Recognizing and Analyzing Local Cultures
- 1 January 1991
- book chapter
- Published by SAGE Publications
Abstract
Field researchers typically emphasize one of two concerns in participant observation—either the “what” or the “how” of interpersonal relations. Expressed as questions, the concerns are, what is the setting's social organization, and how is it constructed? As part of the general concern with how one learns the ropes of fieldwork, this chapter makes two points about the “what” question. One point already has been touched on by others (see Douglas, 1976; Johnson, 1975) but deserves reconsideration, especially as it relates to theoretical developments in the field: In documenting social organization, it is well worth accepting the tenet that understandings get undone and redone. One continually engages in learning the social organization of everyday life; one does ...Keywords
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