ETHNOMETHODOLOGY

MARC GILBERT

DEFINITION
The sociological study of rules and rituals underlying ordinary social activities and interactions
A method of studying linguistic communication that emphasizes common sense views of conversation and the world
Not what is going on with the group but how members of the group make sense of what is going on
Ordinary details in day-to-day life
Tacit knowledge; taken for granted norms and assumptions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7wJfZRHvKE

DEFINITION (Cont.)
Anyone who either cannot lead the common
life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and
therefore does not partake of society, is either a
beast or a god.

Aristotle

We are

primarily the products of thinking that

happens below the level of awareness.
David Brooks

HISTORY
Harold Garfinkel (Studies in Ethnomethodology, 1967)
Work with jurors

Harvey Sacks (Lectures in Conversation, 1992)

Lectures and speeches

Sub categories
Conversation Analysis
Institutional Settings

EXAMPLES
Natural
Students new to a school
New employees
Immigrants

Experiments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e17XXpiEkU
Elevator

5 TYPES OF ETHNOMETHODOLOGICAL
STUDY
Practical actions and reasoning
Talk-in-Interaction
Talk-in-Interaction within Institutional Settings
Study of Work
Haecceity of Work

QUESTIONS

REFERENCES

Boden, D. (1989). Ethnomethodology; Contemporary Sociology, 18(6), 958-962

Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Prentiss-Hall: Cambridge, MA

Heritage, J. (1984). Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Blackwell: Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Maynard, D. & Clayman, S. (1991). The diversity of ethnomethodology; The Annual Review of Sociology; 17, 385-418

Newton, J. (2015). A contemporary examination of workplace learning culture; Nurse Education Today; 35(1), 91-96

Pollner, M. (2012). Reflections on Garfinkel and ethnomethodologys program; The American Sociologist; 43(1), 36-54

Rawls, A. (2008). Harold Garfinkel, ethnomethodology and workplace studies; Organization Studies; 29(5), 701

Sharrock, W. (1989). Ethnomethodology; The British Journal of Sociology; 40(4), 657-677