafeteria, relaxing,
welcoming and social experience are related to the Environment category[2].

CONCLUSION

So Coffee is quite Complicated. It is different for different group of people. For some it acts as a
source of relaxation, for some it acts as a way to connect with other, and for some it acts as a
wakeup drink. Coffee is a drug still used on regular basis by individual, is legal and even Doctors
recommend this to patients with high blood pressure, Diabetes etc. So basically Coffee connects
individual relax them and boost them to work . Hence The sociological understanding behind
drinking coffee is different for different usage. It totally depends on how we take and where we
drink coffee.

References

[1] COFFEE

COFFEE: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews (webmd.com)

[2]DRINKING COFFEE : THE NEW STATUS SYMBOL

https://caffeinebrothers.co/drinking-coffee-the-new-status-symbol/

[3] WHAT IS THE SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION?

https://revisesociology.com/2017/08/02/giddens-sociological-imagination-coffee/

[4] https://www.asanet.org/about/what-sociology

Ashforth, B. E., & Fried, Y. (1988a). The mindlessness of organizational behaviors. Human Relations,
41, 305-329

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