Cynthia Mendoza Final Research Paper

Final Research Paper

Cynthia Mendoza

Fresno State University

ABSTRACT

         The purpose of this qualitative research paper was to choose an organization and learn what and how that organization functions while relating it to sociological theories. I chose two organizations that I knew intertwined with one another to avoid any problems of availability for my observations and my interviews. The organizations I chose were city council and events committee. I conducted three one hour observations, two basic and one participatory, and  interviewed three members from both organizations. I also gathered documents and flyers from their websites and social media outlets. I took field notes and transcribed them, separated them into five different nodes and applied them to theories such as status, roles, front stage, backstage and thick description. I also created new nodes for my documents and flyers and tried to apply those to some of the theories we covered in class as well. I found that these two organizations definitely have a status and have many roles within, but their front stage, backstage behavior differences is quite minimal. Through the content analysis I was able to see that they have many rituals as well as rules and safety guidelines. The main purpose of these two organizations is to serve and provide for the community.

INTRODUCTION

The organization I decided to work with for my research project was a city's council and events committee. I began with my ethnographic research and observed these two groups at two different meetings and at an annual Halloween event for an hour at all three sites. My first observation was held at city hall at a city council meeting where the council members were my focus. My second observation was a participant observation and it took place at the city's event park at their annual Halloween event, where I got to briefly interact  with a few members of the city council and events committee. My last observation was held at the community youth center at a meeting between the city council and the events committee members regarding the last three upcoming events of the year. I was able to observe both organizations on their own and in collaboration with one another as well as their involvement with the community. Based on their actions, comments, and involvement I was able to see the different statuses they occupied, the different roles they played, and their front stage, back stage behavior which most often depended on the location and whoever was present as well as some thick description. I decided to research both the city council and the events committee because the city council alone would have made it difficult for me to complete my research on time since their positions are only voluntary and so that if members of one organization were not available then hopefully members of the other organization would be. Plus, I knew there was collaboration between these two groups because the events committee is a branch of city council and I would be able to get them together. For the interview part of my research I interviewed two members of the events committee, a member and the chairman, and a member from the city council, the mayor. An issue I came across during my interviews was keeping the respondents from mentioning the name of the city and the names of other members when giving examples. I think this was difficult for them because they have been giving speeches addressing the city and recognizing members for years. I could tell that they were really trying not to mention names, but I let them know it was fine in hopes of relieving some pressure.  The last part of my research project was the content analysis. It was hard for me to find recent documents on the city council or events committee, but I found a couple agendas from city council and events committee meetings from 2017 and early 2018. I also incorporated a few documents and flyers from other organizations that, in one way or another, were involved with the city council. Some of these organizations include: churches, police department, committee planning, community center events, and city events.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Symbolic interaction is a sociological framework used to study the effects of social interactions between individuals at both the micro and macro levels. At the macro level symbolic interaction is referred to as a wave of people interacting with one another, whereas at the micro level, it is the individual's development of the self through the interactions he or she is having with others. The central concepts around this framework are: gestures, significant symbols, definition of the situation, roles, self, role taking and role making, the generalized other, and the significant other (Montgomery et all, 2000). All of these concepts hold some form of meaning when interacting with others and come together in forming the identity of the self. Gestures include, clothing, physical movement, and body language which give meaning to the current roles and the situation taking place (Montgomery et all, 2000). For example, if someone professionally dressed was having a conversation with another person smiling and nodding her head in agreement, we can assume that it is a professional meeting between two colleagues. Symbolic symbols are gestures that have the same meaning to both the person giving the gestures and the person receiving the gestures, therefore, the same outcome is to be expected because these gestures have a generalized meaning. A situation is defined by the behavioral expectations of the people that occupy a specific setting. For instance, because our workplace expects us to behave like professionals we dress and act differently than we would if we were at home or on a lunch date with our friends. The concepts of the role and the self are connected because our roles are the expectations about how we should behave and based on the roles we take on everyday we develop our sense of self (Montgomery et all, 2000). Role taking and role making also share a connection because we take on many roles throughout the day, sister, daughter, mother, student, and we respond in the way that society expects these roles to behave, however, we don't always follow the rules and sometimes society refers to us as a "bad mothers" or "lazy students". Not following through with the expectations of a specific role is the role making. In order to be able to take on a role we must be able to understand the concepts of the generalized other and the significant other. The generalized other knows what society expects from specific role and its surrounding roles before taking it on. However, the expectations of society may not always matter as much as the expectations of the significant other which is the people that love us and that we love.  

Erving Goffman viewed social life through a theatrical lens. He argued, that much like actors, when we interact with others, we are also performing our everyday roles. These interactions take part in the formation of our identity because how we present ourselves and how others respond to those actions contribute to who we are. According to Goffman, because our actions and the reactions of others are crucial to the formation and validation of our identity, we engage in impression management which is the act of presenting ourselves in a light that is most desirable to a specific audience (Sandstrom, 2014). Goffman defines this as putting a personal front; we act our roles to the expectations of society, emphasizing and downplaying characteristics that may be more or less appealing in a given situation (Sandstrom, 2014). There are three things that we focus on when putting up a front: the setting, our appearance, and our manner which can be explained in reference to his notion of front stage, backstage behavior. The setting refers to the physical place an interaction is taking place such as an office and we can use things found in an office, which Goffman describes as props, such as computers, files, and telephones to present our role, of a receptionist in this case, more efficiently. The appearance and manner are directed at the individual in reference to their physical presentation such as our clothing, facial expressions, and titles which allow us to define our roles and the roles of others. Also, on the mood that we approach someone with which communicates what type of interaction we will have with them (Sandstrom, 2014).The front stage is where we act and appear in a way that is most appropriate for the role we are taking on and the audience we are presenting ourselves to. The backstage, however, is where we let our guard down and act in a way that may be discredited by the audience in the front stage, therefore, the setting, appearance and manner can vary depending on what side of the stage the interaction is taking place in.

Goffman's dramaturgical approach is also described in Dillon's text, however, his focus is more on seeing the connections or effects that Goffman's micro-level ideas about roles and interactions have at the macro-level. Goffman believes that our role taking process is based on how we define a given situation, through the use of props and other roles already at play, but how do we know that the role of a student in a classroom is to pay attention, take notes and not be disruptive. Dillion states that socialization is responsible for the way that we perform our roles (Dillon, 2013). Society has instilled in us what they believe to be appropriate behaviors for specific roles, therefore, the individual roles we take on are influenced by more than just the individual's definition of a specific situation. However, Goffman did believe that we can disrupt our social roles by acting out and rebelling against the traditional expectations of our roles which can lead to macro-level changes such as the cross gentrification in traditional male and female occupations (Dillon, 2013). According to Dillon, it is important to note that although we may be aware of some roles more than others we are always playing a role and we are always engaging in interactions that require the exchange of both verbal and nonverbal communication. Interaction rituals and rituals of subordination are examples of verbal and nonverbal forms of communication that we engage in on a daily basis. Interaction rituals are gestures such as smiling, saying hi and giving hugs or firm handshakes that communicate to others our moods, intentions, and expectations (Dillon, 2013). Rituals of subordination are behaviors that point out the differences in individuals based on their social status. The interaction rituals we decide to use often depend on the relationship we have established with the other person so its not only about how or when society expects us to use specific interacting rituals, but what interacting rituals we use with people we have close relationships in comparison with those that we don't. Rituals of subordination at the macro-level are based on outdated ideas society had about male dominance and is still around.  For Goffman both of these forms of communication help us set or define the situation and the role we should take on, however, they are both influenced greatly by society.

According to Dunn, symbolic interaction was greatly influenced by Cooley's concept of the looking-glass self (Dunn, 2010). The concept of the looking-glass self is the idea that what others think of us shape the way we view ourselves. We choose to act a certain way by taking into account how others may react to us. Cooley states that there are three "principal elements" of the looking-glass self which are: how we think others view us, how we think they will react, and the emotional feeling we get that shapes our identity (Dunn, 2010). For symbolic interactionists, Cooley's concept connects with the concept of the generalized other because prior to taking on a role, the generalized other allows us to understand the expectations of the roles we take on along with those associated to anticipate future actions. Same with the looking glass self we anticipate how others will react to our roles and develop a sense of identity based on those reactions which lead us to reflect and shape our identity (Dunn, 2010).

METHODS

According to Warren and Karner, ethnographic research is the process of talking and interacting with people in a given location (Warren, et. all p53). Selecting a setting is the first step of conducting ethnographic research and when selecting that setting one must be flexible. We have to consider its accessibility, its cost, and our interest in it. The authors suggest that as student researchers, we aim for a public place rather than a private place because public places are easier to access, closer to one's destination, and are often free of cost (Warren, et. all p58-59). Even if our interests are not necessarily peaked by everyday common public places they claim there is more to take from everyday life public places than private sectors (Warren, et. all p59). They also recommend researching groups of people or organizations that we are already a part of so that it is easier to gain access. However, if we do not have membership to an organization, it is important to focus on our self presentation towards the gatekeepers and key informants; these are the  individuals who will grant us access to a setting and who will make it easier to nativating it once inside (Warren, et. all p62,69,71). The authors also talk about the importance of creating relationships through the status and roles assigned to the researcher by the members of that specific setting. Status refers to the position of an individual in a given setting and roles are the expected behaviors based on the position given (Warren, et. all p76-77). It is also important to be considerate of the people we use for our research before exiting the field because leaving without acknowledgment of those individuals we can sever any future ties between ourselves as the researcher and the members of that organization (Warren, et. all p97). The last part of ethnographic research is writing and transcribing our fieldnotes. The authors mention that good field notes are those that are written with thick description, that are written soon after the observation or interaction is completed, and that the researcher has taken the time on to write out or transcribe those fieldnotes so that they read in the form of a story (Warren, et. all p105).

Another method of qualitative research is interviewing. The term interview can mean a number of different things depending on the approach, but for qualitative research an interview is conducted when the interviewer shows an interest in biography and accounts (Warren, et. all p122). An interview has three components: a research question from which the interviewer creates an interview question guide of a few open-ended questions to aid in the interview, the number of individuals he or she will be interviewing, and the audio recording (Warren, et. all p 122-123). It is important to have the interview question guide before contacting the respondents for the interview so that the respondent has an idea of what he or she is getting into. Some tips offered by the authors about the interview question guide are to start of with easy-going questions so that the respondent can gain confidence and be willing to answer the more personal questions towards the end, to follow up with questions that can get more in depth responses, and to avoid leading questions that can make the respondent feel forced to answer in a specific way (Warren, et. all p 126-128). The authors also stress the importance of informed consent, ensuring confidentiality, and avoiding any harm by making sure the respondent is aware of the interview process from start to finish. During the interview process it is important to develop a close relationship in which the respondent feels he or she is being understood through the interviewer's acts of active listening, probing, and validating (Warren, et. all p 154-155). Once the interview is over the next step in conducting interview research is transcribing the interview recordings. The authors described this process as time consuming and quite intensive, but it is important that the interviewer transcribes everything that is said during the interview and with some of the new technologies this has become possible (Warren, et. all p161).

Other forms of data collection used by qualitative researchers are textual and visual elements. These textual and visual elements include documents such as magazines, newspapers, videos, films, visuals, and the internet. Qualitative researchers use these elements when studying culture artifacts and representations that influence social norms, roles, and language through media (Warren, et. all p169). The book gives examples of sociologist studying gender in magazines who often advertise the ideal body imagine of women and how they can attain it (Warren, et. all p171). Another example given is that of a sociologist studying race and ethnicity in a magazine from 1936 to 2000. What the sociologist found in this analysis was that during the time of segregation African Americans were represented as dark-skinned individuals offering services, an association to slavery, however, the advertisements after 1967 show African Americans sharing the common successes of the dominant race during a time of integration (Warren, et. all p172). Sociologist can analyze other forms of media elements with a focus on race, ethnicity, and/or gender and get more information, it all depends on the amount of thick description that is collected. According to the authors the analysis process does not take place when the data collection is completed, but rather throughout the research itself (Warren, et. all p209). During ethnographic, interview, or textual and visual data research, the researcher is analyzing by preparing, by taking field notes, and by making connections between what was going on and how it came to occur.

         For the ethnographic part of my research I observed my two groups for a total of three hours over the course of three weeks. Two of my observations were basic observations in which I sat down with a notebook and a pen and wrote down everything I saw and heard. The other observation was a participatory observation in which I volunteered by helping setup for an event. For that observation I was not able to have a notebook and a pen to write everything down while I helped, so as soon as I was done I got into my car and recorded myself saying everything I had seen and heard. After I got home from each event I wrote out and cleaned up my field notes to make them easier to understand. Although all of my observations were only an hour I feel it was easier to write notes and pay attention to theories such as status, roles, front stage, back stage, and definitions of the situation during my basic observations rather than during my participant observation. All my observations were conducted in three different places, in the presence of the public and in the privacy of both the committee and the city council members. The first observation took place at a city council meeting, at city hall on October 24th, 2018 from 6:30 to 7:30pm. There were four city council members present, including the mayor and mayor pro tem and about 12 people in the public forum seats. The second observation was a participatory observation and it took place at the city events park during the setup for the annual Halloween event. It was held on October 31st, 2018 from 3 to 4 pm. There were two committee members present during the set up and three volunteers. The rest of the committee members and council members didn't show up until it got closer to the start of the Halloween event. The third observation took place the the youth community center at a planning meeting between the committee and the city council on November 7th, 2018 from 6 to 7pm. Five committee and three council members were present. I analyzed my data using the NVivo Software. I was able to organize my observations by creating five different nodes: including status, roles, frontstage, backstage, and thick description. I also ran two word-frequency queries which allowed me to see which words were used the most in my observation nodes status and front stage.

     Once I finished my ethnography paper I created an interview guide of questions that I could ask pertaining to some of the theories we had covered in class. I decided to stick with the same theories I covered in my observations to keep the focus of my paper flowing and more organized. I also thought it would be easier to find comparisons between my observations and interviews because since I was on a time and availability crunch I wasn't able to ask the members questions about what I had observed. On November 20th, I interviewed one of the events committee members in the committee meeting room at the youth community center so that audio file was clear and had no background noise. On November 25th, I interviewed the events committee chairman and the city mayor at a local mini mart restaurant. I interviewed the mayor first and then I interviewed the chairman because that was the only day they were both available. The mini mart restaurant is a small room with tables towards the back of the store and although we were the only ones there, there was some background noise in those two audio files. My interviews ranged between 12 and 30 minutes each, and with my interview guide I was able to pick up on the different statuses and roles that each respondent, as well as other members of their organizations, occupied. I also noticed that compared to what I had observed, the inteviewees mentioned less front stage and back stage behavior, but there was a fair amount of thick description which I defined as descriptions about their organizations projects and events. I used the voice recorder application on my phone to record my three interviews, but when I went to transcribe them I ran into some trouble. The audio files were m4a files and the TranscriptOne.tk website only transcribed mp3 files, so I tried to convert the m4a file to an mp3 through the Zamzar conversions website, but I had no luck. I contacted one of my classmates and she told me about an application called Temi, that allowed her to transcribe her audio files without converting it, but only the first transcription was free and I would have to pay a small fee for the other two. I didn't mind because I paid a little less than $4 for for the other two and it identified the voices so I just had to go through and correct some words. Once I transcribed and corrected my audio files I used the NVivo Software to analyze my data. I used the same five nodes I incorporated in my observations: status, roles, frontstage, backstage, and thick description, and ran two word-frequency query word clouds, to see which words were used the most in my interviews. The first word cloud only incorporated my interviews with members 1 and 3 because the interview with member 3 took me longer to transcribe due to the fact that it was 30 minutes long. The second word cloud, however, incorporated all three interviews.

     Once I finished the interview part of my project I began to look for documents to use for my content analysis. I looked on the city's website since that is where they store all of their public files, although they website was not completely up to date, and on their Facebook page for images of past and current flyers. Once I my documents and images I tried using the mediaeditor.tk application to extract the text from the documents and images I gathered, but it was not working so that delayed my process a bit. I search and I came across another application that allowed me to extract the text, but I had to clean them up and remove the city's and organization members names. This was the part that took me the longest because I had about three pages per document and about 30 documents total. After I was done extracting and editing my text I uploaded my content analysis data to Nvivo and created five different nodes than the ones I had originally used, because looking for front stage and back stage behavior in documents and images is harder than when you are directly interacting with a group of people. The nodes for this section were city events, public concerns, routines, rules and safety, and thick description. I took a few quotes from each node and I incorporated them in my analysis section.   

FINDINGS AND RESULTS

ETHNOGRAPHY

STATUS

The first situation I came across where statuses were clearly apparent was when I arrived at the city council meeting in my first observation. As soon as I walked through the door …  

I was able to see a clear separation of statuses with all the city officials to my left hand side and the public to my right hand side. Also, the councils podium was leveled a little higher than the ground the public was standing on, which had them looking downward at the public and the public looking up at them.

The level of the podium had the council members higher than the public which creates this notion of superiority. The next situation involving status was during my second observation when members who were not helping set up and arrived later made the tension between the members present throughout the setup, disappear.

When we were close to being done with the the haunted house members of city council and other members of the events committee showed up to see our progress. They were very generous and complemented our hard work and creativity. At that point the tension between the two present committee members actually disappeared or maybe was pushed aside. They both smiled and said thanks. This showed that both committee members had a lower status to the city council members and they knew when they needed to act professional.

The members who arrived later were obviously of higher power than the members setting up because they didn't need to set up they just arrived to see the finished work. Plus, their presence alone only made the tension go away. I also observed some statuses in my third observation when ...

There was one person, however, who was humorous throughout the meeting, but it was as if they were used to it because they smiled, laughed, and continued with the agenda. Maybe he was seen as the jokester among them.

ROLES

There were a variety of roles also present throughout my observations such as, in observation one …

The mayor shared that the very first time he saw that little boy dance was when he was in preschool and he knew from that point that he was very talented. This shows that the mayor didn't only have the role of the city leader, but was also a community leader getting involved with the citizens of his city.

And in observation three …

The city council members had not arrived yet, but the committee members who were already there were interacting with the youth who were playing basketball or just sitting there conversing about school, college applications, the election results, and sports. This showed that committee members weren't just city planners, they were also volunteers and advisors for the youth in the community.

During the event planning there was a distribution of roles among the events committee and city  council member to make sure they remained organized and on top of everything that needed to be taken care of.

The next event addressed was the Christmas Tree Lighting. For this event they assigned a committee member to find and sign up volunteers to make sure they were actually committed because in the past they would just say they would like to help and just don't show up. That same person was signed to do the same for the Thanksgiving dinner to get volunteer servers and another person was in charge of signing up the concession stands to make sure that there was enough room at the park for all stands as well as a valid permit. City council would take care of the city tree decoration and lights by talking to city construction workers and also the participants of the parade by talking with the schools, and organizations in the town.

FRONT STAGE

In my observations there were more front stage than back stage behavior, but it makes sense since they were aware that they were being observed. It is a natural instinct for humans to want to be accepted and hence want to leave a good impression. In my second observation …

The girls I was able to observe thought I it was cool that I was observing them, but often checked their actions and what they said. I was able to tell because they would say things like "just kidding", "I didn't mean that" or "I'm not normally like this, I just had a lot of coffee today". I saw this as an example of front stage back stage. Because I was close in age to the volunteers and we were all students as well they had an unclear idea of what behavior, either front stage or back stage, was adequate around me.

When we were close to being done with the the haunted house members of city council and other members of the events committee showed up to see our progress. They were very generous and complemented our hard work and creativity. At that point the tension between the two present committee members actually disappeared or maybe was pushed aside. They both smiled and said thanks. This showed that both committee members had a lower status to the city council members and they knew when they needed to act professional.

And in my third observation …

Right away I noticed that some of the members of the events committee were not as laid back or humorous as they were before the city council arrived. Again, front stage back stage, and knowing when to act professional.

BACK STAGE

As I mentioned above there was not much of the backstage present in my observations and I believe it is because the new they were being observed and they tried harder to maintain that front. The two backstage behaviors that I came across were in my second observations.

I noticed there was some tension between the two because the one that was actually helping out with the props and setting up was annoyed with the one that was just giving orders.I could tell she was annoyed because she would roll her eyes, take deep breaths, and walk away when the other came around to give orders.

Once we were done with the pumpkin patch area we moved over to the opposite side of the park and began to set up the haunted house. That's when the tension became more obvious because as we were setting up, the events committee member that was just giving orders came in and was not satisfied about how we were setting it up. That's when the other member made the comment, while walking away, "then maybe you should come in and place things where you want them". She squinted her eyes, lifted an eyebrow and asked us with attitude "anybody else want to make a comment"? We all turned away, went to different sections of the haunted house and continued to work.

THICK DESCRIPTION

The thick description was everything else that I heard or saw and did not pertain to the organizations or to the theories mentioned above. It included things like the weather, detailed description of the location in which each observation took pace, and extra topics.

I arrived at the city hall building which is also the water district building and walked into the council meeting room. There were three rows of chairs to the right as soon as I walked in as well as a single row against both opposing walls for the public to sit on. To my left hand side was a long wooden podium with microphones and a chair for each council member. In front of the podium on each seat was the name and position of each city council member. Right in front of me, standing at the doorway, all the way to the opposite end of the small meeting room was the the interim city manager the attorney with a typewriter and a laptop. And right at the center of the room between the first row of chairs for the public and the city council members podium was a small single music sheet podium for public speakers.

I arrived to the city events park and the park was quite occupied. The weather was also fresher than it had been past days and the sun was not as strong either. There were some kids at the little playground towards the back of the park, and some elderly men on the benches playing cards. The park is known as the elderly's favorite hang out place because every afternoon they are out there drinking and playing cards. Some of the concession stands were also out there setting up, but there weren't many volunteers or council or committee members out there when I arrived.

Once that was settled, the mayor asked if anyone had any questions or concerns and everyone agreed that they were okay with the decisions made. At that point some the committee members and city council members began to have side conversations, got some coffee or water and just hung out. I went around and thanks the committee members and city council members and told the mayor that I had completed my observations and I would be in contact with him about the interview.

WORD QUERY

The first word frequency query I ran was on my node for status. The most common or most frequently used words were: council, members, public, city, committee, student, observing, looking, status, mayor, fresno state,and present.

The second frequency word theory I ran was on my node for front stage. The most frequently used words were: committee, members, stage, front, city, council, professional, back, showed, act, events, and observe.

INTERVIEW

STATUS

Based on these four quotes from members one and three's interview, who are part of the events committee, I was able see that they stay away from implementing status or power to one person over the rest of the group. Because they are all volunteers it works better for them to keep an equal ground to get the best behavior, collaboration, and input from all of the members of the group. This allows them to focus more on meeting the standards of those organizations they work with, that do have a higher status, such as the city council. The second, third, and fourth statements allow us to see that separation of status between the city council and events committee more clearly because the events committee gets their funding and approval for each event from the city council, without their okay the events committee cannot move forward. Plus member three directly states that because they were appointed by the city council their organization is under them.

Respondent: ​Yeah I definitely think that the way that we have more of a friendship, um, atmosphere when we, when we meet for our meetings, I think it benefits us because none of us feel intimidated or are terrified to give our opinion because we're all there. So it's not like we're afraid that somebody is going to tell us like, oh no, you're wrong, or judge us for like giving that statement. And so it definitely helps us to be able to communicate better with one another.

Respondent: Yes. Um, So, um, a lot of the times, so we heavily rely on, a lot of times we get grants or we get donations, have donations. We usually rely on that for our events and our mayor is actually one of our biggest contributors because he helps us. Um, every year he has built so many networks that they all usually will give us a donation for our, for every event or events.

Respondent: The city council appointed us, so we are directly under the city we want, we basically worked for the city at volunteer for the city and they are the, the ones that give us our go ahead on everything we do, everything we do, we have to take it to council.

Respondent: They approve the funding and the event. If they don't agree with it, we move on to the next event.

ROLES

The equal ground set among the members in the events committee allows for flexibility of roles when setting up and putting on events. Member one tells me, in these two statements, that she has stepped in and taken lead of multiple events because she is available more often than her other members. This flexibility of her being able to take control when other members are not present , allows for easier role accommodations and distributions. It also allows for a better and faster set up turn out because they divide the work up and come together to help and finish in time.

Interviewer: ​So do you, would you say you act the way that is expected of a committee member?

Respondent: ​Yes, I would say so. I usually take charge in quite a few of the events, um, sometimes my members, you know, we all have our lives aside from the events committee, the events committee members are all volunteer specifically, so it's not like it's a job, so it's just whenever we have free time. So I definitely step up for many of those times that the members aren't able to make it.

Interviewer: Like when you guys are handling an event, is there a collaboration with everybody?

Respondent: For the most part there is, um, for example, for a Halloween event, um, two of the members decided that they would go and pick up the hay and the Pumpkin's and so that was kind of their, um, their end for the event, whereas like the other ones, as soon as they got there, the other person was setting up everything for her to have while one was doing the, the haunted house in charge of the haunted houses. So we all kind of divide up the activity and then make sure that at the end of the day everything comes together and if one of us needs help with something then we go.

I also saw that members of both organizations behaved in the way that was expected of their roles. Events committee members and city council members are their to listen and please the community, therefore they listen to, act on behalf of, and  set the example for the residents of the city. The mayor makes sure his behavior is appropriate when in the organization and outside of the organization so that the community respects and looks up to him. And he also builds relationships with them by listening to and helping out with personal problems. This type of service behavior and relationship building is expected of any mayor.

Respondent: Well, it's very important that, that I show to the community, to the people that they don't see me, for example, drinking or they might see me driving real fast or on the phone in my car. They say, well that's our mayor and he's violating every law that there is. So I have to be very different, very special for the people I have to earn the respect. And by earning, earning respect, I have to show that I care and how people feel about me because people will talk to me about personal matters and stuff and I'm, I'm, I'm able to keep that confidential and not to spread it. It's between me and the person and I do that and people I, I'm proud that people will share things that I could never believe that share with me or people will go to the hospital. I go visit them and they think that the president came to see them. I mean it's, it's me going to see the.

FRONT STAGE

As I mentioned before, the roles and expectations of both members of the events committee and the city council is to serve and please the community and based on these two statements I saw that the members try to do this at all cost. Whether they agree with what the public or another member in public, or not, they will always listen and acknowledge the issue and let it go. They want to keep the community happy and involved so they take the suggestion as an opinion, and address the situation in a calmly matter showing little to no frustration. The mayor even mentioned his loyalty to the community by stating that he will do all that he can for the residents of the city even if it's a loss for him.

Respondent: I would definitely say that as a committee member you have to be able to be assertive in certain situations. If I'm, for example, during the Christmas giveaway, the lines can be pretty hectic because we do have some parents who come back and want a different toy so we have to be able to be assertive, but we can't give an example of like that were like very frustrated at them for doing that. We have to be able to do it in a calmly matter and be able to work things out and have good communication skills as well as be approachable to the, to the community members, to the community members. We don't want to give them off a fear of not wanting to come back into the event.

Respondent: I'm sure several times that people were telling me about something that they disagree with and, and, and, but I have to be cautious and careful that the, that I, it's an opinion is just an opinion and I'm not saying that they're wrong. They could be right. I'm not perfect by any means, so I do listen, but you're listening carefully listening and I, I, I like to assess and evaluate the situation and, and, and I will try to please them. I will try everything to do what they want me to. I will always do that. Oh, that's me. Even if I lose, if we lose, but I will try.

The front stage behavior is not only about pleasing the public, but it's also about being kind, respectful, and, approachable. For instance, in this example given by member three he mentioned how in the thanksgiving dinner he was kind, respectful, and approachable with the people that went by hugging and greeting almost everyone that was there. The address everyone the same despite of their past, there is no judgement.

Respondent: Oh yeah. Yeah. That's one thing we do a lot when we do our events. I mean, we're out there, uh, at the Thanksgiving event. I probably hugged all 800 people that were there. And, uh, it just gives us a lot of joy to be able to do that and bringing people together and um, and be able to get the community together and a family and show them that we're there for them and this is their community and like to help them out.

BACKSTAGE

Based on these comments I was able to see that in both organizations professionalism is extremely important, although there may be a family atmosphere in the backstage they try to keep a line between what needs to be taken seriously and what can be addressed calmly. However, they are not perfect and sometimes attention needs to be drawn to the matter, but they try to remain calm.

Respondent: …. Many times our meetings with just the members is more as like unofficial meeting that's the atmosphere that we give.
Respondent: ​Definitely, our language is still pretty much professional. We don't use any profanity in any of our meetings. That's not okay with us. Um, as far as our, what we're wearing many times it's just we don't require for us to dress up in suits and you know, business clothes because a lot of the times we have our meetings when we come out of work. So it's, you know, we don't have time to go and change. It's just kind of we need to have this meeting and have everything addressed so we don't really put us, you know, to us, it doesn't matter. Like we can go in jeans, we can go and set, sometimes it's very cold when we have our meetings. So. And usually we have to wait for somebody to open up the door. So definitely during the cold times were all bundled up and sweaters.

Respondent: There is, there is, you know, and, and my thing is one family. We treat each other like brothers and sisters. We respect each other because the people will see they see us if we fighting, arguing they're going to see it because the guys are out there working and you're walking city home and you're fighting. We can have that. Uh, I, I sit down with them and discuss it individually and say, look, we got to settle this. This is not good. It's not right. Okay

Respondent: Uh, with my members I would say my behavior was probably stronger with them. Cause we work together and we have two come to an agreement and we all have different views

Respondent: …. then we talk amongst ourselves and try to come up with the best solution. So I would say my behavior with my members is a little bit more business and harder than with the people we're serving.

THICK DESCRIPTION

The thick description focuses on the purpose of both the events committee and the city council as well as what they are currently working with for the city and what they have done effectively.

Respondent: The events committee purpose is to join the entire community together. We hope that we can accommodate everybody, not no, no exclusions. We you make sure that for all of the events everybody's able to participate. We don't charge, everything is free. A few of the events that we put on together that are probably the most memorable for the kids would definitely be the toys for tots there are quite a few families that aren't able to provide for their kids during the holidays or maybe it's not specifically meant for toys. Maybe it's meant for necessities. So being able to have children, um, select their toys and even get a picture with Santa. It's a really great feeling to see.

Interviewer: ​So just to make sure that I got that, the purpose or goal of the organization is to provide needs and services to the people, the community and to have them be more involved in the community.

Respondent:  That's correct. That's correct. And that's our mission. We have a mission and basically the mission is what the people want. They tell me when I was running for office, what they wanted to see in the city and, and, and I knew everything that I can to provide what they wanted.

Respondent: Um, well basically back, I've been 15 years into it when we started this. I love doing it because I believe the citizens of a city needs to have some sort of entertainment that comes out of their city to give them pride and feel that there, there's more to them just paying taxes and working and stuff. And it's very important for a community to bring families together. And, and they, they, they feel good about being here, and stuff. And then we're low income community and it's hard. I mean, I, um, growing up, I never got to go to the theater or out to the movies and stuff. I still see that right now with her kids. So in the summertime, we bring a Friday night movie night and we do at the park and we blow it. We, we put a, uh, a movie that's on DVD that probably 80 percent of the kid and I was still haven't seen and it's already out on DVD. So I take great pride in doing that for them. And we get 300 kids at the park watching a movie and it's not like other communities with a higher income where the children get to go walk at the mall and go do that. So I take great pride in being, having leaders like the mayor give us an opportunity and teach us and being able to bring that to our community and helping our kids, our children out and giving the opportunity and having them look at life and be happy and try to strive for higher things.

WORD QUERY

This first word frequency, world cloud includes the most common words said in my interview with members 1 and 3. I had some extra words that were said quite frequently that didn't hold much meaning such as, like and got so I removed them to get the words with the most meaning. Those words were interviewee, community, interviewer, members, events, professional, behaviors, organization, council, and committee.  

This second word frequency, world cloud includes the most common words said in all three of my interviews. I also had some extra words that were said quite frequently that didn't hold much meaning such know, see, good, and want so I removed them to get the words with the most meaning. Those words were interviewee, community, interviewer, members, city, people, events, behaviors, organization, and mayor.   

CONTENT ANALYSIS

    I had a hard time trying to apply a theory to two of my nodes, public concerns and city events, but because many of my documents were agendas from meetings I did noticed there was a lot of repetition. For my routines section I included some of the repetitive information because its how the city council and the events committee begin every meeting such as the call to order, the flag salute and role call. This actually goes along with the theory about values and rituals, because my organizations do these rituals twice a month at the start of every meeting. The rules and safety were also repetitive at the end of every agenda which is basically there to let the public know their rights and keep things from getting out of control at the meeting. I can associate this node with status in a way because they are there to keep the public under control meaning that the city council is still in control and has a higher status than the public. Under thick description I added a few quotes from a Fresno Bee article that mentioned the major and the city council's struggles in 2014, that was the only article I was able to find that directly mentioned the city council and not just another shooting or accident that occured in the city. I selected a few texts from the documents I gathered and separated them into the nodes below.

CITY EVENTS

City Ad

JUNIOR GIANTS

UNETE A LOS JUNIOR GIANTS

PROGRAMA DE VERANO DE BÉISBOL

GRATIS Y NO COMPETITIVO

PARA NINOS Y NINAS

jrgiants. org

Niños y entrenadores interesados deben de ponerse en contacto con: La Ciudad

League Starts June 16, 2015

Sign-up at jrgiants.org starting March 10 or in person

March 10 -June 30, Monday - Friday, 3 PM - 9 PM

Community Center,

SE NECESITA ENTRENADOR

Public Works Department
Monthly Status Update
Council Meeting 11/14/2018
October 31 — Halloween Event» good turn-out, all ran smoothly
November 15 - Thanksgiving Dinner - High school facility use application has been filled out and turned in, Expecting Food Delivery Nov 13th for inventory.
Christmas Tree - Nov 16 we will drive up to pick out a Christmas Tree, Tree will be delivered to us Nov 20, the week following the Thanksgiving Holiday we will start decorating for the tree lighting ceremony on December 5.

Water Facility
October Monthly Water Facility Monitoring
October Monthly Water Distribution
Schedule with School District — all schools need to be tested for lead and copper.

PUBLIC CONCERNS

Chief of Police:

4. SUBJECT: Consideration and Discussion regarding the monthly activity report

Recommendation: Informational Item Only

SUBJECT: Consideration and Discussion regarding Cameras

Recommendation: Council to consider approving language to be place in the planning documents for new commercial construction

Events Committee:

9. SUBJECT: Consideration and Discussion regarding the Upcoming Events presented by the Event Committee Chairman

Recommendation: Informational Item only

11. SUBJECT: Consideration and Discussion regarding the usage of the City Community Center on October 19, 2018 requested by Resident

Recommendation: Council to consider waiving the fees at the Community Center on October

19, 2018 for a 80'th Birthday for Juanita Cantu

Public Forum

Members of the public wishing to address the City Council on an item that is not on the agenda may do so now. No action will be taken by the City Council this evening. But items presented may be referred to the City Manager for follow up and a report. In order to allow time for all comments, each individual is limited to three minutes. When addressing the Council, you are requested to come forward to the speakers microphone, state your name and address, and then proceed with your comments.

ROUTINES

Routine Park Maintenance
Routine Street Maintenance
Routine Building Maintenance
Routine Graffiti Maintenance
During this time of year the crew works on All holiday events

A. Call to Order/Welcome

Flag Salute led by Chairman

B. Confirmation of Agenda

(Materials regarding an item on this agenda submitted to the Planning Commission after distribution of the agenda packet are available for public inspection in the City Clerk's Office during normal business hours.)

C. Consent Calendar

D. Public Hearing

AGENDA

Special meeting

EVENTS COMMITTEE

THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017— 5:00 P.M.

Chairman and Members

Council Chambers

A.Call to Order/Welcome

B. Administration Roll Call

Public Comment: Members of the public shall have an opportunity to address the Events Committee concerning the above mentioned item(s). All items mentioned on this Agenda will be subject to final approval of the City Manager.

RULES AND SAFETY

STATEMENT ON RULES OF DECORUM AND ENFORCEMENT

The Brown Act provides that members of the public have a right to attend public meetings, to provide public comment on action items and under the public forum section of the agenda, and to criticize the policies, procedures, or services of the city or of the acts or omissions of the city council. The Brown Act also provides that the Planning Commission has the right to exclude all persons who willfully cause a

disruption of a meeting so that it cannot be conducted in an orderly fashion. During a meeting of the Planning Commission, there is a need for civility and expedition in the carrying out of public business in order to ensure that the public has a full opportunity to be heard and that the Commissioners has an opportunity to conduct business in an orderly manner. The following is provided to place everyone on notice of the rules of decorum and enforcement.

GENERAL RULES OF DECORUM

While any meeting of the Planning Commission is in session, the following rules of decorum shall be observed:

1. All remarks shall be addressed to the Planning Commission as a whole and not to any single member, unless in response to a question from a member of the City Council.

2. A person who addresses the Planning Commission under public comment for a specific agenda item or under the Public Forum section of the agenda may not engage in speech or conduct

(i) which is likely to provoke others to violent or riotous behavior,

(ii) which disturbs the peace of the meeting by loud and unreasonable noise,

(iii) which is irrelevant or repetitive, or

(iv) which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of any Planning Commission meeting. A person, other than members of the Planning Commission and the person who has the floor, shall not be permitted to enter into the discussion unless requested by the Chairman to Speak.  Members of the Planning Commission may not interrupt a person who has the floor and is making public comments. Members of the Planning Commission shall wait until a person completes his or her public comments before asking questions or commenting. The Chairman shall then ask the Planning Commissioners if they have comments or questions.No person in the audience at a Planning Commission meeting shall engage in disorderly or boisterous conduct, including the utterance of loud, threatening or abusive language, whistling, stamping of feet or other acts which disturb, disrupt or otherwise impede the orderly conduct of any Planning meeting.

ENFORCEMENT OF DECORUM RULES

While the Planning Commission is in session, all persons must preserve order and decorum. A person who addresses the Planning Commission under public comment for a specific agenda item or under the Public Forum section of the agenda may not engage in speech or conduct which is likely to provoke others to violent or riotous behavior, which disturbs the peace of the meeting by loud and unreasonable noise, which is irrelevant or repetitive, or which disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of any Planning meeting.  The Chairman or other presiding officer shall request that a person who Is breaching the rules of decorum cease such conduct. If after receiving such a warning, the person persists in breaching the rules of decorum, the Chairman or other presiding officer may order the person to leave the City Council meeting. If such person does not leave, the Chairman or presiding officer may request any law enforcement officer who is on duty at the meeting as sergeant to remove the person from the Council Chambers. In the event there is no one from law enforcement  present, the Chairman or presiding officer may direct the City Manager to contact law enforcement. I In accordance with the Point of Order Rule 4.6, the majority of the Planning Commission may overrule the Chairman if the majority of the Planning Commission believes the Chairman or other presiding officer is not applying the rules of decorum appropriately.

THICK DESCRIPTION

ELECTIONS

In the city, Member 2 again vies for mayor position

THE FRESNO BEE

UPDATED OCTOBER, 2014

When it comes to a town of about 9,600 residents east of another city, there's one

name that always stands out: Member 2.

Member 2 is known for having kept a firm and controversial hold on the city since first becoming mayor in 1978. After nearly three decades, he lost his 2010 bid for re-election to another candidate, a former garbage hauler, then public works supervisor for the city. But Member 2 wasn't gone long. He won a seat on the council as vice mayor in  2012 after beating the incumbent. Now he wants the top spot back, fighting Candidate 1 and former a City Council member for it. Member 2 has been accused of abusing his power by giving city contracts to friends and family and rewarding allies with jobs. In 2010, the County Sheriff's Office investigate whether he committed a crime when he threatened the police chief just before losing re-election, the state withheld a $490,000 grant because city officials awarded no-bid contracts and failed to properly document spending on a BMX bike park that Member 2 pushed for. Yet Member 2 is also known for building the city's infrastructure through millions in other state and federal grants. He draws attention to the impoverished town, whose residents are mostly farm workers earning less than $10,000 per year. When Member 2 left office, City Manager said, the city had more than $12 million in reserves, most of which came from a settlement for a burned building. At the end of this fiscal year, the city will have about $3.1 million in reserves, he said. Member 2, said he wants to become mayor again because the city is in chaos and almost on the brink of bankruptcy. He pointed to an imposed 10-yr fiscal tax on the November ballot, which would raise about $234,000 per year for the police department and fire protection district. If approved, homeowners would pay $95 a year while apartment units would pay $65, The Exponent reported.

"I don't think the citizens should have to sacrifice to pay for their mistakes," he said, referring to the current city leaders. Candidate 1 said he's leaving his reelection up to God's will. Despite Member 1's claims, Candidate 1 considers the city's budget one of his accomplishments.

The former police chief was fired last year for allowing the department to run over budget. Once spending $2.2 million a year, the 10-officer department now runs on $1.6 million, though Candidate 1 is hoping to drop it further. Still, The city manager said the city will likely end up with a nearly $200,000 deficit this fiscal year, borrowing from reserves as it has since 2009.

"Like I tell people, I'm in a win-win situation," Candidate 1 said. "If I win, I get to keep serving my community. If I lose and that responsibility has been taken away from me, then I'm blessed either way. " Candidate 1 said he hasn't accomplished more because he and the rest of the council constantly butt heads. But if re-elected, he hopes to bring the city a new source of water, boost infrastructure and create jobs by attracting more businesses. "As I'm constantly reminded, I'm only one vote," he said. "And I know that. "

CONCLUSION

         Although the interviews were the hardest part and the content analysis the most time consuming, the overall process of conducting the research and using the qualitative methods was a great experience. I was able to interact, connect, and build relationships with some of the members of both organizations and I definitely look forward to working with them in the future. However, I think I still need to practice on my communication and interviewing skills. I was nervous going into my interviews and I noticed because I constantly said "Um" and forgot  to validate so I had to go back a couple times. I also had to step out of my comfort zone a little bit, but I gained useful insight into the professional world and I liked it. The data collection was a little difficult, but I think I managed well. Overall the members were very cooperative and thanked me for considering them for my project. Although qualitative research seemed easy, I realized it's actually harder than quantitative.

REFERENCES

Dillon, M. (2013). Symbolic Interactionism, Introduction to sociological theory : theorists,

            concepts, and their applicability to the twenty-first century.

Dunn, J. (2010). Looking-glass self. In J. M. Levine & M. A. Hogg (Eds.), Encyclopedia of

group processes & intergroup relations (pp. 542-544). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Publications, Inc.

Montgomery, R. J. V., & Borgatta, E. F. (2000). Symbolic Interaction Theory, Encyclopedia of

Sociology (Vol. 2nd ed). New York: Macmillan Reference USA, Gale Group.

Sandstrom, K. L. (2014). The Nature and Significance of the Self In Symbols, selves, and social

reality: A symbolic interactionist approach to social psychology and sociology.

Warren, C. A., & Karner, T. X. (2014). Discovering Qualitative Methods (3rd ed.).

             New York: OXFORD University Press.