You need to be comfortable

Reading these pages made me realize how it is really important to be comfortable with the subculture you are studying. It is okay to study a subculture that you aren't part of, or even one that you would never join, but you need to be comfortable with the group of people and have a sense of being able to relate to them in order to observe it to your full capacity. It is important for you to feel comfortable and the people you are observing to feel comfortable while you are researching and working with a specific subculture. Certain groups that you may be interested in, may be dangerous for you to observe. For example, if I thought the Mafia was an interesting subculture, I could observe them and hang out with them, but it probably wouldn't be safe for me to do so and I doubt members of the Mafia would ever let me observe them no matter how interested in I was. You have to be comfortable, respectful, motivated and honest with yourself while observing a certain fieldsite and this chapter really stressed how important that is to have as part of this project.