Food Habits in Correlation With Social Status - Research Paper Example

6th April FOOD HABITS Ethnography is defined as the study and of different human societies. It can also be defined as the study of cultures through close observation, reading and interpretation. It is equated as with any qualitative research project whose main aim is to provide a comprehensive and detailed approach towards each and every activity in life. In other words, it is can also be viewed as a thick description that can be related to Clifford Geertz, an anthropologist who wrote on the idea of an interpretative theory of culture in the early. On the contrary, qualitative research project is previewed as a leeway to the kind of social science that engages quantitative research with statistical data research methods. To understand the food habits, it is important to understand the different research methods that define societal cultures. Interviews as a way of data collection is a methodological tool that provides targeted raw from selected groups of people by asking certain specific questions. These questions are categorically grouped into the open-ended class that gives the target group a wide range of answering the addressed questions. In this regard, it is imperative to note that there are a number of interview styles which the researcher is prompted to settle on depending on the research methodology in play. At this point, each ethnographer is allocated an opportunity to table his or her own argument which will be used to build a viable approach that will be used to support the research question. However, great emphasis is directed to the people or groups being interviewed to ensure that the captured responses are free from bias and can be relied on. Also, in line with this argument is that the questions should not confine the interviewee to a specific mindset but should let his mind free to think in a diverse way. In most cases, an ethnographic interviewer seeks to associate himself with the interviewee by relating to their feelings and thinking and knowing what best is meant for them. Conversation and participation is encouraged to be professional to ensure that the expected result is achieved. Research should be geared to getting the best results possible and this is achieved through interrogation of different questions that help in understanding different societies in relation to their food habits. RESEARCH QUESTION My participant was a middle-class Chinese who was born from a poor background, an environment that does not necessary give a good life and food habits might not be an issue of societal beliefs. He adapted his food practice in order to achieve his health goal after he was ill due to lacking diet. The interview on the middle-class Chinese is a perfect representation of the health consciousness of food in the middle-class in China. The interview is based on a qualitative research methodology that sets the mood for answering the below listed question. Specifically, I would like to explore: Does social class affect people’s food practices in correlation with the health goal and how do middle class people achieve the health goal. My object of study will be Wang who is a middle-class Chinese who traces his root from a poor background. He once suffered from health related complications due to lack of a balanced diet. In order to counter these complications, he sought advice from the paramedics where they advised him to gradually change his feeding practice to a healthy diet which was fit to his body system. As a result, he gradually changed his food practice after realizing the implication the changes would have on his health. In addition, he strived to find new ways of food sources and practice. A BRIEF HISTORY OF WANG BASED ON AN INTERVIEW Wang, 46 is a long term friend to our family. Our relations with him have been founded on the proximal friendship that they have with my father. In addition, he is amiable, warm-hearted and kind, a reason why I have never stopped visiting him since I was a kid. He is a middle-class Chinese and many are the times that we have had discussions over lunch with his family. We would have meat in our diet in most occasions whenever we had lunch together with Wang until when I started noticing changes in his diet. Being a close friend to him, my curiosity levels rose and the next thing I remember I was on his neck asking for an explanation in regards to the changes. Talking about food and how we enjoy different kinds of meal was like part of our lives. Born in an extremely poor family, Wang experienced the bad side of life. As he grew up, he could compare his family and the rest and the results to this comparison would disappoint him. His family could not even satisfy his needs even food. He grew up a bitter man. The main childhood memory that he can recollect with ease is starving. Many are the times that his family failed to put something on their dinner table where as a result they were forced to spend countless nights without food. From then, he never asked for anything like other kids did from his parents. He even dropped out school since his family couldn’t afford his tuition fee. However, with no complaints, he began to work in a garage. Life in the garage was hard. A kid of age 15 who has no professional knowledge in fixing would never get any attention. He believed in the old adage that patience pays and so he eventually got a chance where he was required to observe and ask questions when opportunity brought itself. From his chronicles, it is evident that Wang has gone through a lot. He acknowledges that his past was his best time ever in that, it build him to become the Wang that he is today. He attributes eagerness towards success as the driving force behind his motivation to learn more. However, the only thing that seemed imperfect was food. He could only afford a bowl of noodle with no toppings. It was hard for a boy at this age. He narrates that he was extremely disturbed by hunger and sometimes even woke up in the midnight because of it. Because of his commitment, the employer soon promoted him, as it is the case everywhere. At that time, he felt completeness of life this because starving and suffering was a thing of the past and not in his vocabulary anymore. He had made a decent salary and his parents were not suffering from life any more. He started to go to restaurants and almost told himself that he had already achieved his life time goals and targets. Beyond feeding himself, he could not even make choices among many restaurants. “What else could I ask for?” he asks. It is worth noting that meat was his only choice. Having being scared of hunger in his childhood, the most food that he ate when he was a kid was the vegetables that his parents planted. He has never imagined at any time that he would ever eat vegetables because it was never enough for him. However, the stabilized life did not last for long. The garage was closed few years later because the manager was broke. Wang panicked on receiving this news and the first thing that came to his mind was that he might starve again. When people adapt to a better life, it is difficult for them to the bear the hard life again. The uncertainty of life gave Wang a lesson. He then wanted to start his own business since it seemed to be the most stable way to him at that time. He had accumulated savings from his job and borrowed money from his friends. He was all set to start his own garage. It is like eating defines how people perceive different situations because they have to think of what to eat next. People get peace of mind when they are sure of what they will eat tomorrow and not necessary what they are doing to ensure there is enough food for tomorrow. This kind of behavior is an interesting one to understand as you try to explore different cultures related to food habits across the globe. In every culture, they are different food habits depending on social behaviors, environment, and cultural practices that people identify themselves with in different seasons of the year. SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS INTERVIEW This interview provides to the reader a target raw data that responds to open-ended questions posed by the interviewer. This helps the reader to build a rapport with the interviewee, a move that increases the reader’s cognitive levels to greater heights. Also, this interview addresses the research question that I have included in this paper by offering clear and concise responses that will help me come up with the final hypotheses to this question. Subsequently, an interview is critical to any ethnographic research project in that it helps establish an ethnographic fieldwork that is moulded by personal and professional identities that are inevitably shaped by individual experiences while in the field. SIGNIFICANCE OF WANG Wang as a participant has been used to symbolize the plight of the societal middle class and the pains they go through in their day to day activities (Wills et al 54). The framing of social class distinctions through family food and eating practices. The reason why he did quit meat consumption was a security measure which was aimed to ensure that he does not resume to his past that was flooded by scathing images of hunger and starvation. His participation in this interview symbolizes the fears that are imminent within the middle class. These are the fears that limit their productivity levels and as such, poverty always strikes back with a lot of vengeance (Calnan et al 56). Ethnographic research is both qualitative and subjective. It is qualitative in this way that it is interested in conducting in-depth studies of smaller populations and groups. It does not apply statistical methods of data collection and is interested in descriptions more than statistics. An ethnographic research is subjective in that a lot of focus is directed to learn to discern the unusual in the usual (Bonnie Sunstein and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater, 18). The ethnographer must be present in the research in order to acquire a firsthand type of information that is free from bias and manipulation (Clifford Geertz). The research will give an opportunity to other researchers to understand more about food habits in China and across the globe. Works Cited Backett-Milburn, Kathryn C; Wills, Wendy J; Roberts, Mei-Li; Lawton, Julia. Food, eating and taste: Parents perspectives on the making of the middle class teenager. Social Science & Medicine. Oct 2010. Calnan, Michael; Cant, Sarah. The Social Organisation of Food Consumption: A Comparison of Middle Class and Working Class Households. The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. 1990. Wills, Wendy; Backett-Milburn, Kathryn; Roberts, Mei-Li; Lawton, Julia. The framing of social class distinctions through family food and eating practices. The Sociological Review. Nov 2011. Read More