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  • © 2021

The Palgrave Handbook of Institutional Ethnography

Palgrave Macmillan

Editors:

  1. Paul C. Luken

    1. University of West Georgia, Carrollton, USA

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  2. Suzanne Vaughan

    1. Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

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  • Engages with the foundations of institutional ethnography along with new developments, both theoretical and methodological

  • Gathers together an international and diverse group of IE scholars to discuss a wide range of research topics

  • Provides an overview of IE to those new to the approach while at once extending and challenging its typical paradigms to provide new areas of exploration to experienced IE researchers

Sections

eBook USD 139.00
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  • ISBN: 978-3-030-54222-1
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Softcover Book USD 179.99
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Table of contents (27 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxii
    PDF

  3. Exploring Historical and Ontological Foundations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 9-9
      PDF

    4. Teaching Institutional Ethnography as an Alternative Sociology

      • Eric Mykhalovskiy, Colin Hastings, Leigha Comer, Julia Gruson-Wood, Matthew Strang
      Pages 47-64

  6. Making Change within Communities

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 281-281
      PDF
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About this book

A comprehensive guide to the alternative sociology originating in the work of Dorothy E. Smith, this Handbook not only explores the basic, founding principles of institutional ethnography (IE), but also captures current developments, approaches, and debates. Now widely known as a “sociology for people,” IE offers the tools to uncover the social relations shaping the everyday world in which we live and is utilized by scholars and social activists in sociology and beyond, including such fields as education, nursing, social work, linguistics, health and medical care, environmental studies, and other social-service related fields. Covering the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of IE, recent developments, and current areas of research and application that have yet to appear in the literature, The Palgrave Handbook of Institutional Ethnography is suitable for both experienced practitioners of institutional ethnography and those who are exploring this approach for the first time.



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Keywords

  • social relations
  • public sociology
  • everyday world
  • textual mediation
  • problematics of social research
  • ruling relations
  • epistemology
  • social organization of knowledge
  • feminist framework
  • materialist
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Reviews

“In the past half-century, institutional ethnography has been arguably the most significant initiative in remaking sociology, and an important tool in remaking our troubled world. With illuminating contributions from seasoned practitioners and from innovative emerging scholars, this handbook will be an indispensable resource for critical sociologists, social-justice protagonists and progressive policy communities.”

—William K. Carroll, Professor of Sociology, University of Victoria, Canada, editor of Critical Strategies for Social Research (2004), and author of The Making of a Transnational Capitalist Class (2010)

“Knowledge that makes a difference. Here finally is a comprehensive guide to institutional ethnography (IE), the approach that can help us discover the ruling relations within the very relations of our everyday world. And it covers it all: from theoretical foundations to current research areas, research application and political action. Studies that connect local and global relations of ruling relations but also combine IE with other approaches, concepts and methods. And all of it richly illustrated empirically, illuminating the very knowledge production in practice. Here’s something for everybody—researcher, teacher or student. A gift to us all!”

—Karin Widerberg, Professor of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway

“This is a wonderful book—lively, readable and instructive!  Readers are drawn into institutional ethnographic efforts to understand today’s ordinarily opaque ruling regimes. Some contributors introduce readers to research settings where IE’s core concepts, e.g., ‘standpoint’ and ‘ruling relations’— recognized as operative in particular people’s lives—become more than theory. Knowing how things actually work provides new ideas for responding. The handbook displays IE’s remarkable scope of topics, geographic diffusion, and developing analytic maturity.”  

—Marie L. Campbell, Professor Emerita of Human and Social Development, University of Victoria, Canada, and co-author of Mapping Social Relations (2002) and Managing to Nurse (2006)

“Attractive, refreshing, readable and challenging. The handbook offers the reader an unparalleled opportunity to discover the width and depth of institutional ethnography that is not evident in any other books. This book is for those who seek ways of doing sociology to make changes.”

—Frank T.Y. Wang, Professor of Social Work, National Chengchi University, Taiwan

“The publication of this powerful collection signifies the culmination of decades of exciting interdisciplinary research that draws on the brilliant insights of Canadian scholar Dorothy E. Smith. Chapters include one by Smith and many contributions by the innovative scholars she mentored who, years ago, formed an activist-scholar collective dedicated to bringing this form of social inquiry into fields of sociology, health, education, comparative research, social policy, social activism and beyond. As this extensive volume demonstrates, the influence of institutional ethnography has expanded from a challenge to ontological and epistemological assumptions of theory and methods in social science to a broader effect on transnational and applied approaches to social change and social justice. The authors represent several generations of researchers and scholar activists whose collective contributions in this book now form the basis of a resource for generations to come.”

—Nancy Naples, Distinguished Board of Trustees Professor of Sociology and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Connecticut, USA, author of Feminism and Method (2003) and co-editor of Border Politics: Social Movements, Collective Identities, and Globalization (2014)

“The inclusion of theory and methodological concerns within a single text is welcome and will aid novice researchers seeking to understand and utilize IE. I think it is particularly important that the handbook includes contributions from students and neophytes as well as established researchers. Indeed, I believe this to be a strength of the book.”

—James Reid, Senior Lecturer of Education and Community Studies, University of Huddersfield, UK

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Access via your institution
eBook USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-3-030-54222-1
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions