ETHNOMETHODOLOGY: GARFRINKEL, THEORY, CURRENTS, REPRESENTATIVES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The etnometodología is a proposal of sociology whose object of study is to analyze the natural order of contexts. To do this, it focuses on the coordination and behaviors that people exhibit in their daily lives.

Therefore, ethnomethodology takes into account the space where men interact, express their criteria and exchange numerous opinions through words and gestures. Therein lies the scientific and impartial sense of social research, according to the representatives of this discipline.

Ethnomethodology is a proposal of sociology whose object of study is to analyze the natural order of contexts. Source: pixabay.com

In this way, the function of ethnomotodologists is to understand how individuals perceive and structure their daily activities through practical acts, which modify the environment and the parameters that govern reality.

According to the approach of this matter of inquiry, the empirical foundation with which the works should be prepared is found in the inhabitants. That is, the population is the method of study since, through its habitual actions, it reveals the experimental reasoning.

The interest of ethnomethodology is pragmatic, since it focuses on the area of ​​linguistics and intersubjectivity. Because of this, it relies on oral and perceptual sources such as recordings, interviews, and sensory records.

Despite the fact that this theory has not been completely accepted in the field of science, there are several branches of reflection and comparison - such as ethnography, psychology and the cognitive discipline - that have continued with their research techniques.

History

In 1950, sociology was established in the United States as an ongoing and highly relevant chair; but a few years later there was an ideological crisis within the faculty. The functionalist horizon, represented by Talcott Parsons (1902-1979), was questioned.

The theses elaborated by this sociologist received diverse critics. The works were problematized for having a static style and it was expressed that the author was very conservative, since he carried out his studies in an artificial way and was based on a single area of ​​society.

For this reason, this institution was categorized as prejudicial, since the investigations did not cover all the components of the environment. The analysis perspective was restricted and the methodology used was qualitative, which is why they emphasized the normative characteristics of the environment.

Due to these drawbacks, in the sixties another inquiry tool emerged, which was called ethnomethodology. This method came to light in order to examine the inadvertent features that made up people's behavior.

In other words, this quantitative discipline was born to verify how interpersonal relationships alter the context and rhythm of life.

Name's origin

The term ethnomethodology was created in 1950, being used by the North American professor Harold Garfinkel (1917-2011) to name his works on the delimitation of laws, language and collective reality.

However, the word contains a particular connotation, since this theory is considered in a pejorative way. Therefore, the possibility that the ethno prefix has been used in order to minimize the discipline and its work in the scientific field is valid.

Even so, it is difficult to consider that ethnomethodologists use the expression with a banal notion. The ethnomethodology locution is made up of two words: ethno and methodology. The prefix ethno derives from the Greek ethnos and means group or people.

Instead, by methodology is understood the application of techniques that configure the conceptual framework when preparing a scientific treatise. Following these aspects, it is fair to think that this empirical subject studies the frequent attitudes of different social groups.

The goal is to give usual events the same importance as singular events.

Garfinkel's ethnomethodology

Since he was a student, Harold Garfinkel focused his research on reasoning processes. His project began when he examined the deliberations of the jurors, calling the verdicts and reflections that both the judges and the public proclaimed as methods.

Thus, it is observed that the methods designed by this sociologist do not refer to specialized or logical knowledge, but to common sense: the spontaneous expressions and practices of individuals.

Ethnomethodology studies the spontaneous expressions and practices of individuals. Source: pixabay.com

Garfinkel's proposal consists of investigating how the experience of the subjects transform spaces. Social structures and the order of the population are forged through popular events, which is why the temporal features of the environment must be known.

The ethnomethodology program states that the objective elements that determine scientific work arise from the study of trivial events.

Theory

Ethnomethodological theory from the beginning was opposed to Talcott Parsons' systematic hypothesis of functionalism. This author stated that the social order was built through the provision of rules.

Parsons stated that individuals were conditioned by genetics and geography, which is why they presented similar behaviors at different times; but the repetitive behavior was only carried out thanks to the laws.

Garfinkel and his followers contradicted that position. Ethnomethodologists showed that dogmas were volatile and that people were a kind of machines of production and evolution. For this reason, there were numerous ideas and perspectives on the empirical environment.

This discipline formulated, influenced by the concepts of phenomenology of Alfred Schutz (1899-1959), the following principles:

- Reality is a process of creation and develops through the thoughts and actions of individuals, albeit unconsciously.

- Humanity, through everyday experience, causes the world to be organized and coherent.

- The context is not an external object, since its existence depends on the interaction between the inhabitants.

Currents

One of the foundations of this subject is to study the events that alter the natural course of history and describe why subjects are not fully aware of the power they have over the formation of communities.

The ethnomethodological model arose with the purpose of displacing the method used in human science projects and diluting the rigidity of sociological works. For these ideals to materialize, three streams of inquiry emerged:

Disruptive experiments

It focuses on fragmenting the social organization to examine how reality is reconstructed. This discipline is characterized by being recurrent and demonstrative, since social processes are in constant modification.

The objective of the specialists is to explain that the environment is implicit and they seek to demonstrate, through the analysis of cultural elements, how everyday events represent the essence of the world. The purpose is to check that the context can be tangible.

Conversational analysis

The interest of this field is to study the properties of conversations. By investigating the composition and style of dialogues, ethnomethodologists seek to identify the structures that form the constitutive features of habitual speech.

Language admits the individualization of the context, an aspect that researchers in this social branch want to highlight. When they particularize the environment through words and gestures, it is possible to link facts and reflect on the world as a whole.

Cognitive approach

This theory aims to relate sociology with psychology, since it tries to show the procedures that men use to organize their knowledge. It also analyzes the verbal and bodily reactions of individuals.

The purpose is to externalize how people create and order social meaning from the situations that surround them.

Representatives

Ethnomethodology is an instrument of inquiry, in addition, it is a methodology that emerged to strengthen work on sociology. This discipline developed its own conceptual framework, where it establishes that life is the product of the exchange of expressions that is generated among the population.

Although Harold Garfinkel is the most important figure in this area, he is not the only representative. It is worth noting that this subject is characterized by having several orientations of reflection and two of the exponents are:

Harvey Sacks (1935-1975)

He was a sociologist recognized for his research on language, especially on the importance of pronouns in everyday life. He ventured into the ethnomethodological field being influenced by Garfinkel with whom he carried out certain projects.

Sacks stood out for designing an analysis technique that consisted of making hypotheses based on the events themselves and not on what has been written about them. His idea was to preserve the content and concrete meaning of events.

Thanks to this author, the use of recordings and transcripts as fundamental elements in scientific studies spread. In some way it contributed to the advancement of the method used in the field work.

Aaron Cicourel (1928)

He is a sociolinguist who specialized in systematic communication and in the study of children's practical acts. As a researcher, he questioned the works of traditional sociologists, who dealt with universal facts and did not consider microstructural aspects.

Cicourel stated that the process of evolution is cyclical: men legitimize reality through interpretation. Besides, he explained that thoughts are the main actors in society.

References

1. Caballero, J. (2015). Ethnomethodology: an explanation of the social construction of reality. Retrieved on October 28, 2019 from the Complutense University of Madrid: ucm.es
2. Esquivel, A. (2008). Ethnomethodology. Retrieved on October 28, 2019 from Revista Iberoamericana de Educación: rieoei.org
3. Gonnet, JP (2011). The social from the ethnomethodological perspective. Retrieved on October 29, 2019 from Papeles del Ceic: redalyc.org
4. Hilbert, P. (2005). The classical roots of ethnomethodoly. Retrieved on October 29, 2019 from the University of North Carolina: uncw.edu
5. Jackman, L. (2010). Studies in ethnomethodoly. Retrieved on October 28, 2019 from School of the Physical Sciences: physsci.cam.ac.uk
6. O'Donnell, R. (2012). Method and measurement in sociology: Harold Garfinkel. Retrieved on October 29, 2019 from Science: sciencemag.org
7. Urbano, H. (2007). The ethnomethodological approach in scientific research. Retrieved on October 28, 2019 from the University of San Martín de Porres: usmp.edu.pe