Ethnomethodology

"Ethnomethodology" is an approach to sociological research founded in the 1960s by Harold Garfinkel and developed by Harvey Sacks and many others. Early initiatives challenged the more abstract types of social theory, and developed distinctive methodological initiatives for a sustained programme of empirical research on social and communicative actions. This four-volume set includes selections that discuss and exemplify how ethnomethodologists use observations, analyses, and interventions to gain insight into larger questions of social order and the organization of practical. It includes: Section One: Background on Social Scientific and Everyday Methods; Section Two: Ethnomethodology and the Practical Resolution of Methodological Problems; Section Three: Indexical Expressions - Topic, Resource or Nuisance? Section Four: Objectification in Discourse; Section Five: Language, Categories and Membership; Section Six: Studies of Work; Section Seven: Action as Algorithm - Computer Supported Cooperative Work; Section Eight: Ethnomethodology and Social Institutions; and, Section Nine: Language, Interaction, Embodied Conduct.