How people interact at night clubs oppose to to job school - Essay Example

RESEARCH PAPER (OUTLINE) The primary stage in a research process, Lusk (2004) views, is the development of a cleared, precise and well-knitted proposal. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the nature and variation of social interaction of the individuals at divergent situations and environments with special reference to night clubs. Though technological revolution and hi-tech advancements, in contemporary age, have altered the very scenario of life by multiplying work hours and professional engagements, yet the need and demand for leisure time consumption, as well as opportunities for recreation, entertainment and amusement have also observed significant boost. The present study aims at discovering if there exists or not any relationship between environment on the one hand, and nature of social interaction on the other. Since the topic contains vastness in its fold, it has been supported with two relevant theories, i.e. Theory of Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen and Social Action Theory by Max Weber. The following hypothesis has been developed for the present study: Different the environment experienced by the individuals within a social set up, different the patterns of the interaction among them regarding leisure time consumption as well as professional life Interview schedule has been applied as the tool for data collection for the present study. Eighteen professionals belonging to different age-groups, genders, classes and areas of the city were selected on the basis of quota (non-probability) sampling for the interview. After the research process, the hypothesis was upheld. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The aims and objectives of the present study have been determined as under: AIM: To comprehensively estimate the difference between the pattern of consuming leisure time at a nightclub by critically comparing and examining the nature and scheme of the free time as well as professional activities of the individuals in order to draw out suggestions to improve the quality of their recreational and professional life OBJECTIVES: To review thorough the latest produced literature discussing the pertinence of recreational patterns Estimating the obstacles in maintaining balance between occupational and personal life To conduct social research in order to present the outcomes related to contemporary nightclub structure To make a comparative analysis of individuals by interviewing the professionals belonging to different genders, age-groups, classes and areas To find out the variation, if any, in the structure of work-life regularities of the individuals belonging to different socio-economic status To apply prevailing modern research techniques in order to draw conclusions on the basis of the findings of the present research, and present recommendations and suggestions consequently THE ESSAY The present study maintains imperative sociological significance in its fold. Since Sociology is the scientific study of human group life, it takes into consideration the fundamental processes that operate in group life on the principles of collective behavior. Thus the sociological data consists of individuals engaged in social interaction according to the prevailing norms, mores, values, cult and laws. Leisure time consumption has become one of the fundamental human needs, and serves as a common heritage to all the people belonging to various societies, cultures, age-groups and ethnicity. The concept of nightclubs have showed the individuals innovative dimensions of spending leisure in a cool, calm, free and informal atmosphere containing variety of activities and lots of fun and delights. Man is the product of society, as it has aptly been said. All his needs and desires are fulfilled while living in a social system, interacting with other members of his society and leading a gregarious life. Social interaction, Rummel (1976: 183) submits, is not defined by type of physical relation or behavior, or by physical distance. It is a matter of a mutual subjective orientation towards each other. It is therefore, all his activities throughout life are conducted while interacting with other members of society. The nature of interaction varies on the basis of situation, circumstances as well as from one culture to the other. Since the society is an amalgamation of cultures and institutions, man experiences different organizations and places during the course of time. He has established specific patterns of behavior according to which his performances are made. For instance, patterns of spending leisure time are quite different from mans activities in his professional life. The same is the case with social interaction at nightclub and the same while interacting with the people in a disciplined atmosphere of work place. All the words is a great stage and men and women are mere players, as Shakespeare has stated in his famous comedy As You Like It (Act II Scene VII) Men and women are both taking on multiple roles especially in the contemporary era. The nature of mans performance is dependent of the situation, environment and opportunity. In other words, man contains flexibility to amend his behavior according to the atmosphere he is participating or getting acclimatized. For example, man looks a very modest, humble and meek fellow while worshipping and praying to Almighty God, the Omnipotent; he appears subservient and compliant while interacting with his parents and teachers, caring and compassionate while dealing with the siblings; candid, larksome and frank during his sitting with friends and peer group, dutiful while performing as a professional at his work place, and bold, romantic and exotic in the company of his spouse and love-partner. (Zaidi, 2002:31) The same is the case with individuals while entering into interaction at professional life on the one hand, and doing the same during attending leisure clubs and places on the other. Since our age has provided us with hard work and hard play opportunities, both work prospects and leisure time consumption seek wide range of choice. Our age of automation, Viola views, requires a new philosophy of leisure. Today, it is considered not just a departure from work, but also an opportunity for service, growth and enjoyment. (1987:144) Work-life balance has emerged as a major theme during the last two decades, which witnessed a substantial intensification of work caused by economic uncertainty, organizational restructuring and increase in business competition (Green 2001; Millward et al, 2000). Commentators assert that the forces of globalization, new technologies and business restructuring are challenging long established patterns of paid work while imposing new burdens on families, individuals and households. (Taylor, 2002: 2) The concept of spending leisure time in a qualitative and in an exquisite way has also got new avenues to the greater extent especially during the second half of twentieth century. Inauguration of new branded hotels, restaurants, clubs, sports complexes, shopping malls, musical and dance theatres and cinema halls are the examples of fast growing requirements of the public at large to enjoy their leisure to their heartiest satisfaction in an innovative way. The establishment of modish balls, splendid bars and striking night clubs is also a part of the campaign to provide the people with best possible recreational facilities. The concept of nightclub brings to mind an extremely gorgeous, pageant and colorful picture before eyes, where there is variety of excitement, thrill and pleasure in a steady, superb and sophisticated style. Night clubs refer to the recreational places where food, drinks, dance, music, swimming, sports, amusement and even sexual entertainments are provided usually from sunset to sunrise. Nightclubs have, Fulbright states, long been the purveyor of fun and entertainment in the evenings. The types of entertainment often provided by nightclub businesses include live bands, live national acts, DJ/Emcees, theme-based parties, and for the lower end, jukebox/coin-operated systems. Entertainment also includes gaming facilities such as pool table, darts, video games or pinball machines. Some nightclubs, particularly in Asian countries, even provide special rooms for karaoke singing. (Power home biz.com) There was a time when balls and bars used to get closed by 9 p.m. and people spent their free time in meeting with friends and relatives by visiting and welcoming them. With the passage of time, the trends witnessed dynamic changes and the concept of attending functions till late at night started prevailing. Now there have been established countless nightclubs facilitating the attendants with fun and delight as soon as they are free from their duties and work. The nature of social interaction at night clubs is quite different from that of domestic, student and professional life. The club environment, Gerrit opines, contains a lot of interaction, mainly by visitor to visitor, but also between the visitor and the people employed by the club such as bar tenders and DJs. (2006:1) The main reason behind that all is this that time spent at home, educational institutions, work place, business environment and meetings is based on organized and disciplined system where people have to consume their energies according to the prescribed rules and regulations of the institution. On the other hand, at nightclubs, there is neither any specific obligation on the individuals, nor they are bound to perform anything special for the management. There are only fun-seeking individuals, who have least care of worries and problems of professional life. Hence, every individual looks friendly, co-operative, complying and caring in bars and clubs at large. Human society contains many groups, institutions and organizations in its fold, which include home, peer group, educational institutions, economic institutions, religious places and others. Home is the basic institution of society that fulfils all human needs and desires including food, clothing, shelter, protection and emotional support. Family is the primary organization in which man is born and maintains affiliations under the ties of strong relationships. Since family is the most important social institution, man keeps in close touch and in constant communication with the members of his family from birth till death. In addition, he also maintains intimate relationships with his peer group and childhood friend. It keeps him in constant contact with them and helps him out in fortifying these relations. Communication is, Ruigrok views, something we all know is necessary to keep any relationship strong and loving, and although we are aware of the importance of communication, we still seem to be clueless about what exactly good communication really is. (Quoted in enotalone.com) Family is responsible for teaching its members manners and etiquettes in a refined way. The socialization process begins from home and man learns how to act, react and behave at some specific situation from home. Hence, he knows how to talk with parents, siblings, spouse and children. Moreover, man is unconditionally devoted to family, and has special care for all the members of the family. His level of interaction is based on love, affection, sympathies and sacrifice, all of which come from socialization process at home. Socialization refers to all learning regardless of setting or age of the individual. Socialization is the process by which we learn the ways of a particular group.  In every group one has to learn the rules, expectations, and truths of that group, whether the group is your family, the army, or the state (Charon, 1987:63-69). It is socialization that makes the personality of humans and instructs them to behave and interact with others in a mannered and sophisticated way. Mans socialization process does not end at home; rather, the procedure experiences new dimensions at educational and religious institutions. An educational institution i.e. the school offers complete code of seeking education to the learners under the supervision of staff and management. The students are ordered to reach at school on time, and almost same is the case with offices and work places; whereas there are no such instructions for entering into a nightclub. An individual is bound to greet the fellows, staff members and colleagues, whereas there is no concept of such social interaction at a night club. One can make ones own choice while entering into social interaction at the nightclub. A school instructs the students to assemble in the morning and attend the prayers and message of the day from the head. In the same way, one is bound to work and study under the same atmosphere in the company of the fellows out of ones choice. The students are almost under compulsion to learn from an instructor whether they like his teaching methodology or not. The atmosphere and surroundings are not out of ones personal choice. The interaction with mates, librarian, teachers and other staff is normally according to the prevailing mode. Similarly, the individuals observe the compulsory environment in corporate sector too. An employee is considered complying with the staff members, especially his bosses and senior management. The load of work and responsibilities keep him engaged in order to stay with the organization for which he is offering his services. The concept of pecuniary gains and earning keeps the employees bound to be regular and punctual on the one hand, and congenial, kind and complying on the other within the business atmosphere. Thus, one displays politeness, courtesy and humbleness while interacting with the co-workers and administration in order to keep the atmosphere pleasant and worthwhile. On the contrary, bars, pubs, nightclubs and theatres provide a lot of fun, cheerfulness, excitement and delights. Though, man is not bound to reach on time to these places, nor he earns anything from nightclubs and bars, yet the satiety of mind and wholesome mirth fill his heart with bounties of joys and happiness. It is therefore, one interacts with the persons of his own choice and selection to consume leisure hours by forgetting all the noise and retardation of everyday life. A sheer endless diversity of clubs, events and locations, according to official website of Dresdon club, have contributed to the fantastic reputation of the Dresden party scene. Whether house and electro, or R&B, soul and hip-hop, whether dance, rock and pop, Gothic or even mainstream evergreens,  every conceivable musical direction has its own permanent place. Alongside the regular party venues, there are also all manner of special event locations. Old factory cellars, a shopping arcade or even historical walls here and there. (Quoted in http://www.dresden.de/dwt/en/experience_dresden/parties.php) The religious institution also play dominant role in mans socialization process, under which mans behavior is usually very formal and pious too. Belief in religion is part of every culture from the very beginning. It is in the nature of humans that they look for someone metaphysical and supernatural for the solution their problems and difficulties whenever they feel themselves unable to do the same. It is therefore the institution of religion came into being. Looking into the history of the world at large, it becomes evident that religion existed in all human societies from the most primitive to the most modern ones. “Humans have formed their own beliefs (called probability belief in mathematics and science) about the set of unknowable elements of the universe.  They have branded their beliefs about the unknowable as religion.” (Acharya, 2006) Humans level of interaction is absolutely different at churches, temples, mosques and other religious places from club life. The people pay due concentration to their prayers and meditation and meet the priest, church staff and other people with religious enthusiasm and fervor. The similarity between church and night club includes the visitors of both these places have no age-limit on the one hand, and no special permission is required to enter both these places, though night club requires membership as well as an individual above 18 years is recommended, which is seldom observed at clubs. The mode of interaction at educational institutions is also different from that of club life. The students are taught and instructed special guideline in respect of interacting with teachers and classmates. The students are bound to attend their classes properly prescribed in the timetable. Moreover, they are considered to seek support from the instructor and fellow students as well in case they feel any difficulty in learning process. At nightclubs, it is easier to find something special individuals may feel hard to achieve in day light. Nightclubs provide the customers with multifarious amusements in a very free and informal atmosphere. People consider it simple and spontaneous to express their feelings and get involved into different activities that can remove all the tensions and turmoil of the whole day work. Thus, they think recreation more productive than professional liabilities and responsibilities, because recreational activities at clubs, especially at night clubs provide them with unabated thrill, action and joys. Recreational activities do not serve as the wastage of time as it had been considered in past. Rather, it is an imperative method of keeping balance between work and life. Since modern technological advancement has revolutionized mans life, work stress has got a significant boost. In the same way, the demand for work-life-balance solutions by employees and managers is expanding at an unprecedented rate. Balance in life maintains imperative significance in man’s life. The researches reveal the very fact that more healthy and satisfied the individuals be in a social set up, more will be the chances of the society and culture to grow and lead the world at large. In order to achieve satisfaction in life, it is important for an individual to have access to many options from which to choose one that best suits him or her. (Professor Yamaguchi, 2006) It is therefore almost all societies of the world lay stress on the healthy and creative activities to make its culture a highly successful one. Our age of automation requires a new philosophy of leisure. Leisure is an aspect of life that deals with freedom to do what you want and is concerned not so much what you do as with how you do it. Leisure can, Viola states, perfect a man even though work may make him rich. It is important to look at leisure as something far greater than free time. (1987:112) The moments consumed around thrilling bodies, drinks, dinners, bright lightening, music, dance, love and much more drags man far from bitter realities of everyday life. Though, the atmosphere is one and the same for the employees and staff of the clubs, because they are doing their professional duties, yet the culture at bars, dance halls, discos and clubs fascinate the visitors and invite them make heartily fun out of the best available opportunities and seducing jubilance and joys. Time spent at a night club is quite different from professional, student and business life. Since all human societies have been divided into different social, economic, racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and regional groups, people adopt various positions and professions as their career. The demands of every occupation vary from society to society as well as from other occupations and careers. Nevertheless, people engaged in divergent occupations are not free from observing balance between work and life, because every human being has direct link with his personal and domestic life after spending many hours of a day at work. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Almost all social researches are supported by some theory. A theory is actually an attempt to explain a social phenomenon. The theoretical framework in the present research has been supported by Theory of Leisure Class By Thorstein Veblen and Theory of Social Action by Max Weber. Veblen has studied the leisure class theory and has associated it with the elite class. Veblen is of the opinion that only noble and elite classes belonged to leisure class, though theme has entirely been changed during 20th century. The existence of countless balls, musical theatres, clubs, night and gay bars, cabaret and others are offering lot of leisure time opportunities and thrill to the individuals belonging to each and every stratum of society. Since modern technological advancements has changed the whole patterns of life, the use of leisure and recreation has become a common interest for all socioeconomic classes without any discrimination of class, caste, creed, race, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The present study has also been supported by Webers Social Action Theory. Max Weber, the German theorist and researcher, employed the concept of social action in his works. Social action occurs, Weber views, when actors are consciously aware of each other and attribute meanings to their common situation. (Quoted in Turner, 1989: 413) All social interaction is the outcome of social action, and varies from one situation to the other on the one hand and from person to person on the other. There is concept of structural functionalism behind social action and interactions. Hence a social interaction is dependent of social institution and its members, attendants, staff and visitors. REFERENCES Charon, Joel (1997) Sociology: A Brief Introduction. New York: Longman. Fulbright, Jenny. (2004) How to Start a Nightclub Business (Retrieved in http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol141/nightclub.htm) August 30, 2004 Kaiser, Gerrit. (2006) Audience Participation in a Dance Club Context: Design of a System for Collaborative Creation of Visuals (Retrieved in www. nordes.rog/upload/papers/123.pdf) Ruigrok, Alina. Communication That Really Improves Relationships Retrieved in http://www.enotalone.com/article/2685.html Turner, Jonathan H. (1989) The Structure of Sociological Theory The Dorsey Press, Illinois Viola, Richard H (1987) Organizations in Changing Societies: Administration and Human Values. V.B. Saunders Company Philadelphia London Toronto Yamaguchi, Professor (2006) Work-Life Balance to Counteract Declining Fertility RIETI Report No.074 http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/rieti_report/074.html Zaidi, M. H. (2001) Leisure Time Activities in Relation to Social Class. 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