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ETHNOMETHODOLOGY
Presented by:
Emma Kehrli and Grant Robinson
Harold Garfinkel
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1917; died last year
Studied economics at the University of Newark
Sociology at the University of North Carolina
After WWII, attended Harvard to study with Parsons
Taught at Princeton and Ohio State University
Joined a project researching juries in Wichita, KS
Coined the term ‘ethnomethodology’ to describe
what fascinated him about the jury deliberations and
social life in general
Harold Garfinkel
Professor at UCLA
1995 – Cooley Mead Award for lifetime
contributions to the intellectual and scientific
advancement of sociology and social psychology
Well respected, but known for being a “hard
grader” and giving out perplexing assignments
Often created his own vocabulary – found the given
language too constraining
Influences
EM is influenced by phenomenology, linguistics,
anthropology, symbolic interactionism, etc
Influenced by Parsons, Alfred Schutz, Aron
Gurwitsch, and Edmond Husserl
Gave high recognition to Parsons, but did not agree
on many things
Parsons – stressed abstract categories and
generalizations
Garfinkel – interested in detailed descriptions
Influences
Parsons – all social sciences deal with systems of social
action with “unit acts”:
1) An actor: The agent of the act
2) An end: A future state of affairs which the actor seeks
to bring about by the act
3) Action: A current situation within which the actor acts
and which he or she seeks to transform by his or her
behavior
4) Means: A mode of orientation
According to Parsons, successful social action begins with
the internalization of norms and continues when actors
engage in behavior with complementary role
expectations
Influences
Parsons – objective, scientific study of human
behavior to gain understanding; mundane social
actions are irrelevant; disregard for the common
sense world
In most cases sexual statuses are black and white you fit
into one of two classes either male or female and
peoples lives are made easier by this reality.
Intersexuality continued…
But sexual statuses are not always so black and white, 1 in
2,000 births is characterized by a distinguishable degree of
intersexuality that is they are hard to classify as male or
female because they have both male and female
characteristics. Such is the case of Agnes who was born a male
but passes in society as a female.