Culture, consensus and behavior among North-American spring breakers.

摘要

To what extent does culture, taken as the set of normative beliefs that individuals use to live their lives within a given context, correspond with actual behavior? Furthermore, are self-reported accounts of behavior sufficient to ascertain the veracity of informants' claims, particularly in the case of socially reproachable behavior? While culture undoubtedly influences behavior, individuals do not always behave in accordance with the cultural beliefs they purport to subscribe to, nor do they always report past events accurately. The problem is compounded when one looks at out-of-the-ordinary behaviors, like those that occur in leisure-based phenomena such as carnivals, festivals, and holidays. A paradigmatic example is Spring Break, a leisure phenomenon usually associated with extreme types of behavior.;The purpose of this research was to provide an objective account of Spring Break behavior and contrast it with spring breakers' self-reported cultural beliefs and behaviors about Spring Break using the cultural consensus and cultural consonance models. Moreover, the aim of this study was to address a gap in the Spring Break literature by providing an ethnographic account of Spring Break in a typical Spring Break destination---Panama City Beach, Florida---and placing the Spring Break phenomenon in its larger socio-political-economical context.;Four separate studies were conducted using a variety of research methods following a mixed-methods design. Namely, (a) an ethnography of the Spring Break experience, (b) an ethological analysis of spring breakers' public behaviors, (c) a cultural domain analysis of spring breakers' cultural beliefs and cultural prescriptions, and (d) an investigation into the relationship between Spring Break culture and self-reported and objectively measured Spring Break behaviors using the cultural consensus and cultural consonance models.;Findings point towards a disconnect between culture and behavior, which I labeled "cultural dissonance." Objectively measured behavior followed cultural prescriptions (i.e., normative behaviors) more closely than self-reported behavior, thus supporting a wealth of research in the social sciences that stresses the behavioral implications of cultural models. These studies revealed the presence of not one but two separate Spring Break cultures, sharply divided along gender lines. Findings also dispute the notion of Spring Break as a rite of passage for college students, suggesting instead that Spring Break behaviors are but a continuation of practices that college students already engage in during the rest of the year. Moreover, this research revealed that Spring Break is not independent of local systems and global processes of economic and political importance, which influence, and are in turn influenced by, what occurs during Spring Break. Lastly, these studies validated the necessity of adopting mixed methodologies when conducting anthropological research in order to obtain valid and reliable results.;The present research makes a significant contribution to the comparative study of culture and behavior. This study also furthers cultural consensus and cultural consonance theories, namely by contrasting self-reported cultural consonance and objectively measured cultural consonance with cultural consensus. Furthermore, the novelty of the research design and research methods employed has significant potential to mitigate the prevailing issue of informant inaccuracy in the social sciences.;This research also contributes to a better understanding of young people's leisure in controversial settings by examining how their cultural beliefs influence actual and self-perceived behavior. Lastly, this research extends existing knowledge on Spring Break, a tourism phenomenon of growing economic and social importance.