The Business of Ethnography Strategic Exchanges, People and Organizations

by Moeran, Brian

• ISBN13: 9781845201951
• ISBN10: 1845201957
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-23
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Can an anthropologist help us understand the world of business? Armed with this question, veteran anthropologist Brian Moeran embarks on an in-depth study of cultural production and creative industries in Japan. Moeran is able to shed light not only on social behavior and human relations in general but, more specifically, on the importance of strategic exchange to all business practices. Moeran's fieldwork, rooted in participant-observation of business life in communities and corporations, leads him to an original theory of how business operates. Culture is not all-powerful, Moeran shows. Instead, social structures strongly influence behavior. At the heart of this analysis is a firm belief in fieldwork and ethnography--terms much bandied about in business, management and cultural studies, but rarely undertaken in depth. The Business of Ethnography is a clarion call for anthropologists to rethink their discipline beyond traditional fieldwork sites.

Author Biography

Brian Moeran is Professor of Culture and Communication, Copenhagen Business School.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction: Strategic Exchanges	1	(20)
Part I: Frames	21	(60)
1 Baptized by Fire	23	(20)
2 Analysing Frames	43	(20)
3 Frames at Work	63	(18)
Part II: Networks	81	(52)
4 Managing Impressions	83	(16)
5 Making Connections	99	(16)
6 Doing Business	115	(18)
Part III: Fields	133	(60)
7 Exhibition of Virtue	135	(16)
8 The Art of Capitalizing	151	(20)
9 Creative Fields	171	(22)
Conclusion: The Business of Ethnography	193	(14)
Bibliography	207	(10)
Index	217