After learning about the research methods that sociologists use to conduct research, I was able to understand the nature behind advertising.

With my own knowledge, I know that great apes other than humans, like chimpanzees and gorillas, have their own simple form of gesture communication where physical movements can emphasize whether they are feeling happy, upset, or any other emotions. Not to be confused with symbolic interactionism, this also could technically tie into the topic at hand because it might show that since evolution we have portrayed certain things with a connotation and this might have carried on into the society we currently have.

However, when talking about what groups of people do the coffee shop specifically cater towards, it can be a little bit of an open-ended question. Most of the time, you're going to see teenagers and young adults in coffee shops because they are people in my opinion that are more likely to get high-energy quick meals, like coffee, pastries, tea, etc. It also could seem like people of a much older age are less likely to come into coffee shops because they might be more health-conscious so they'll avoid sugary Foods, maybe people of that age socialize or spend their time in different environments like libraries for example, or maybe the older generation just does not find appeal places like coffee shops. The thing that I think is least affected is race because honestly, I don't find any correlation between a person's race in a coffee shop and the reason they're there; anyone of any race can come to a coffee shop for any particular matter.

This honestly surprised me a little bit, resonated with me a little bit, but at the same time did not resonate with me that much. It surprised me in the sense that the test subject would more likely decide to stick with the decisions of the authority figure even if it meant getting a worse electric shock. I thought that people would have their own voice and opinions and would stick to whatever they want, but it seems like that's not the case here because the person is simply sticking with the decisions of the authority figure and getting an electric shock as a result. It resonated with me a little bit because I can understand why the person might have followed the authority figure most of the time. Maybe that person did not want to spend most of their energy trying to find fault with what is presented to them and just go with it. But at the same time, it did not resonate with me because I honestly in that situation would have stuck with my own decision and would have probably questioned the authority figure because that may just be my type of personality.

What this means for society is that we will see a lot of people simply being sheep to the dominant people in society. This is obviously bad because we need people in our society that can think for themselves and not simply follow the leader even if what they do could result in a negative consequence for the majority of people.

For the most part, this did end up satisfy my desire for belonging. This was because I could keep in touch with the friends I made by adding them to my contact list, texting them for when we all plan to meet up and hang out, or just making calls to my parents when I have to. Other times it would be very convenient for me to have access to the internet at my fingertips because it would be really easy and convenient for me, and other times it would just be for a minor thing like playing games on my phone when I'm bored or whatever.

Personally, I believe that these giant food companies having gigantic control over the entire food industry can be a little bit bad. Just one or two major companies having control of a large area opens up the door to so much corruption and allows them to manipulate the markets in whichever way they want to. Even if someone makes the argument that not everyone eats fast food or eats the specific type of food that the companies distribute, a giant amount of Americans do eat fast food on a daily basis so these fast food companies still have all the power that they have.

I also think that these four key dimensions of McDonald's control over Society actually make a lot of sense. Efficiency wise, McDonald's just like every other major fast-food company wants to make selling their food as efficient as possible. This could also include doing whatever possible just so that they get the most bang for the buck. This could include reducing the quality of food, secretly reducing the amount of food over time, or whatever. Calculability could be defined as the measurement of everything in the production of the product. this means that McDonald's is trying to make every element of their production as quick and efficient as possible so they can roll out as much food and marketing as possible. Predictability I think is how predictable each product is across many of their fast-food chains so maybe it could be someone predicting the quality of a burger in one fast food joint versus another even though it's the same brand. And finally, control is McDonald's doing everything they can to control the workflow up their restaurants to optimize performance.

In my opinion, the things that Ehrenreich discussed made a lot of sense. It makes me reflect on this issue a little bit more because being on minimum wage and being in poverty is something that most of us in the middle class don't really think about even though the shrinking middle class is very much a problem today. But I personally think the author could have made way better choices when spending the money, which is something else I think that people living in the minimum wage should heavily show consideration on because that is one of the reasons why they're there in the first place. I felt like the author could have easily cut down on money for the laundry if they just wore their clothes economically instead of wearing as much as possible and they possibly could have cut down money for the food if they were doing less intensive activities throughout the day, making them more hungry and them making purchase more food.

This reflects on society because poverty is a big issue that affects a decent chunk of the population. Many of them go into poverty because of bad habits, losing their job, or lack of education and many of them stay in poverty because payday loan companies trap them into purchasing more loans, they don't know how to spend their money economically, or they don't know how to earn money fast enough. I feel like if more people have proper education on where to spend their money and how to conserve as much of it as possible then we will see a decent decline in the amount of the population that is in this type of poverty.

I understand why many restaurants would do things like this. Like I mentioned earlier, it significantly boosts their performance as they can spend less energy and time on the restaurant that sells and more on counting up all the money that they've accumulated from all their businesses. However, I have a doubt about this because, in some countries around the world, the exact same restaurant brand can have different menu items. For example, when I went to India, there was an item on the menu called the “Maharaja Mac” which was a little bit different than the standard Big Mac in the United States. Even though this is one example of a menu item, I could infer that restaurant businesses around the world don't have the exact same user experience in every restaurant chain that they open up, but instead a similar experience throughout all the restaurant chains that correlate to the location where the business is in. Building off of what I stated earlier, there wasn't a single menu option with beef in it in the restaurant by 1/2 in India but in the United States beef is the standard option when it comes to Burgers in McDonald's. This is because cows are considered holy in India so putting beef on the menu would not benefit the business. So in conclusion, I believe that this idea that restaurants have a very similar user experience, very similar indoor decoration, and very similar menu items all combine to make a very rationalized and easy experience but at the same time, I believe that restaurants should I have minor but important differences around the world or depending on the location where they open up.

I kind of understand where the author is coming from when writing this. This generation is much much different than the generations that have come before and we are in a very unique position. Technology circles our entire lives and I won't deny that sometimes it has been hard to live without some engagement. I believe this is so because technology and the internet provide a very high amount of stimulation and this keeps young and growing minds hooked on and active. The moment that stimulation stops it's a little bit hard to look back and appreciate things with less stimulation. Also, we are living in a generation that seems to be a little bit more sensitive than the previous generations so suppose another tragic event like 9/11 to happen again, this generation would not take it as well as the generations that have come before us.

This can cause many people to be wary about how much control Microsoft has over their own operating system and make wise choices. it can also teach people about consumption habits because many high-end Windows computers can cost thousands of dollars and this makes people very worried about what they're spending it on. People that want to build their own Windows PCs will also be very worried about the parts that thereby and will offer more economical choices. Some of these ideas have come to hegemony like the one about not spending that much money on expensive computers but some of them are still yet to come to hegemony like how much control a company has over the personal computers of a population of people.

Similarly, I believe that unionizing this would be a great idea so that more people can get the awareness of this and this benefit would reach more fast-food workers. Something that might encourage the unionization of fast-food workers is the fact that many fast-food workers will have an increase in pay. This is important to consider because many fast-food workers are currently living under minimum wage. However, something that I feel like might discourage the unionization of fast-food workers in other companies or businesses recognizing them for their protest for equal pay in a sense.