Spelen tussen de linies

KWALON ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom de Leeuw
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
Youth Group ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
Disadvantaged Neighbourhoods ◽  
Local Safety

Playing between the lines. A strategy for ethnographic research into safety Playing between the lines. A strategy for ethnographic research into safety Research questions influence the position of the ethnographer in relation to the field and its actors. The ethnographic strategy of a detailed study of a specific tribe, youth group, police department or subculture sets an example for field work. However, to study the dynamics between local politicians, residents and professionals, a more dynamic research strategy is needed. Based on a comparative study of local safety in two disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Rotterdam and Antwerp, this article examines the potential of a dynamic position of the researcher between different actors instead of a more static position close by a specific actor (group). To study interaction in the field is to become part of this interaction and use reactions on one’s presence in the field as data. The author concludes that this dynamic position is a useful research strategy to collect data about social relations, social constructions of meaning and power relations in the context of safety.

Gendered differences in emigration and mobility perspectives among European researchers working abroad

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Scheibelhofer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Highly Skilled

This paper focuses on gendered mobilities of highly skilled researchers working abroad. It is based on an empirical qualitative study that explored the mobility aspirations of Austrian scientists who were working in the United States at the time they were interviewed. Supported by a case study, the paper demonstrates how a qualitative research strategy including graphic drawings sketched by the interviewed persons can help us gain a better understanding of the gendered importance of social relations for the future mobility aspirations of scientists working abroad.

scholarly journals Perception of Civil Identity Symbols in Russia: (Based on Focus Groups)

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna S. Soldatova ◽  
Irina G. Napalkova ◽  
Marina Yu. Gryzhankova
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Value System ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Introduction. The problem of identity is one of the key in both theoretical and applied scientific research of various directions, including in the framework of political psychology. This is largely due to the importance of the formation of common vectors of development of the state, based on the identity shared by most citizens. In this scientific article, the topic of the formation of state-civil identity by means of symbolic capital is actualized, which in turn can both harmonize social relations and introduce dysfunctionality, and be an instrument for mobilizing or polarizing society. The authors attempt to study the social product of the representation and construction of contemporary reality in Russia. Materials and Methods. As a theoretical and methodological research strategy, systemic, integrated and analytical approaches were made. The materials for the scientific work were the results of applied research, in particular, focus group interviews, which, thanks to synergies, allowed us to obtain diverse information about the subject of analysis and to more deeply present its perception. Participants in group discussions were residents of the island. Saransk and two municipal regions of the Republic of Mordovia. Results. Unique data were obtained, on the basis of which it is possible to draw conclusions about the features of the perception of conceptual structures of the formation of state-civil identity in modern Russian society. The difference between the older generation and young people in the perception and symbolic reflection of Russian reality was noted. Moreover, both the sources of obtaining information turned out to be excellent, as did personal and collective positions in determining their own role in the process of creating and assimilating symbols of identity, the level of recognition of symbols of different historical eras, the stability and rooting of the value system. In terms of the perception of symbolic identity elements uniting all age groups of respondents, several phenomena are thematically highlighted, among them “border trauma”, “we are the opposition”, “separation from the powers that be”, “Russian & imperial & Soviet”, “nationalities of Russia = peoples of the USSR” and etc. Discussion and Conclusions. Understanding the specifics of perception of the symbolic-value system of Russians allows us to analyze and evaluate the processes of nation-building and to study the problems of social consolidation. The authors come to the conclusion that the Russians are deficient in spiritual bonds, civil activism is weak; most citizens feel outside the active community.

scholarly journals Om fotografering og fotografi som forskningsstrategi i barndomsforskning

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Empirical Material

Employing photography and photos in research on childhood This article deals with the question of whether the process of photography and its result the photo can contribute to empirical studies of childhood, and if so, what does this research strategy mean for both the researcher and the researched (the children). The article is based on two sources. The first is a pilot project in three parts of Den-mark in which children spontaneously took pictures of their daily lives (including family, friends, activities, institutions) for a week. The second is the use of photo-graphy in ethnographic research. The children constructed a set of empirical material about their lives as lived in different social arenas in the photos as well as explanations of these in discussing them with the researcher. While the material is not sufficient to provide a conclusive answer to the questions raised in this article, it does provide material for serious reflection.

Situating Hobby Drone Practices

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia M. Hildebrand
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Aerial Images ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Location Awareness ◽  
Common Reference ◽  
Low Profile

Abstract Consumer drones are entering everyday spaces with increasing frequency and impact as more and more hobbyists use the aerial tool for recreational photography and videography. In this article, I seek to expand the common reference to drones as “unmanned aircraft systems” by conceptualising the hobby drone practice more broadly as a heterogeneous, mobile assemblage of virtual and physical practices and human and non-human actors. Drawing on initial ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with drone hobbyists as well as ongoing cyber-ethnographic research on social networking sites, this article gives an overview of how the mobile drone practice needs to be situated alongside people, things, and data in physical and virtual spheres. As drone hobbyists set out to fly their devices at a given time and place, a number of relations reaching across atmospheric (e. g. weather conditions, daylight hours, GPS availability), geographic (e. g. volumetric obstacles), mobile (e. g. flight restrictions, ground traffic), and social (e. g. bystanders) dimensions demand attention. Furthermore, when drone operators share their aerial images online, visual (e. g. live stream) and cyber-social relations (e. g. comments, scrutiny) come into play, which may similarly impact the drone practice in terms of the pilot’s performance. While drone hobbysists appear to be interested in keeping a “low profile” in the physical space, many pilots manage a comparatively “high profile” in the virtual sphere with respect to the sharing of their images. Since the recreational trend brings together elements of convergence, location-awareness, and real-time feedback, I suggest approaching consumer drones as, what Scott McQuire (2016) terms, “geomedia.” Moreover, consumer drones open up different “cybermobilities” (Adey/Bevan 2006) understood as connected movement that flows through and shapes both physical and virtual spaces simultaneously. The way that many drone hobbyists appear to navigate these different environments, sometimes at the same time, has methodological implications for ethnographic research on consumer drones. Ultimately, the assemblage-perspective brings together aviation-related and socio-cultural concerns relevant in the context of consumer drones as digital communication technology and visual production tool.

Herds and Hierarchies: Class, Nature, and the Social Construction of Horses in Equestrian Culture

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendra Coulter
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
Living Animal ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Class Nature

Abstract This study centers on equestrian show culture in Ontario, Canada, and examines how horses are entangled symbolically and materially in socially constructed hierarchies of value. After examining horse-show social relations and practices, the paper traces the connections among equestrian culture, class, and the social constructions of horses. Equestrian relations expose multiple hierarchical intersections of nature and culture within which both human-horse relations and horses are affected by class structures and identities. In equestrian culture, class affects relations within and across species, and how horses are conceptualized and used, as symbols and as living animal bodies.

scholarly journals Piecing Together the Meaning of “Dirty Work”

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-105
Author(s):  
Julian Torelli
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Dirty Work ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Shelter Workers ◽  
Constructionist Approach

I reflect upon Dr. William Shaffir’s influence on my approach to ethnographic research and my study of homeless shelter workers. Dr. Shaffir introduced me to his own brand of the craft of qualitative field work, but also introduced me to important sociologists and ideas in the symbolic in­teractionist tradition. Most central was Everett C. Hughes’ notion of “dirty work,” which helped shape my research focus. Building from Hughes’ concept, but expanding it with Shaffir and Pawluch’s (2003) social constructionist approach to occupations, I was better able to conceptualize the process of how workers themselves piece together the meaning of “dirty work.” Beyond gaining these conceptual insights, I also reflect on Dr. Shaffir’s teaching philosophy of qualitative methods, that is, the impor­tance of learning by doing. I conclude with some thoughts regarding Shaffir’s perspective on the wider ethnographic task of describing, in situ, members’ understandings and definitions. Following Everett Hughes, I call on interactionists to give more attention to “dirty work” as a generic and transcontextual process.    

Prisoner Society in an Era of Psychoactive Substances, Organized Crime, New Drug Markets and Austerity

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1260-1281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Gooch ◽  
James Treadwell
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Performance ◽  
Hard Drugs ◽  
Drug Economy

Abstract Framed by the limited and now dated ethnographic research on the prison drug economy, this article offers new theoretical and empirical insights into how drugs challenge the social order in prisons in England and Wales. It draws on significant original and rigorous ethnographic research to argue that the ‘era of hard drugs’ has been superseded by an ‘era of new psychoactive drugs’, redefining social relations, transforming the prison illicit economy, producing new forms of prison victimization and generating far greater economic power and status for suppliers. These changes represent the complex interplay and compounding effects of broader shifts in political economy, technological advances, organized crime, prison governance and the declining legitimacy and moral performance of English and Welsh prisons.

Of Morals and Markets: Social Exchange and Poverty in Contemporary Urban Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 689 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes González de la Rocha
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Support Networks ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Mutual Help ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Family

Based on longitudinal ethnographic research in Guadalajara, Mexico, from the 1980s to present, I argue that there has been a significant change in the availability of mutual help or support networks for the economically disadvantaged. As time and income have become increasingly scarce, people who used to find support in reciprocal social relationships now find that support-givers are in no position to provide assistance for free. Now, people experiencing scarcity find that they must pay for help formerly available through social relations. In other words, care within the family, in contexts of urban poverty, is becoming a commodity. A paradox arises for those who have fewer resources: they are excluded by the market economy, and by resorting to mercantilist values to survive, they are violating moral principles and norms that exclude them even more from social exchange.

Towards a Queer Sister-Folk Church? Reimaginations in Lutheran Scandinavian Folk Church

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Gyrid Gunnes
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Creation Theology ◽  
Street Space ◽  
Folk Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Empirical Material

The article argues that the inclusion of material created from an ethnographic research strategy opens the possibility for theological reimagination of two aspects of Scandinavian creation theology: the meaning of ecclesial space and the notion of folk. The article uses elements from queer theory/theology as sensitising devices for recognizing the potential of such theological reimagining. The empirical material is based on ethnographic fieldwork in the Church of Our Lady, Trondheim, Norway, an ecclesial practice committed to rituals of hospitality. Reading the displacement of street space and church sanctuary space in the light of elements of queer theory/theology, the article aspires to show how the notion of folk and the meaning of sanctuary space is destabilized and unsettled through these practices.

Defining Manhood: Monastic Masculinity and Effeminacy in Contemporary Thai Buddhism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Michael R. Chladek
Keyword(s):  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
Theravada Buddhism ◽  
News Stories ◽  
The World ◽  
Women Scholars ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Buddhist Monasticism

The study of Theravada Buddhism and gender has often focused on the relationship between men's and women's roles, particularly their differing ability to become fully ordained monks. Yet in Thailand, as in many parts of the world, gender is more complicated than the binary of just men and women. Scholars have noted that what it means to be a man in Thailand is often defined in terms of not being effeminate, gay, or transgender. Drawing on Thai news stories, social media comments, and ethnographic research, I explore how monastic masculinity—the way in which what it means to be an ideal monk informs notions of being an ideal man—is constructed through the assertion that effeminate gay or kathoei (transgender) individuals cannot and should not be ordained. Taking into account such broader social constructions of gender and sexuality is important to better understand the relationship between masculinity and Buddhist monasticism.

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