Coffee and Coffeehouses by Hattox Ralph S.;

Author:Hattox, Ralph S.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Washington Press

CHAPTER 7

Society and the Social Life of the Coffeehouse

The fuss over individual and collective activities in the coffeehouse allows us to take in two levels of society at once. On the surface, we have a glimpse of coffeehouse society proper. Our attention is directed toward what went on and why, how the patrons amused themselves and were amused by others, and who associated with whom. What is, in addition, unintentionally revealed is an image of society as a whole, of how those who participated in the dispute over coffee viewed both the ideal and real rôle of man in his community and the world. When a society (or those who claim to be the moral spokesmen of that society) perceives something as objectionable, it tells us almost as much about itself as it does about the object of its displeasure. We can learn much of its expectations, its norms, and its social values. If we can get some idea of just what values were thought to be jeopardized by the coffeehouse, it is then possible to determine what aspects of urban social life the ultimate success of the coffeehouse affected, and how some of those things that were initially the very targets of criticism came in time to be accepted norms: how, in short, the society may have been in some small way forever changed by the new institution.

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