James D. Preston

Counterfeit intimacy: A dramaturgical analysis of an erotic performance

Observations of customer‐waitress interaction in a topless club over a two‐and‐one‐half month period are presented. Data were generated by a participant‐observer who worked as a waitress‐dancer in a topless club during this period. Analysis focuses on the setting, appearance, and manner of the “cynical performance” (Goffman 1959) orchestrated by the waitress through which she uses semi‐nudity, nudity and nude dancing to stimulate the fantasies of her patrons and thereby creates “counterfeit intimacy” (Boles and Garbin 1977). The overriding goal of the club and the waitress‐dancers is to make money through the sale of alcohol and table dances; customer goals are to have a “sexual experience” (not necessarily intercourse) of some sort. Various “ploys,” enacted by both customers and waitresses, are analyzed, with the ultimate goal of these ploys being to enhance the effectiveness of the “counterfeit intimacy” contrived by both parties. Conclusions suggest that all forms of “counterfeit” can be studied as sou...

The Racial Bifurcation of Community Development: Implications for Community Development Practitioners

Consensus and dissensus models of development, and the underlying assumptions of each approach, are presented and discussed. The findings of a reputational leadership survey conducted in a metropolitan area with a large minority population are then outlined. They indicate that the minority population leadership represents more of a subcommunity than part of an overall, integrated leadership structure. Implications of the survey results for practitioners in communities where leadership is divided along racial lines are discussed. These practitioners may face built-in dissensus situations where contesting, rather than collaborative, strategies of purposive change are present.

A comparison of the findings of different methods for identifying community leaders

Abstract Findings are presented from an in‐depth analysis of four communities in which reputation, decision, and position measures of leadership were used. A high degree of overlap among findings is observed in the four communities. A comparison with the larger body of literature leads to the conclusion that, in general, the degree of overlap of multiple measures of leadership will vary according to characteristics of the research site being studied. Future researchers should focus more clearly on distinguishing between research sites that can be characterized as satellite communities and those which are relatively independent entities, a distinction which has been somewhat unclear in past research. In addition, it is suggested that the number of issues selected for analysis may affect the results. Implications are drawn for the community practitioner who may need background data on leadership before implementing a community project.

Recruitment for fashion careers: A case study of organizational conning

We report a participant‐observation‐based analysis of the recruitment strategies, the formal organization, and the organizational underlife of a privately owned, profit‐making “conning” organization that calls itself a fashion school for girls. Two variations of interactionist sociology, negotiated order theory and dramaturgical sociology, are used. Beyond expanding understanding of how conning organizations operate, implications extend to the issue of deceit in competitive recruitment for scarce human resources as, for instance, in the current practices of some colleges and universities to ensure enrollment minima in the context of a dwindling marketplace.