Welcome to Starbucks

            In order to investigate our own sociological imaginations, our group chose to delve into the world of subcultures.  As with any subculture, the Starbucks “world” is one with its own concepts, values, symbols, and shared meanings, specific only to members of the group and distinctive from others within the American culture as a whole.  Through unique manipulation of language, implementation of symbolism, and construction of a certain atmosphere, Starbucks succeeds in going beyond producer-consumer relations so far as to create an entire subculture through which customers can seek exclusive belonging and membership.

Part I: The Language of Starbucks

            As taught by Dalton Conley, each culture has its own language and way of organizing experiences that are lost in translation upon attempting to convey such ideas to a nonmember of that culture.  Starbucks is not an exception to this idea and in fact, the company and its customers’ use of a unique, blended language indecipherable to those unfamiliar with the subculture is what contributes to its distinctive, exclusive nature. 

            Initially in its beginning years, Starbucks’ drink sizes were categorized into two groups: Short and Tall, for the eight-ounce and twelve-ounce sizes, respectively.  This language is typical of American cultural use of the words with short designated as a quantity less than tall, just as the two drinks vary in size this way.  With the growth of Starbucks, sizes Grande (“large in Italian), Venti (“twenty” in Italian), and Trenta (“thirty” in Italian) were added to the menu while the language deviated entirely from English and adopted an Italian flare.  The three represent the sixteen-ounce, twenty-ounce, and thirty-ounce servings in this way.  Why use this complicated naming system?  According author and entrepreneur, Nathan W. Morris, Starbucks implements this “proprietary language” to add novelty to a simple task while also adding a sense of exclusivity to the brand and overall “Starbucks experience”.  For example, by removing the standard “small”, “medium”, and “large” choices used at most other fast food retailers in America and designating completely novel names to the same size options, Starbucks makes ordering a unique and distinctive experience.  Even with an understanding of the Italian language, any outsider to the subculture would still not be able to infer which sizes represent the different volumes of servings merely through direct translation.  Therefore, Starbucks goers are able to distinguish themselves from nonmembers and create a sense of elite exclusiveness to the subculture merely through language usage (Morris, n.d.: 1). 

            In an article, Sean Durham elaborates on how Starbucks is able to draw in new customers while keeping the old through a systematic and individual way to use specific language in ordering custom drinks.  Besides using distinct words to denote cup sizes, the drinks themselves are in Italian, and even so, differ in some ways from the drinks these words represent in Italy.  For example, an Italian “Macchiato” “refers to an espresso shot marked with foam on top” (Durham, 2007: 2).  However, at Starbucks, this word is linked to a drink with foam marked by pouring espresso through it.  Though this seems like a small deviation, the drink resulting is entirely new with its own unique characteristics.  For a beginner and newcomer to the store, ordering may seem like a daunting task, however, this is a purposeful act on the part of the company.  Durham explains that, “Starbucks has set up a process for teaching it—
and having customers teach each other” (Durham, 2007: 1).  By creating a way for people to enter the culture through linguistic interaction with other members, Starbucks creates both unity and exclusiveness to entry.  Neglecting to include some items from the menu while still offering them for purchase, such as the Short and Trenta serving sizes, reinforces Starbucks’ “insider” mentality by allowing only those customers familiar with the culture to access these options.  By implementing an exclusive language, Starbucks opens the door for newcomers to learn said language and become empowered by a sense of accomplishment and belonging to the subculture.  Having this “insider knowledge and status” not only helps customers to return to the store to continue this membership, but also breeds desire in others to gain access to the culture, as well.

A traditional café in Italy

            Additionally, coffee was first brought to Egypt through Venice, as this was a center of trade between the European and Arabic people, and was originally only accessible to the exclusively wealthy population.  From its beginnings coffee and the café was tied eliteness and romance, yet paradoxically comfortable and social.  It is no surprise, then, that in choosing its novel language, Starbucks incorporated some Italian influence in its naming choices.  According to Sapir-Whorf theory, “the language we speak directly influences (and reflects) the way we think about and experience the world” (Conley, 2013: 82).  Starbucks implements Italian words in order to influence people to believe they are exclusive in their belonging to the subculture.  Additionally, through use of this unique language, Starbucks goers are inclined to believe they too are personally unique and elite, continuing to capitalize on this feeling by returning to the store. 

Entire websites and articles have been denoted to simply aiding outsiders in learning how to “get inside” and order a certain drink at the store:

How to Order at Starbucks 

Shown in Ellen DeGeneres’ sketch, many use comedic satire to discuss both the unique language system utilized by the retailer and the seemingly obsessive nature of Starbucks’ customers.   

Part II: The Symbolism of Starbucks

             Coffee has become a staple, or even so much as a symbolic representation, of the fast paced, never-ceasing American culture. Both children and adults alike have come to depend on the daily ritual of coffee drinking, so much so, that the Huffington post states that “Americans drink upwards of 400 million cups of coffee per day” (Erdos, 2011: 1).  In conducting interviews with various students around campus, we found that most people feel better prepared for the day when they have a coffee in hand; but what is it that makes this coffee most often of the Starbucks-brand?

The Starbucks Coffee Corporation is marked by a certain use of symbolism, one so strong that no longer is the brand name even included on their signature cups.  Instead, a simple mermaid graphic in the iconic Starbucks white and green is the only indication of the brand on nearly all products.  Many people refer to the Starbucks brand as a “designer coffee,” due to the widely this widely recognized logo placed on all of their products.  Again we inquired: are consumers more motivated to purchase a Starbucks coffee versus a competitor’s product simply because of this reputation?  In other words, we wished to analyze whether or not there exists certain esteem in toting around a Starbucks cup with the iconic logo.  Most people responded to our surveys regarding the symbol by replying that “they had never really thought about it before,” but after some thought, most admitted that there was a sort of normalcy associated with the popular brand, and purchasing from the company is just “something that they do.”

The Iconic Starbucks Coffee Cup

            Through the method of surveying, we found that a relationship exists between the consistency of the beverage quality and symbolic interactionism that generates loyalty in Starbucks customers.  Symbolic interactionism is a term used to describe objects that are given meaning via social interactions. Starbucks is a symbol of preparation and consistency, and with that, it supplies somewhat of a “placebo-effect” where merely holding the coffee in an 8 AM class or early work meeting gives customers a feeling of attentiveness and readiness.  When parents ritualize their daily Starbucks purchase, their children witness the action and internalize the belief that this is a certain aspect of adulthood.  In this way, parents socialize their children to become future loyal customers and subculture members.

            In order to test our speculations, we conducted a blind taste test in order to study if consumers purchase Starbucks coffee for its quality of taste or for its massive popularity.  Samples of coffee from Starbucks, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Café Medici were poured into unmarked paper cups. Each study subject tasted all three samples and rated which coffee they preferred. The results were produced as follows:

            From the graph, it became apparent that Starbucks was, in fact, the most preferred coffee out of the three samples. Next, we asked our subjects if they knew which sample contained the Starbucks coffee to determine if subjects chose Starbucks simply because they recognized its signature taste and were biased towards it.

            6 out of the 15 participants, or 40%, correctly identified the Starbucks sample while the remaining 60% of subjects failed to identify the brand. Although this is a preliminary study, data suggests that subjects truly chose Starbucks on the quality of its taste rather than for its status.  This, therefore, unveils that though symbolism may still play an influential role in perpetuation of the Starbucks subculture, it is not the sole reason for its popularity.

Here are some photos from the taste test experiment: