YG ETHNOGRAPHY

Companies in the private and public sectors now widely use anthropological theory and ethnographic methods to better understand the motivations and behavior of their customers. But how to adopt these approaches for the business world? The more practical aspects of conducting ethnographic research for business clients is considered. Students will also have the opportunity to practice applying techniques like participant observation, ethnographic interviewing, cultural analysis, and thick description to develop rich consumer insights and creative marketing recommendations. Finally, the ethics and the challenges of doing this type of work in the private sector are considered.

What is the value of anthropology to business? This is the key question that we will explore in this class. As we examine this question and practice thinking about business anthropologically, we will anchor our discussion in the concept of culture. In the first part of the course, following a brief review of the concept of culture as developed by early anthropologists, we will examine how contemporary anthropologists working in commercial settings have applied cultural thinking to their work in business. These practitioners demonstrate how anthropologists can help businesses better understand and connect with their customers.

The second part of the course will grapple with some of the challenges of parsing business through a cultural lens. After reviewing how anthropologists have critiqued the concept of culture within the discipline, we will examine how focusing on culture in business has often led business executives to reinforce, even if unintentionally, harmful stereotypes. Case studies examined in class will help us to think about the value of anthropology – and anthropologists – in business differently from the approaches considered earlier in the course. Rather than consider culture as a straightforward fact that businesses, and western businesses in particular, should better understand, the class will examine the complex role corporations often play in creating the culture of others.

How does contemporary digital technology shape what it means to be human? This is the core question we will examine this semester. We often use digital gadgets – whether it’s computers, smartphones, or social media platforms – as tools that help us connect with friends, stay entertained, or remain informed. These systems, however, also shape the ways we understand ourselves, the way we understand others, and the way others come to see and understand us. Students will examine how various digital systems impact social life. In particular, this class will highlight the ways digital technology foregrounds existing social divisions by exploring how questions of race, gender, and social inequality often inflect contemporary data and digital tools.

Pundits often hype the impact of technology on our work lives. Some predict that digital tools will make work more efficient and maximize productivity. Other expects that automation may eliminate work altogether, leaving people either unemployed or free to peruse their passions. This examines these claims by engaging students with work from anthropology, media studies, history, and feminist studies related to rationalization, the Protestant work ethic, and emerging forms of free and invisible labor. As we consider the relationship between technology, society, and the future of work, students will be able to examine how technology that promises to create efficiency in the workplace often creates its opposite, how contemporary automation encodes and sharpens workplace inequality rather than alleviates it and how digital innovation often devaluates and obscures people’s contribution rather than eliminates work.

Marketing Theory and Practice is a marketing capstone which offers students the chance to work together in small groups throughout the semester to design a marketing communications plan for a company. The groups participate in collegiate competitions organized by Effie or the American Advertising Federation which offer students the opportunity to bring their experiences, skills, and perspectives gained in previous marketing and other discipline-specific classes to develop multidisciplinary and ethical solutions for real-world client.