| Presentation |
| Paper |
Janet M. Howe
Juniata College
Subject Listing - Sociology/Anthropology
Advisor: Dr. Paula Wagoner
Friday, Oral Session 6, Presentation 2, Carmichael Hall 230
THE WAL-MART IMAGE IN HUNTINGDON, PA.
Our world has forever been shaped by the big box store known as Wal-Mart. Since its origin in Bentonville Arkansas, in 1962, Wal-Mart has risen to be the world's number one company. It has branched out into an international economy and into all types of goods and services. To this day, Wal-Mart is the second largest employer in America, second only to the Government. With its small town roots, and present profits soaring over 220 billion dollars a year, Wal-Mart has come to symbolize the epitome of capitalism in American culture. These characteristics, along with Wal-Mart's size and power, as well as its less then desirable effects and business practices, have caused it to become the icon of everything that is wrong with American capitalism. In today's society, Wal-Mart is the target of one of the most organized, well financed, and powerful corporate campaigns this country has ever seen. We can hardly open a newspaper, turn on the news or search the web without coming across something Wal-Mart related. We are all well aware of what Wal-Mart is, we promote it, we protest it, but we do not often enough stop to think what it means.
In January 2006 a Wal-Mart will be opened in Huntingdon County, PA. This paper represents a culmination of two years worth of observation and analysis of the development of the project and the expectations and attitudes that Wal-Mart provokes from the people in Huntingdon. Using local and national newspaper resources, formal interviews, questionnaires and general observations this paper represents the spectrum of views that the population of Huntingdon associate with Wal-Mart. It reflects the fear, hope, anger, jubilance, and indifference that the subjects of the study expressed in reference to Wal-Mart. In this analysis, we get a chance to deconstruct the image and identity of Wal-Mart in society, and better understand its role to the individual.
Advisor: Dr. Paula Wagoner, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social W, Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA