Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: An Ethnographic Research Agenda for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences PDF
Preview Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: An Ethnographic Research Agenda for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences
Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities An Ethnographic Research Agenda for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences Robert Prus State University of New York Press Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1997 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Production by Cynthia Tenace Lassonde Marketing by Fran Keneston Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Prus, Robert C. Subcultural mosaics and intersubjective realities : an ethnographic research agenda for pramatizing the social sciences / Robert Prus. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914*3239-4 (alk. paper). — 0-7914-3240-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Symbolic interactionism. 2. Participant observation. 3. Social sciences—Methodology. I. Title. HM29.P726 1997 302—dc20 96-32485 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to my wife, Lorraine, and our daughters, Kitzi, Mitzi, and Robin And in Memory of Carl Couch (1925-1994) Fred Davis (1925-1993) and Anselm Strauss (1916-1996) who have helped further our educations Contents Preface xi Part I Establishing the Conceptual Foundations 1 1 Studying the Human Condition: An Interactionist Approach to the Ethnographic Venture 3 Theoretical and Methodological Foundations 5 Outlining the Premises 11 Human Group Life is Intersubjective 11 Human Group Life is (Multi)Perspectival 11 Human Group Life is Reflective 12 Human Group Life is Activity-based 13 Human Group Life is Negotiable 14 Human Group Life is Relational 15 Human Group Life is Processual 15 Conceptual and Methodological Implications 17 2 Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: Acknowledging Ambiguity, Activity, and Accomplishment 27 Reformulating the Cultural Problematic 28 Acknowledging the Subcultural Mosaic 31 Culture as "Something in the Making" 38 Attending to Subcultural Enterprises 41 Working Notions of Subcultural Variants 43 Local, Embedded, and Transcontextual Associations 43 Totalizing, Focused, and Interfused Subcultures 45 Cyclical, Occasional, and Supportive Subcultural Phenomena 46 Tbward a Conclusion 48 3 Subcultural Involvements: Experiencing, Forming, and Coordinating Subcultural Associations 55 vii viii Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities Becoming Involved in Subcultural Enterprises 58 Getting Started (Initial Involvements) 60 Sustaining and Intensifying Involvements (Continuities) 60 Becoming Disinvolved 61 Becoming Reinvolved 61 Experiencing Subcultural Life-Worlds 62 Acquiring Perspectives 62 Achieving Identity 63 Doing Activity 64 Experiencing Relationships 67 Experiencing Emotionality 68 Developing Communicative Fluency 69 Forming and Coordinating (Subcultural) Associations 70 Establishing Associations 71 Objectifying Associations 72 Encountering Outsiders 75 Part II Pragmatizing the Social Sciences: A Research Agenda 83 4 Achieving Intersubjectivity, Managing Place and Space, and Maintaining Presence 85 Subcultural Mosaics: Examining Realms of Human Endeavor 88 Achieving Intersubjectivity 88 Managing Symbolic Interchange 89 Developing Stocks of Knowledge 91 Dealing with Objects 93 Managing Place and Space 97 Acknowledging the Physical (Geographical) Environment 97 Obtaining and Maintaining Spaces and Accommodations 98 Achieving Mobility and Transportation 100 Maintaining Presence 101 Locating and Consuming Foods (Including Liquids and Other Substances) 101 Developing and Using Clothing 103 Providing Person-Directed Services 105 Obtaining Negotiables for Exchange 107 5 Encountering the Other, Managing Morality, and Emphasizing Community Presence 125 Contents ix Encountering the Interpersonal Other 125 Acknowledging Family Life 126 Encountering the Broader Community 127 Experiencing Intimacy and Sexuality 128 Managing Intergroup Relations within the Community 129 Venturing and Moving into New Communities 131 Participating in Collective Events 131 Managing Morality 136 Participating in Religious and Cultic Movements 137 Defining Propriety (and Deviance) 138 Identifying Deviants and Regulating Deviance 140 Becoming Involved in Deviance 142 Emphasizing Community Presence 146 Implementing Political (Governmental) Forums 146 Creating Military Agendas and Agencies 148 Enhancing Communications (and Generating the Media) 150 6 Experiencing the [Intersubjective] Self 169 Acknowledging the Contextualized Self 169 Attending to the Physical (Physiological and Imaged) Self 171 Developing an Ownership Self 172 Appreciating the Proficient and Accomplished Self 173 Attending to the Relational Self 173 Invoking the Tactical (Target and Tactician) Self 176 Managing the Centralizing and Fragmented Self 178 Tbward a Conclusion 179 Part III Pursuing the Ethnographic Venture 189 7 Doing Ethnographic Research: Fieldwork As Practical Accomplishment (with Mary Lorenz Dietz and William Shaffir) 191 Ethnographic Research 192 The Ethnographic Advantage 194 Clarifying Ethnographic Assumptions 198 Accessing Human Lived Experience 199 Methodological Practices 199 Substantive Settings 207 Analytical Foci 211
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