Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: An Ethnographic Research Agenda for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences

Examines the theory and methods by which social scientists study the human lived experienced. The author builds on the broader interpretive/constructionist ethnographic and pragmatist traditions, particularly those developed within symbolic interaction to provide an agenda to refocus, revitalize, and synthesize the social or human sciences. Robert Prus offers a set of primary assumptions that centrally respect the unique (and uniquely enabling) features of the human condition, as well as considers a reformulation of the cultural problematic. By viewing human group life as a subcultural mosaic that is more or less continuously "in the making," a systematic research agenda for attending to the entire realm of human involvement is developed; one that opens every single arena of human endeavor to ethnographic inquiry.

Table of Contents:
Preface Part I. Establishing the Conceptual Foundations 1. Studying the Human Condition: An Interactionist Approach to the Ethnographic Venture Theoretical and Methodological Foundations Outlining the Premises Human Group Life is Intersubjective Human Group Life is (Multi)Perspectival Human Group Life is Reflective Human Group Life is Activity-based Human Group Life is Negotiable Human Group Life is Relational Human Group Life is Processual Conceptual and Methodological Implications 2. Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: Acknowledging Ambiguity, Activity, and Accomplishment Reformulating the Cultural Problematic Acknowledging the Subcultural Mosaic Culture as "Something in the Making" Attending to Subcultural Enterprises Working Notions of Subcultural Variants Local, Embedded, and Transcontextual Associations Totalizing, Focused, and Interfused Subcultures Cyclical, Occasional, and Supportive Subcultural Phenomena Toward a Conclusion 3. Subcultural Involvements: Experiencing, Forming, and Coordinating Subcultural Associations Becoming Involved in Subcultural Enterprises Getting Started (Initial Involvements) Sustaining and Intensifying Involvements (Continuities) Becoming Disinvolved Becoming Reinvolved Experiencing Subcultural Life-Worlds Acquiring Perspectives Achieving Identity Doing Activity Experiencing Relationships Experiencing Emotionality Developing Communicative Fluency Forming and Coordinating (Subcultural) Associations Establishing Associations Objectifying Associations Encountering Outsiders Part II. Pragmatizing the Social Sciences: A Research Agenda 4. Achieving Intersubjectivity, Managing Place and Space, and Maintaining Presence Subcultural Mosaics: Examining Realms of Human Endeavor Achieving Intersubjectivity Managing Symbolic Interchange Developing Stocks of Knowledge Dealing with Objects Managing Place and Space Acknowledging the Physical (Geographical) Environment Obtaining and Maintaining Spaces and Accommodations Achieving Mobility and Transportation Maintaining Presence Locating and Consuming Foods (Including Liquids and Other Substances) Developing and Using Clothing Providing Person-Directed Services Obtaining Negotiables for Exchange 5. Encountering the Other, Managing Morality, and Emphasizing Community Presence Encountering the Interpersonal Other Acknowledging Family Life Encountering the Broader Community Experiencing Intimacy and Sexuality Managing Intergroup Relations within the Community Venturing and Moving into New Communities Participating in Collective Events Managing Morality Participating in Religious and Cultic Movements Defining Propriety (and Deviance) Identifying Deviants and Regulating Deviance Becoming Involved in Deviance Emphasizing Community Presence Implementing Political (Governmental) Forums Creating Military Agendas and Agencies Enhancing Communications (and Generating the Media) 6. Experiencing the [Intersubjective] Self Acknowledging the Contextualized Self Attending to the Physical (Physiological and Imaged) Self Developing an Ownership Self Appreciating the Proficient and Accomplished Self Attending to the Relational Self Invoking the Tactical (Target and Tactician) Self Managing the Centralizing and Fragmented Self Toward a Conclusion Part III. Pursuing the Ethnographic Venture 7. Doing Ethnographic Research: Fieldwork As Practical Accomplishment (with Mary Lorenz Dietz and William Shaffir) Ethnographic Research The Ethnographic Advantage Clarifying Ethnographic Assumptions Accessing Human Lived Experience Methodological Practices Substantive Settings Analytical Foci Making Contact with the Other Interacting with the Other Managing Oneself in the Ethnographic Context Recording Information in Ethnographic Context Sampling Concerns Analyzing Human Lived Experiences Coding Ethnographic Materials Toward an Interactionist Analysis Contextualizing Human Lived Experiences 8. Writing Ethnographic Research Reports: Some Practical Considerations for Students (with William Shaffir and Mary Lorenz Dietz) Formatting the Ethnographic Text The Title: Providing Preliminary Directions The Introduction: Contextualizing the Study The Data and Analysis Taking a Natural History Approach (Studying Events) Studying Careers of Involvement Examining Role Performance (Activity) Exploring Subcultural Life-Worlds Developing Generic Social Process Projects The Conclusion Epilogues and Appendices References Assembling the Paper Managing the Data Writing for the Other References Index of Names Index of Terms