‘Blacks and bubbas’: Stereotypes, ideology, and categorization processes in restaurant servers' discourse

Abstract

Individuals employ general, cognitively grounded categorization processes to form expectations for interactions with members of other social groups. Such categorizations sometimes surface in the form of racial, ethnic, or other stereotypes. But although much literature describes and/or tests the cognitive nature of stereotyping and categorization, less investigates how stereotypes and categories are formed in casual interaction, through casual discourse. This article analyzes data from 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with restaurant servers to investigate how they categorize customers by drawing on racial stereotypes and stereotypes related to class and/or cultural capital to produce two types of discriminatory discourse: ‘racetalk’ and what we term ‘regiontalk’. Our analyses suggest potential differences in the servers’ processes of categorization according to patron type, which we interpret with regard to the larger context of racism and classism in contemporary U.S. society.

Tipping behavior in Canadian restaurants

“…On the median $17 tab, for example, the 0.4% difference in the tip rate attributable to seniors translates to a 7 cent reduction in the tip, on average and holding all else constant. Contrast this result with Mallinson and Brewster's (2005) results showing unanimous racial and socioeconomic stereotypes among server interviewees. Without data on race, we could not obtain results allowing a direct comparison, but Brewster and Mallinson (2009) argue that the routinized nature of restaurant serving and the uncertain nature of tip income may encourage servers to identify groups of diners with a statistically higher probability of leaving good tips, even when the expected benefit might be small.…”

“…Bodvarsson et al (2003) provided evidence that tipping is positively correlated with service quality in a study on 247 diners, but this claim was refuted by Lynn (2004b). Racial and socioeconomic stereotypes held by servers have been wellestablished in interviews (Dirks and Rice, 2004;Mallinson and Brewster, 2005).…”

Racial differences in restaurant tipping: A labour process perspective

“…As servers categorize customers based on tipping potential, and in so doing draw on social characteristics, they may evoke and subsequently rely upon stereotypes that justify their categorizations. The literature suggests that when whites engage in the processes of stereotyping and categorizing ethnic minority group members, they tend to accompany these actions with 'racetalk', a structured form of discourse that appears to cast the speaker as 'colour blind' but that actually serves to justify his or her racial stereotypes, attitudes, and discrimination (Bonilla-Silva, 2003;Bonilla-Silva & Forman, 2000;Dirks & Rice, 2004b;Mallinson & Brewster, 2005). As these discourses are perpetuated, they reinforce the underlying stereotypes.…”

“…As Dirks and Rice (2004a, p. 260) explain with regard to restaurant servers, 'Servers' perceived experiences generate discourse among the collectivity, helping to shape future employees' belief structures'. As race-based categorical distinctions are culturally elaborated and justified in interaction (which is accomplished more easily when the distinctions are obvious and institutionalized, socially significant categorical pairs, such as black/white; see Tilly, 1998), the ideology of white supremacy that has dominated past and present American society is more broadly sustained (Mallinson & Brewster, 2005).…”

5. Culinary Linguistics: The Chef’s Special

“…(Lindquist 2004: 312) The socio-political as well as material context of coffeetalk at Starbucks in the U.S., which may appear casual and based on equality, has been shown to reinforce social segregation (Gaudio 2003, for racial stereotyping by servers, cf. also Mallinson & Brewster 2005).…”