Coffee Shop as A Peace-oriented Place: Rethinking the System of Semantic Relationships Governing Coffee Shops

Coffee shop, which is considered a post-modern phenomenon by some people and is a place that has created a social image via a proper interaction with its space and semantic system. It has occurred along with the evolution of coffee houses in Iran and become a Patogh (haunting place) for young people. This article aimed to reflect young people’s experiences in coffee shops and rethink their system of semantic relationships, besides seeking to answer why young people welcome coffee shops in Bojnord City. The research also tried to understand what semantic relationships had been produced and reproduced in coffee shops with an increasing popularity among young people in Bojnord. The conceptual framework of the study was set by emphasizing the concepts of Patogh, public sphere in Habermas's votes, place consumption in Henri Lefebvre's votes, Rey Oldenburg's third place, and place identity in Edward Ralph's votes so as to verify the coffee shop concept.  

An interpretive paradigm dominated this research. The research attempted to identify the system of semantic relations governing coffee shops through semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the findings was done via the Grounded Theory Method (GTM). The required information was collected by simultaneously using the two methods of purposeful sampling for selecting the interviewees in an accessible way and based on the criterion of maximum diversity and theoretical sampling for identify the number of people and finding the research path. The study was conducted through an interview with 36 young people (16 boys and 20 girls) living in Bojnord City with an average age of 21 years (age range of 18-25 years) in the spring of 2021. Sampling was completed after obtaining the theoretical saturation. 

The research results led to extracting 90 basic concepts, 22 sub-categories, and 7 major categories. After extracting the concepts and identifying the categories, all the categories were combined with each other and the underlying model of youth presence in coffee shops for the young people living in Bojnord City was designed. This study also provided a grounded model that could extract the consumption of place in order to produce the exclusive lifeworld of youth as the main phenomenon through semi-structured interviews. The causal condition for the presence of young people in coffee shops is liberation from structural domination. Young people consider their living conditions along with imposition of violence or, in other words, imposition of domineering structures on their values, attitudes, and actions. These domineering structures take refuge in a safe place called a coffee shop. Also, young people can show a place-dependent agency by being in coffee shops, an agency that has the power to change and produce new values ​​and practices and depends on a place called a coffee shop. This meaning is considered as the contextual condition for the presence of young people in coffee shops. Other reasons for them to have place consumption practices in order to produce their own exclusive lifeworld are associated with the idea of ​​globalization and conformity with myths. Young people feel the need to ride the wave of globalization, whether by being in places comparable to transnational and global environments like coffee shops or by spreading global ideas, such as individualism, while avoiding any discrimination of place manifested in a coffee shop. Additionally, identification of myths for young people and association of the name of cafe with the memory of myths have made young people inclined to being in coffee shops and practice their consumption so as to produce their exclusive lifeworld as a main phenomenon called a Patogh, which is a place to express the glory of the youth and protect young people’s lifestyle.Young people with a civilized living strategy based on the special etiquette of coffee shop, which can be said to be the transition period of a civilized life, can lead peaceful conversations, while respecting their differences in an atmosphere free of discrimination and consuming cultural goods. This reflects the aspirations and wishes of the youth. The consequence of consumption of place for producing the exclusive lifeworld of the youth is the birth of peace derived from invitation to stay in a coffee shop and the result of a sense of security and tranquility in a place that revitalizes the youth. Young people come to the coffee shop to spread the culture of peace in its peace-oriented place by preparing themselves for the new civilized life that is romantic and non-discriminative. Paying attention to changes in the system of semantic relationships in a third place like a coffee shop from the perspective of young people can pave the way for a better understanding of their relationship with this place and identification of their spatial-semantic needs.