Serving the Public: How Public Places Function in Lorain County
Location
PANEL: Insights into Social Change & Human Behavior
CELA A019
Moderator: Mary Rose
Document Type
Presentation - Oberlin Community Only
Start Date
5-1-2026 11:00 AM
End Date
5-1-2026 12:00 PM
Abstract
What does it mean for public life to flourish in privately owned spaces? This talk presents findings from a semester-long team ethnography of cafés, bars, and nonprofit spaces to understand the role they play in creating and sustaining community. Fourteen researchers and one professor conducted over 100 hours of systematic participant observation in a small Midwestern town as part of SOCI 387: Serving the Public. We evaluate our findings in light of four theories for how public places function: Oldenburg’s third place theory, Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, Fraser’s and Warner’s theory of counterpublics, and Bourdieu and Putnam’s conception of social capital. We present the trends we observed regarding when and how strangers interact with each other, how members of the public treat workers, and the implications of third places functioning as workplaces for patrons. We also present impressions on what works and what doesn’t when doing research in teams and as part of a class.
Keywords:
Third place, Public sphere, Cafes, Ethnography, Participant observation
Recommended Citation
Russell, Imogen; Goebel, Lucy; Goldman, Fi; Howard, Ana; Baldeo, Chalanta; Cove, Slyvie; Carlile, Jamie; Hunkins, Alex; Wynn, Dakota; Hilderbrand, August; Leitch, Kiera; Moyotl, Ruby; Borislow, Sasha; and Stephens, Zoe, "Serving the Public: How Public Places Function in Lorain County" (2026). Research Symposium. 57.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/researchsymp/2026/presentations/57
Award
Jerome Davis Research Fund
Project Mentor(s)
Greggor Mattson, Sociology
2026
Serving the Public: How Public Places Function in Lorain County
PANEL: Insights into Social Change & Human Behavior
CELA A019
Moderator: Mary Rose
What does it mean for public life to flourish in privately owned spaces? This talk presents findings from a semester-long team ethnography of cafés, bars, and nonprofit spaces to understand the role they play in creating and sustaining community. Fourteen researchers and one professor conducted over 100 hours of systematic participant observation in a small Midwestern town as part of SOCI 387: Serving the Public. We evaluate our findings in light of four theories for how public places function: Oldenburg’s third place theory, Habermas’s theory of the public sphere, Fraser’s and Warner’s theory of counterpublics, and Bourdieu and Putnam’s conception of social capital. We present the trends we observed regarding when and how strangers interact with each other, how members of the public treat workers, and the implications of third places functioning as workplaces for patrons. We also present impressions on what works and what doesn’t when doing research in teams and as part of a class.
Notes
Access to the presentation slides is available to Oberlin College users only.