The Sea Monster: An Ethnographic Drama

The characters are Laurel, a sociologist, and Ernest, a novelist. They live together, and they have been writing, and talking about writing for years. There is also a discussant who lives in Laurel's study. The drama begins in a neo-colonial home in the heartland of America, where Laurel—who has been invited to be a “Discussant” of “Ethnographic Novels” at the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interactionism-Stone Symposium at St. Petersburg Beach—is waking up.     

Neighborhood Wisdom: An Ethnographic Study of Localized Street Knowledge

Qualitative Sociology - There is a dearth of research on the characteristics, value, and scope of street knowledge. The few studies that exist suggest that, once acquired, street knowledge is used...     

The Sociology of Death and Dying: An Overview

This paper reviews the main sociological responses to death and dying by overviewing the central literature in the area known as the ‘Sociology of Death’. The main findings and arguments are outlined and analysed in three sections which cover the Anthropology of Death, the Sociology of Death and the Sociology of Dying. Criticism is summarised at the end of the paper and a suggestion is offered for future work in the area. It is concluded that an examination of dying from the perspective of those dying will give us a more complex understanding of different patterns of death. Such an analysis will fill the large gaps in our present knowledge about the dying process. It will also heavily contrast with simplistic views of dying formed by an over attention to the care givers' realities.     

Perceptual Disconnect: An Ethnographic Account of Immigrant Political Incorporation

Scholarship often assumes that there is a correlation between successful immigrant political incorporation and newcomers’ ability to make sustained claims and reallocate city or state resources. By influencing or nominating legislators, scholars assume immigrants become civically engaged and politically empowered. However, these assumptions have not been tested. This article explores the personal experiences and perceptions of Armenian immigrants in Glendale, California, where nearly 40 per cent of the city's 200,000+ population is of Armenian descent, 70 per cent of whom are first-generation immigrants. Furthermore, over 70 per cent of Glendale's elected officials claim Armenian ancestry. Nonetheless, many of Glendale's Armenian residents do not perceive the benefits of their electoral achievements. That is, there exists a perceptual disconnect between the city's ethnic-leaning reallocations and the residents’ recognition thereof. This article argues, therefore, that electoral incorporation may not, after all, prove the final step in the achievement and perception of inclusion.     

Quality Controlled: An Ethnographic Account of Tea Party Messaging and Action

What strategies do Tea Party movement organizers use to achieve frame alignment, that is, uniformity of grievance, purpose, and action, with their participants? Evidence to answer this question is gathered from a year‐length participant‐observation case study of one city‐based Tea Party organization, primarily through the meetings of its localized grassroots chapters. Principal findings are that Tea Party organizers employ quality control of off‐message grievances, for example, abortion, as well as any action or communication that would or could be perceived as racially prejudicial, or otherwise inflammatory. Formally, these findings demonstrate the influence of organizational hierarchy on grassroots practice. Substantively, they demonstrate the complex relationship between a broader conservative ideological repertoire as empirically deployed by participants, and the more focused frame alignment attempts of a particular social movement organization. In short, the findings elucidate the importance of interaction and organizational structure as they influence social movement messaging and action.     

Re-Membering Peronism: An Ethnographic Account of the Relational Character of Political Memory

Qualitative Sociology -     

Social Movements and Ethnographic Methodologies: An Analysis Using Case Study Examples

This paper defines and discusses the viability and applicability of specific ethnographic methods for the study and theorising of social movements and related social mobilisation. Ethnographic methods are shown to be one tool in a box of available methods, but are perhaps especially suited for the in‐depth study of social movements and social networks. Pros and cons of such methods are identified, using examples drawn from an ethnographic narrative comprising over a decade of research; ethnography of UK environmental direct activists, and more recent ethnography of UK publics engaging with human genetic technologies. Ethnography enables developments in latent social interactions to be identified in the field, providing data sources that inform social analysis and the development of theoretical stakes. This ethnographic narrative has contributed to the theorising of complexity in movement collective identity and complex social mobilisation patterns; namely the theorising of social movement. Findings can be disseminated to a range of stakeholders, including the research participants. Thus, ethnography can be both a method for studying social movements and a means of ‘upstream’ public engagement, understanding what is happening at the grassroots, with the aim of enabling capacity building between all actors in the research process. This methodological rationale is defined as ‘action research’.     

Paradoxical Pathways: An Ethnographic Extension of Kohn's Findings on Class and Childrearing

Stratification is a central issue in family research, yet relatively few studies highlight its impact on family processes. Drawing on in‐depth interviews (N = 137) and observational data (N = 12), we extend Melvin Kohn's research on childrearing values by examining how parental commitments to self‐direction and conformity are enacted in daily life. Consistent with Kohn's findings, middle‐class parents emphasized children's self‐direction, and working‐class and poor parents emphasized children's conformity to external authority. Attempts to realize these values appeared paradoxical, however. Middle‐class parents routinely exercised subtle forms of control while attempting to instill self‐direction in their children. Conversely, working‐class and poor parents tended to grant children considerable autonomy in certain domains of daily life, thereby limiting their emphasis on conformity.     

Reflections: Ethnographic content analysis

An ethnographic approach to document analysis is offered based on principles of qualitative data collection and analysis. It is proposed that numeric as well as narrative data be collected when studying such documents as TV new and movies. Ethnographic content analysis is briefly contrasted with conventional modes of quantitative content analysis to illustrate the usefulness of constant comparison for discovering emergent patterns, emphases and themes in an analysis of TV news coverage of the Iranian hostage situation. It is suggested that an ethnographic perspective can help delineate patterns of human action when document analysis is conceptualized as fieldwork.This draft has benefitted from comments and suggestions by Robert Emerson, Shulamit Reinharz, and three anonymous reviewers. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association, Albuquerque, NM, April 17–20, 1985.     

Strengths of Gay Male Youth: An Untold Story

This exploratory study found that gay male youths develop strengths that enable them to successfully cope with the challenges and stresses associated with their overall development. These internal and external resources were (1) protective in nature, (2) indicated the presence of resilience, and (3) assisted participants in managing their sexual orientation in adolescence. Bivariate analysis revealed participants had positive self-esteem and an internal locus of control comparable to, or better than, youths overall. Age, social support from gay, lesbian, and bisexual friends and from family, and a preadolescent sense of difference were significantly correlated with self-esteem and/or locus of control.     

Social Construction of Cultural Identity: An Ethnographic Study of Korean American Students

Identity is regarded as a cultural and historical product of constant negotiation processes influenced by specific social and cultural contexts. This study examines Korean American students' ethnic identities in terms of peer group, family, and media influences. A "thick analysis" based on 6-month participant observations and interviews in two Korean American communities was undertaken. Although they were born and grew up in the United States, most of the interviewees at both universities expressed that they were Korean (or Korean American) rather than American. Specifically, it was found that their family played an important role in teaching them the Korean language and customs in the early period of identity construction. Following, Korean videos, mobile phones, and the Internet were the main media through which these Korean Americans learned about Korean culture and society, and increased intra-ethnic communication within the diasporic Korean American community context.     

Access and Child Contact Centres in England and Wales: An Ethnographic Perspective

SUMMARY. Access centres are a recent development in service provision for families facing difficulties over child contact following divorce or separation. The author has worked for over two years as a volunteer at an access centre and provides a personal view of key issues in the organisation and operation of access centres. Discussion of detailed case material throws light on the paradoxes which arise when a pro-access ideology is exercised in an informal setting.     

An Ethnographic Look at Personal Computers in the Family Setting

No abstract available for this article.     

Structuration of Indian Information Technology Professionals’ Migration to Australia: An Ethnographic Study

Information Technology (IT) is leading to a new form of capital accumulation as is clearly evident in the IT industry. Regardless of its origin and amount, capital can be circulated and accumulated on a global scale, at an unprecedented speed and therefore with extreme volatility. An urgent task of the study of globalization and migration is to understand the international labour system of the “new economy”. This article is an ethnographic study of those agents who have been the main means by which Indian IT professionals move globally. “Body shopping” is the practice whereby a firm recruits IT workers and then farms them out to clients for a particular project, though the firm itself is not involved in the project. The key players in “body shopping” are a series of recruitment agents. They form “agent chains” where they depend on each other and assume different functions in dealing with the market, the state and the workers. “Body shops” rely on ethnic networks. Their practices have led to the emergence of a flexible international labour supply system that benefits some IT professionals but also imposes costs.