The Ethnomethodology Program

Abstract

Abstract Harold Garfinkel's Studies in Ethnomethodology (1967) was published a little more than 50 years ago. Since then, there has been a substantial—although often subterranean—growth in ethnomethodological work and influence. Studies in and appreciation of ethnomethodological work continue to grow, but the breadth and penetration of his insights and inspiration for ongoing research have yet to secure their full measure of recognition. The origins of Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology include both the theorizing of Parsonian sociology and the phenomenology of Alfred Schütz, whose analysis of the trust conditions making for a stable society informed Garfinkel’s analysis of the “taken-for-granted” aspects of the ordinary social world. Further theoretical contributions include the development of analyses related to the “documentary method of interpretation,” highly innovative analyses of rules and rule usage, and a radical treatment of such phenomena as language use and accountability. Separate chapters highlight contributions to such areas or subdisciplines as conversation analysis, ethnomethodology’s distinctive forms of ethnographic inquiry, and its influences on a host of substantive domains, including legal environments, science and technology, workplace and organizational inquiries, survey research, social problems and deviance, disability and atypical interaction, and others. Ethnomethodology especially helped to set the agenda for gender studies, while also developing insights for inquiries into racial and ethnic features of everyday life and experience. Still, there is much of what Garfinkel called “unfinished business,” which means that ethnomethodological inquiries are continuing to intensify and develop.