Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader Bailey essay

Blackwell Anthologies Series

• The Blackwell Anthologies in Social and Cultural Anthropology series presents a comprehensive view on the ever-changing field of anthropology using significant scholarly work from the 19th and 20th centuries
• The series includes classic readers and challenges norms in anthropology
• Each volume focuses on a traditional subdiscipline, such as linguistic anthropology, providing canonical readings
• These volumes include rare perspectives on social and cultural anthropology at the start of the 21st century, acknowledging the problematic nature of strict subdisciplinary definitions
• The texts combine both classic and contemporary works to emphasize the artificiality of these definitions and guide students, researchers, and general readers toward new directions in anthropology

Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader

• Edited by Alessandro Duranti
• Second Edition
• Published by Wiley-Blackwell

Communication of Respect in Interethnic Service Encounters

• Benjamin Bailey
• Conflict between immigrant Korean retailers and African American customers has been widely documented since the early 1980s
• Social, racial, and economic inequality in American society is viewed as an underlying cause of these tensions
• Ordinary retail transactions can become charged events for African Americans due to this broad context of inequality
• Specific features of convenience stores, such as high prices, low customer incomes, and perceptions of economic exploitation exacerbate conflict
• There are critical differences in how respect is communicated between these groups, and create mutual feelings of disrespect
• Differences in communicating respect contribute to tension
• Contrasting practices in displaying politeness and respect are evident in store interactions and interviews with retailers and customers
• "Respect" is a key issue for both groups, who view "rudeness" as inappropriate
• Both groups desire more respect and courtesy through considerate verbal and nonverbal communication
• Even with good intentions, respect may not be effectively communicated

Understanding and Miscommunication of Respect

• Gumperz's work highlights how intercultural communication can lead to miscommunication
• Cultural differences in contextualization cues impact communication
• The lack of respect is often perceived as actively threatening
• Non-communication of politeness can be seen as aggression
• Differing conventions can lead to behaviors being interpreted as antagonistic rather than merely strange
• Brown and Levinson's politeness theory suggests individuals desire respect in two dimensions:
  • Negative face wants being free from imposition
  • Positive face wants expressions of approval and solidarity
• The terms INVOLVEMENT (positive politeness) and RESTRAINT (negative politeness) describe the strategies for paying respect
• Involvement politeness expresses approval and solidarity
• Restraint politeness avoids imposing on others
• Immigrant Korean store owners typically display restraint, while African Americans use involvement strategies

Methods of Study

• Study took place in Los Angeles from July 1994 to April 1995 through:
  • Ethnographic observation
  • Interviews in immigrant Korean Stores
  • Interviews with African Americans
  • Video Taping

Service Encounter Interaction

• A service encounter is face-to-face interaction between a server in a service area and a customer needing service oriented towards customer satisfaction
• Service encounters are goal-oriented, with the structure being functionally adapted to the goals of the activity
• Conflicting functional perceptions of the service encounter occur
• Even with the same goals, participants use contrasting means
• African-American customers and immigrant Korean shopkeepers may have have differing notions

Types of Service Encounter

• SOCIALLY MINIMAL service encounters have talks referring to aspects of the money exchange
• SOCIALLY EXPANDED service encounters highlight interpersonal relationship between storekeepers and customers
• Social expansion involves practices that increase interpersonal involvement, like jokes, small talk

Service Encounters between Immigrant Koreans

• Korean-Korean interactions have impersonal talks
• The interactions are typically brief with minimal conversation
• Compared to those with African Americans

Service Encounters between Immigrant Koreans and African-Americans

• African-American customers engage in more personal talk
• Social expansion happens only with friendships outside the store
• Immigrant Korean are reactive and not proactive
• African-American customers create interpersonal involvement
• Immigrant Korean store keepers do respond but do not emotional align
• The reactions to the assessment and humor of African-Americans customers is of lower levels of inter personal involvement
• Limited english and difficult communication prevents showing interest like joking etc

Ideal Interactional Style

• Videotaped interaction records reveal not hostility between the racial groups, which contrasts to the idea of anti-social interaction
• There are subltle conversation and behavioural differences
• The stereotypes of racism exist

Expression of Interest

• Although the customer is from out of town there is no reaction from workers
• The customers use "I haven't seen you in a while" comment
• The worker treats him like a regular

Call and Response Interaction

• Involves constant conversation and engagement
• "is Chicago Cold?" comment
• Customer and the worker never laugh or give approval
• "nice talking to you" phrase only in English
• There are attempts for accommodating
• Both groups inquire and address questions
• English proficiency
• The encounters have different dimensions

Conclusion: Encounter Two

• The customer talks but never pauses; the clerk is unapproachable
• New area and wanting the names of attendants
• There's an obvious relationship
• Customers want to know to create a friendly persona so that they know

Conclusion: Personal Treatment

• There is a style for friendly customers to promote the explicit idea
• Strangers are not known, therefore not trusted in some regards
• Stores and workers differ so there are some different people in the group
• Customers and attendants have many levels
• It has had little of the affect
• The business is completed at the end with little conversation
• If something is missing just call, there is an example
• Everyone is the same, there are no differences
• Some may have little communication
• There are people in general despite the racial differences

Complementary Styles

• Speakers from different group react to the speaker that are opposite
• Creates an environment of a greater sense and need or more inter-group respect

Lack of Positive Reinforcement

• A lot of customers and employees
• There's a lot of negative reinforcement
• Store keepers and customer that give reinforcement create an interaction
• People in general are friends or have friendly relationships with good small talk
• People in the past just had smaller more effective interactions
• There are many negative interactions
• All of the studies just provide little evidence but can improve social interactions