The Milkman and his Customer

A Cultivated Relationship

Bibliographic Data

ID2365799
AuthorsOdis E Bigus (University of California, San Francisco, corresponding author)
Year1972
Volume1
Issue2
Pages131-165
Publication date1972-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Life and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0049-5662
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/089124167200100201
OpenAlexW2025962275
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited5

ODIS E. BIGUS is a doctoral student in sociology at the University of California, San Francisco. His interests include research in the areas of suburbanization, middle-class life styles, and alcoholism. h.MERICA IS A SERVICE SOCIETY-so much so that essentially nonservice institutions, such as stores, take on service-like characteristics (Goffman, 1961: 326). ’ This em-phasis on service has given rise to a preponderance of a particular kind of social activity, which I will refer to as &dquo;cultivating,&dquo; and an associated kind of social relationship, which I will refer to as a &dquo;cultivated relationship.&dquo; &dquo;Culti-vating&dquo; as it is used here refers to the courting and wooing activities engaged in by servicers in relations with those whom they service. Cultivating techniques are employed with the intent of either directly or indirectly gaining a reward (usually monetary). &dquo;Cultivated relationships&dquo; are relationships which AUTHOR’S NOTE: I wish to express my thanks to Barney Glaser, Robert Nicholson, Virginia Olesen, and Leonard Schatzman for their valuable comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper, and to E. Linwood Tipton of the Milk Industry Foundation for providing me with information about the retail milk business

Business · Geography · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Organic Food and Agriculture · Wine Industry and Tourism

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