Being-in-the-Apple-store: a genetic phenomenological sociology of space
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Being‑in‑the‑Apple‑store: a genetic phenomenological sociology of space Vincent Qing Zhang1 Accepted: 8 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract This study develops a genetic phenomenological sociology of space from the phenomenology and phenomenological sociology of space. Based on relational ontology, it argues that social space is a social relationship in genesis. An Apple walkin store and an Apple online store are examples to illustrate the essence of social space. Any Apple store as a social space represents a set of social relations. The genetic phenomenological sociology of space in both store types includes two parts: first, the social ontology of space, that is, ‘being-in-the-Apple-store’ or ‘being-inthe-Apple-online-store’; and second, the social epistemology of space, that is, the act of ‘encountering’ in either store. Examining the existence of space ontologically and the mode of existence epistemologically clarifies that the actual ‘meaning’ of social space, an Apple store or an Apple online store in this study, emerges through the act of encountering. Three characteristics of encountering are placelessness, ‘dedistancing,’ and mediation. Keywords Apple store · Apple online store · Social space · Encountering · Social relation · Genetic phenomenological sociology
Introduction Apple has more than four hundred walk-in retail stores worldwide and an online store that is accessible via the Internet in approximately forty countries. Each year, millions of people visit Apple retail stores and the Apple online store to buy Apple products. How do we interpret ‘being-in-the-Apple-store’ or ‘being-in-theApple-online-store,’ and what is the essence of these two store types? How do the meaning and culture of the two types of stores emerge? To answer these questions, this study refers to phenomenological theories and Daoism to develop a * Vincent Qing Zhang [email protected] 1
School of Journalism and Communication, Nanjing University, No. 163, Xianlin Road, Qixia district, Nanjing, China
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genetic phenomenological sociology of space that includes both the social ontology and epistemology of space. This study focuses on the concept of social space as a medium or relationship rather than a container of action (Tuan 1977; Tilley 1994); it is not concerned with the pure nature of physical space. Actually, all spaces we refer to in daily life are humanised natural spaces or social spaces. The relations between human and nature spaces are built as long as we recognise them. I use the term ‘space’ mainly to refer to ‘social space’. This is also how we use the term ‘Apple Store’ as a space in daily life. As an exception, I use the terms ‘natural’ or ‘physical space’. For example, if an Apple store were to move from location A to location B, the store refers only to the social space and the social relations concerning Apple, comprised by entities such as the Apple logo, Apple products, and Apple store workers. Here, the Apple store does not refer to the physica
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