Analytic Ethnography

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Barkey
Keyword(s):  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Theoretical Integration ◽  
Analytical Sociology ◽  
Micro Level

This article examines the unique contribution that analytic ethnography has made and can make to accomplishing two of the key principles of analytical sociology: developing theoretical explanations by identifying mechanisms that connect actors, action, and outcomes; bridging the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis in those explanations. It first distinguishes ‘analytic ethnography’ from other varieties of ethnography before showing how analytic ethnography has historically developed mechanism-based explanations that go beyond the micro level. It then compares analytic ethnography to analytical sociology in order to highlight the compatibility of the two. Finally, it demonstrates how theoretical integration can be achieved first within analytic ethnography, then between analytic ethnography and analytical sociology, using research on signaling and explanations of outcomes in which signals are the mechanism.

scholarly journals In-work Universal Credit: Claimant Experiences of Conditionality Mismatches and Counterproductive Benefit Sanctions

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
SHARON WRIGHT ◽  
PETER DWYER
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Job Search ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Benefit Sanctions ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Universal Credit is the UK’s globally innovative social security reform that replaces six means tested benefits with one monthly payment for working age claimants - combining social security and tax credit systems. Universal Credit expands welfare conditionality via mandatory job search conditions to enhance ‘progression’ amongst working claimants by requiring extra working hours or multiple jobs. This exposes low paid workers to tough benefit sanctions for non-compliance, which could remove essential income indefinitely or for fixed periods of up to three years. Our unique contribution is to establish how this new regime is experienced at micro level by in-work claimants over time. We present findings from Qualitative Longitudinal Research (141 interviews with 58 claimants, 2014-17), to demonstrate how UC impacts on in-work recipients and how conditionality produces a new coerced worker-claimant model of social support. We identify a series of welfare conditionality mismatches and conclude that conditionality for in-work claimants is largely counterproductive. This implies a redesign of the UK system and serves as an international warning to potential policy emulators.

Bridging Levels of Public Administration: How Macro Shapes Meso and Micro

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
American History ◽  
The State ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Meso Level ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Relationship

Scholars in public administration now recognize three levels of analysis: macro, meso, and micro. But there is uncertainty about the relationship between levels and concern about a “schism” in research. However, linkages between levels can be demonstrated easily. At the macro-level, leaders develop an overall strategy for pursuing national priorities, which determines the broad architecture of the state. Institutions must be built, renovated, or managed to give effect to these strategies: This is the meso-level of public administration. Overall, strategies also shape the micro-level relationship between people who rule and people who are ruled. This is done by categorizing people—as subjects or citizens, for example—and by redefining categories. Macro-level strategies evolve, with consequences for the agenda at the meso- and micro-levels. Experience at lower levels also shapes strategy at the macro-level. The interaction among levels is illustrated by comparison of three eras in modern American history.

Vertical/compatible integration versus analogizing with biology

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome H. Barkow
Keyword(s):  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Integration ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

Vertical/compatible theoretical integration provides an alternative way of unifying sociocultural anthropology and related disciplines. It involves analyzing theoretical statements for their implicit and explicit assumptions at multiple levels of analysis and then determining whether these assumptions are compatible with consensus in the relevant disciplines (e.g., does the sociological theory include an assumption at odds with consensus psychology?). Incompatibilities indicate a need for further research. This approach is much more likely to salvage the bulk of humanities-oriented anthropology than is that of the authors.

L. Levels of Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 155-158
Author(s):  
Mauro Caprioli ◽  
Claire Dupuy
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Citizens Attitudes ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Level Of Analysis

This chapter studies levels of analysis. Research in the social sciences may be interested in subjects located at different levels of analysis. The level of analysis indicates the position at which social and political phenomena are analysed within a gradual order of abstraction or aggregation that is constructed analytically. Its definition and boundaries vary across social science disciplines. In general, the micro level refers to the individual level and focuses on citizens’ attitudes or politicians’ and diplomats’ behaviour. Analyses at the meso level focus on groups and organizations, like political parties, social movements, and public administrations. The macro level corresponds to structures that are national, social, economic, cultural, or institutional — for example, countries and national or supranational political regimes. The explanandum (what research aims to account for), the explanans (the explanations), the unit of analysis, and data collection can be located at different levels. The chapter then considers two main errors commonly associated with aggregation and levels of analysis: ecological and atomistic fallacies.

Theories of Prejudice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Pettigrew
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Complete Understanding ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Socially Relevant ◽  
Prejudice And Discrimination ◽  
The Many ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Prejudice, especially intergroup prejudice, has long been a central topic of social psychology. The discipline has sought to be both socially relevant and useful. Thus, theory and research on prejudice fits directly into these central concerns of the discipline. The study of this topic has developed in direct correspondence with how social psychology itself has been able to devise new theoretical and empirical tools—from self-administered questionnaires and probability sample surveys to laboratory experiments and computer-assisted methods. Given the discipline’s intense research interest in intergroup prejudice, it is not surprising that that there is a plethora of theories concerning prejudice. But these many theories tend not to conflict with one another. Rather, they typically coalesce around interrelated themes across three levels of analysis. The micro level of the attitudes of individuals was the primary focus for the first half-century of modern social psychology (1920–1970). Slowly, the field turned its attention to the meso level of intergroup interaction and how such contact influenced intergroup prejudice and discrimination. Finally, the discipline began to consider more systematically the many relevant structural and cultural factors at the macro level of analysis and how they shaped both intergroup prejudice and discrimination. With time, direct links between the three principal levels of analysis have been uncovered. With this order of attention, social psychology boasts many more theories and studies of prejudice at the micro level of individuals than at other levels. But the field has learned that all three levels of analysis are critical for a fully rounded, more complete understanding of the topic.

On levels of analysis and theoretical integration: Models of social behavior

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-261
Author(s):  
Dennis Krebs
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Integration

Evolutionary theory supplies a framework for integrative models of social behavior. In addition to those that include conditioning, evolutionary theory is equipped to explain the acquisition of structures designed to enable individuals to learn by observing others, create mental models of the environment, and coordinate social interactions by taking the perspectives of others.

scholarly journals Race and Authoritarianism in American Politics

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 503-519
Author(s):  
Christopher Sebastian Parker ◽  
Christopher C. Towler
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Spatial Differences ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Democratic Norms ◽  
Jim Crow South

Authoritarianism, it seems, is alive and well these days. The Trump administration's blatant dismissal of democratic norms has many wondering whether it fits the authoritarian model. This review offers a framework for understanding authoritarianism in the American past, as well as the American present. Starting in the early twentieth century, this analysis seeks to provide a better understanding of how authoritarianism once existed in enclaves in the Jim Crow South, where it was intended to dominate blacks in the wake of emancipation. Confining the definition of authoritarianism to regime rule, however, leaves little room for a discussion of more contemporary authoritarianism, at the micro level. This review shifts focus to an assessment of political psychology's concept of authoritarianism and how it ultimately drives racism. Ultimately, we believe a tangible connection exists between racism and authoritarianism. Even so, we question the mechanism. Along the way, we also discuss the ways in which communities of color, often the targets of authoritarianism, resist the intolerance to which they have been exposed. We conclude with a discussion of why we believe, despite temporal and spatial differences as well as incongruous levels of analysis, that micro- and macro-level authoritarianism have much in common.

Culture and media entertainment: A cross-cultural exploration of hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment motivations

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 637-657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özen Odağ ◽  
Özden Melis Uluğ ◽  
Hilal Arslan ◽  
David Schiefer
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
International Students ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Western World ◽  
Cultural Variables ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cultural Belonging

Recent studies have juxtaposed hedonic forms of media entertainment motivations (seeking for pleasure and fun) with eudaimonic forms (seeking for insights into the human condition). As most of this research was confined to the Western world so far, this contribution explores the impact of culture on hedonic and eudaimonic media entertainment motivations. Culture is conceptualized on both macro- and micro levels of analysis. On the macro level of countries, the study draws of Hofstede’s concept of individualism/collectivism. On the micro level of individuals, the study explores independent and interdependent self-construals and ethnic identity as potential influences on hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment. A survey was carried out with international students and non-students in Germany and Turkey ( N = 324). Cross-level operator analyses were calculated to explore relationships between cultural variables and hedonic/eudaimonic entertainment motivations. Results show consistently that variables of culture that tap into cultural belonging (collectivism, interdependence, and ethnic identity) are significant predictors of hedonic entertainment. Cultural variables that tap into distinctiveness and separation from one’s collective (individualism and independence) are significant predictors of eudaimonic entertainment. The study is among the first to explore the impact of cultural variability on entertainment motivations and thus especially relevant for sparking up a new line of research.

Interest Group and Lobbying Research in a Higher Level Context: Two Tests of Integrating Multiple Levels of Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 887-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas T. Holyoke
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Hierarchical Modeling ◽  
Level Density ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Group Interest ◽  
Group Population ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Multiple Levels

Scholarship on interest groups and lobbying has become bifurcated between the dominant micro-level research on the choices of individual groups and macro-level research on group-level populations, especially the work of Gray and Lowery, with almost no integration of the two. Failure to integrate levels of analysis, unfortunately, will impede future progress in the subfield. I discuss some of the challenges to integrating research at multiple levels and then propose a solution which I test by re-analyzing two of my micro-level research projects now combined with Gray and Lowery’ macro-level density variable using hierarchical modeling. It turns out that grouping micro-level observations by group interest niches matters in the statistical analysis, though the effects of varying group population density are more subtle.

scholarly journals Interdisciplinary approach to the study of human trafficking as a social and psychological phenomenon

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-77
Author(s):  
Irina Ye. Churakova ◽  
Mariya V. Saporovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Classification Models ◽  
Theoretical Integration ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Psychological Phenomenon ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Universal Definition

Human trafficking is a complex concept that not only lacks a universal definition but is conflated by a wide range of competing theories or models of explanation. As evidenced by the range of theoretical models, several issues have been identified which may serve to further advance our ability to explainhuman trafficking and better inform our responses. This can involve protection of victims, prosecution of perpetrators, prevention of human trafficking, partnership of agencies and organisations in combating human trafficking, etc. Although different classification models are used to categorise the range of theories, they are generally divided into macro or micro-level theories, and theoretical integration may represent a new line of explanation that might better capture the complexity and diversity of human trafficking.

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