Getting Started

Is Amazon Creating a Cultural Monopoly?

"For months, a group of writers calling themselves Authors United have campaigned, mostly unsuccessfully, against the business practices of Amazon.com. On Thursday, they mounted their latest challenge, officially requesting that the Department of Justice investigate how Amazon exercises its “power over the book market.” (A spokesman for the Justice Department said it is reviewing the request.) The list of signatories fills twelve pages and reads like an unusually expansive long list for a prestigious writing award; the five hundred and seventy-five writers include Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, and Ursula K. Le Guin, along with many longtime contributors to this magazine..."

"...Their argument is this: Amazon has used its market power both to influence which books get attention (by featuring them more prominently on its Web site) and, in some cases, to drive prices lower. These practices, the authors argue, squeeze publishers, which makes them more risk-averse in deciding which books to publish. As a result, they claim, publishers have been “dropping some midlist authors and not publishing certain riskier books, effectively silencing many voices.” And this is bad not only for the non-famous writers who go unpublished, but for their would-be readers, who are denied the ability to hear those voices. Amazon’s business practices are well-documented, and there appears to be at least anecdotal support for the authors’ claim about how they have hurt publishers. Still, they are making a case that could be hard to prove."

What types of questions does a journalist ask?

What types of questions would an ethnographer ask?

The Ethnographic Perspective

• What cultural moment is being captured here? How might it differ from the past and what implications does it have for the future?
• What is the demographic composition of Authors United? Was there a move to restrict this list to well-known authors?
• Who are the people who have already been affected?

Question Any Assumptions

• Are there arenas where a "cultural monopoly" might already exist? What is novel about this particular case?
• What voices are still being excluded?
• How do Amazon employees feel about the prospect of their company becoming the only gatekeeper to publication?
• How do definitions of "publishable" differ amongst these different groups?

Choosing Your Topic

Consider the following questions

• What do you already know about this subculture? What insiders do you know?
• What kinds of connections do you have to the subculture now?
• How easy or difficult would it be to "enter" this subculture as either an insider or outsider?
• In what ways are you an insider or outsider already?
• What do you hope to find out?

Research Proposal (300-600 words)

• Explain your topic and why it is significant. In other words, what specific questions are you interested in answering and what larger understandings do you expect your findings to illuminate?
• How do you plan on gathering your material? i.e. Who do you plan on interviewing/observing? Will there be any issues in terms of access?

Components of a Research Paper

• Title
• Introduction
• Method
• Literature Review
• Data/Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References