Ethnography Unbound

by Gamson, Joshua

• ISBN13: 9780520073227
• ISBN10: 0520073223
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr on Demand

Summary

In this powerful volume, ten original ethnographies explore two important issues: the ways in which people confront the threats and disruptions of contemporary life, and the ways in which researchers can most effectively study the modern metropolis. With its twofold agenda, the volume emerges as a multi-layered dialogue between researcher and researched, participant and observer, educator and educated. These essays, produced in a refreshing collaborative effort by a senior scholar and ten graduate students, examine many facets of American urban life, among them new social movements that mobilize and work on behalf of people with AIDS and that fight against nuclear war; the decisive roles South East Asian women play in building new immigrant communities; and school programs for African-American children. Ethnography Unboundalso explores the value of participant observation and the extended case method in social research, underlining how these methodological approaches deepen and enrich scholarship in the social sciences. The book poses theoretical and methodological questions in an open and lucid manner, prodding a rethinking of ethnographic research. Scholars and students alike will find it an essential text for the study of methodology and contemporary American life.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(7)
Michael Burawoy
Reconstructing Social Theories	8	(21)
Michael Burawoy
PART 1. NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS	29	(52)
Introduction to Part 1	31	(4)
Silence, Death, and the Invisible Enemy: AIDS Activism and Social Movement ``Newness''	35	(23)
Joshua Gamson
``Fight the Power'': Two Groups Mobilize for Peace	58	(23)
Josepha Schiffman
PART 2 REORGANIZING THE WORKPLACE	81	(52)
Introduction to Part 2	83	(2)
Dividing Up the Struggle: The Consequences of ``Split'' Welfare Work for Union Activism	85	(23)
Alice Burton
Managing Without Managers: Crisis and Resolution in a Collective Bakery	108	(25)
Ann Arnett Ferguson
PART 3 NEW IMMIGRANTS	133	(46)
Introduction to Part 3	135	(4)
A Maid by Any Other Name: The Transformation of ``Dirty Work'' by Central American Immigrants	139	(22)
Leslie Salzinger
``Unlikely Heroes'': The Evolution of Female Leadership in a Cambodian Ethnic Enclave	161	(18)
Shiori Ui
PART 4 FROM CLASSROOM TO COMMUNITY	179	(42)
Introduction to Part 4	181	(2)
Mr. Henry Makes a Deal: Negotiated Teaching in a Junior High School	183	(20)
Leslie Hurst
Coming Together: An Interactive Model of Schooling	203	(18)
Nadine Gartrell
PART 5 RESEARCHING THE RESEARCHERS	221	(80)
Introduction to Part 5	223	(4)
The Politics of Prevention: Ethnographers Combat AIDS Among Drug Users	227	(23)
Kathryn J. Fox
Convincing Sociologists: Values and Interests in the Sociology of Knowledge	250	(21)
Charles Kurzman
CONCLUSION
The Extended Case Method	271	(20)
Michael Burawoy
APPENDIX
Teaching Participant Observation	291	(10)
Michael Burawoy
Notes	301	(30)
Bibliography	331	(14)
Index	345