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Space and Culture
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Bodies at Work

Performing Service in American Restaurants

Karla Erickson

University of Minnesota

Restaurants inhabit an unusual cultural space—somewhere between the public and the private. This article is a close study of the physical and social space in one American restaurant. The author traces the pathways and openings through which workers sneak and dash to get food to the table, literally rubbing elbows with the customers who demand their attention for the night.Drawing on original ethnographic research, the article examines how workers’ bodies are displayed and marked by uniforms and how workers feel about their bodies at work. Then, building on the details of this study, the author examines the kinds of interactions that take place in restaurants in connection with how ambiance is established and maintained, the public/private transgressions that occur, and the way that both workers and customers make use of the confined, but not confining, consumable space of the restaurant.

Key Words: restaurants • service work • physical labor • occupational space • dance • consumption

Space and Culture, Vol. 7, No. 1, 76-89 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1206331203256581
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