Ethnomethodology, Harold Garfinkel's ideas made simple, a beginners guide

Summary

In this video, Dr. Elizabeth Yardley demystifies ethnomethodology, a sociological theory developed by Harold Garfinkel. It explores how individuals impose order on their everyday lives through social norms, creating a perceived social order that is actually an illusion. The video discusses Garfinkel's controversial counseling study, which used random responses to demonstrate people's tendency to find patterns in chaos. Ethnomethodology emphasizes the reflexive construction of reality and the concept of indexicality, showing that social life is fragile and our sense-making processes are easily exposed.

Takeaways

• 📚 Ethnomethodology is the applied version of phenomenology, focusing on how people create a sense of order in their everyday lives.
• 👨‍🎓 Developed by Harold Garfinkel, ethnomethodology challenges the functionalist view that social order and processes just exist.
• 🧩 It suggests that social order is not a given but is actively constructed by individuals through their actions and interpretations.
• 🌐 The term 'ethnomethodology' combines 'ethnos', meaning people of a common culture, with 'methodology', indicating a way of doing things.
• 🔍 Ethnomethodologists use the documentary method to explain social reality, where specific situational features are interpreted as evidence of underlying patterns.
• 🔄 The concept of 'reflexive construction of reality' describes how people use observations as evidence for presumed patterns and vice versa.
• 🤔 Garfinkel's counseling study, which provided random yes/no answers to students' questions, demonstrated how people impose order on randomness.
• 🔑 The term 'indexicality' refers to the way people make sense of things based on the context in which they encounter them.
• 🚸 'Breaching experiments', where social norms are deliberately disrupted, reveal the fragility of social order and the processes by which people make sense of their world.
• 🌟 Garfinkel's work emphasizes that individuals are highly skilled at creating their own social realities and are not just passive recipients of social structures.

Q & A

What is ethnomethodology?

Ethnomethodology is a sociological approach that examines the methods people use to create a reality that has some semblance of order in their everyday lives. It was developed by Harold Garfinkel as an applied version of phenomenology.

What is the relationship between phenomenology and ethnomethodology?

Ethnomethodology is essentially the applied version of phenomenology. While phenomenology focuses on theoretical understandings of social reality, ethnomethodology involves practical research to test these ideas.

Who is Harold Garfinkel and what is his contribution to ethnomethodology?

Harold Garfinkel is the developer of ethnomethodology. He contributed by arguing that social order is not a pre-existing structure but is created by individuals as they go about their lives, informed by social norms.

What did Garfinkel criticize about functionalism?

Garfinkel criticized functionalism for assuming that social order and social processes just exist without considering that individuals actively create a sense of order in their everyday lives.

What is the documentary method?

The documentary method is a way of interpreting social situations by selecting particular features, explaining them in a specific way, and interpreting them as evidence of an underlying pattern.

Can you explain the concept of 'reflexive construction of reality' as described by Garfinkel?

The reflexive construction of reality refers to the process by which people observe particular things and presume an underlying pattern, then confirm the existence of that pattern by referring back to the observed things as evidence.

What is indexicality in the context of ethnomethodology?

Indexicality is the concept that we make sense of the things we encounter based on the context or circumstances in which we encounter them. It emphasizes the importance of context in interpreting social interactions.

What is a breaching experiment and why did Garfinkel encourage them?

A breaching experiment is an exercise where individuals disrupt social norms to expose the way people try to make sense of things that have no inherent sense. Garfinkel encouraged these experiments to demonstrate the fragility of social life and the ease with which one can reveal people's sense-making processes.

What was the purpose of Garfinkel's counseling study?

The purpose of Garfinkel's counseling study was to demonstrate how individuals impose order on random responses and make sense of them, even when there is no logical connection between questions and answers.

What did the students in Garfinkel's counseling study experience?

The students in the counseling study experienced receiving random yes or no answers to their questions, which were unrelated to their actual queries. Despite this, they often found the responses reasonable and helpful, demonstrating the reflexive construction of reality.

How does ethnomethodology view the concept of social order?

Ethnomethodology views social order as an illusion. According to ethnomethodologists, people are constantly creating and making sense of their own reality, and the social world is nothing more than the interpretations of the people who live within it.