Matching up: Producing proximal service in a Los Angeles Restaurant

• In Event: 333 - Regular Session. Sociology of Work II: Culture and Control

Abstract

Previous studies on interactive service work emphasize the asymmetrical relations typically found between service-providers and service-consumers. However, drawing on ethnographic data from a trendy restaurant in Los Angeles, I introduce the concept of proximal service to describe performed relationships in a commercial setting in which server and served enact social closeness rather than social distance or distinction. I detail how management structures the proximal service drama through its policies and practices, while servers enact peer-like relations with customers through informal and highly flexible performances. As a branded form of informality, I suggest proximal service may be increasingly found in commercial spaces geared towards urban, relatively affluent young adults.

Author

• Eli Wilson, University of California-Los Angeles