Ethnomethodology is considered to be a study of common and everyday methods, practical action and practical reasoning. It was founded by Harold Garfinkel, a student of American sociologist Talcott Parsons, in the 1950s and 1960s. It became popular with Garfinkel’s text, Studies in Ethnomethodology, published in 1967. The key assumption of this text was that the production of observable social routine practices involves the local or situated use of members’ methods for doing such activities. With respect to these methods, the mastery of natural language is paramount. Thus, ethnomethodology conceives of language and social interaction as part of the process of social facts formation. Garfinkel’s approach draws inspiration primarily from Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. The origins of this approach lie in Garfinkel’s engagement with the thought of Talcott Parsons related to social action. This engagement led Garfinkel to turn to the writings of Alfred Schutz (for example, Schutz, 1962) and seek to apply the lessons of Schutz’s phenomenological studies to the problem of social order, as discussed in the work of Parsons. Schutz emphasized the need for sociological analysis to attend to and be grounded in the ways in which persons, as members of society, experience social life. Garfinkel took this experiential focus and refined it to pose the question of how members of society produce ‘from within’ the observable features of social life.
Harold Garfinkel’s book “Studies in Ethnomethodology” (1967, 1) where defines ethnomethodology as “the activities whereby members produce and manage settings of organized everyday affairs are identical with members’ procedures for making those settings accountable.”
Harold Garfinkel: Sociologist Harold Garfinkel was responsible for the development of ethnomethodology.
In this definition, Garfinkel emphasizes that ethnomethodology is concerned with the practical conduct of everyday life and how people actively produce and recognize the social orderliness of their situations. This definition highlights the importance of studying the implicit and taken-for-granted rules and assumptions that underlie social order in everyday life.
Ethnomethodology is a sociological perspective and methodology that seeks to understand how members of society produce and maintain social order in their everyday lives through the practical conduct of their affairs. Ethnomethodologists are interested in the ways that people use language, gestures, and other forms of communication to establish and maintain social order, as well as the implicit and taken-for-granted rules and assumptions that underlie these practices.
Thus, ethnomethodology is a perspective that aims to reveal the social orderliness of everyday life and the methods by which this order is produced and maintained, with a focus on the practical and mundane aspects of social interaction.
The concepts of ‘reflexive accounting’ as used in the ethnomethodological analysis
Harold Garfinkel, the founder of ethnomethodology, emphasized the concept of reflexive accounting in his work. Garfinkel argued that individuals engage in reflexive accounting as a way of making sense of their own actions and those of others in social situations. Reflexive accounting involves a continuous process of evaluating and adjusting one’s actions in light of the social context in which they occur.
In his book “Studies in Ethnomethodology,” Garfinkel describes how individuals use reflexive accounting to establish and maintain social order in their everyday lives. He argues that individuals engage in a continuous process of making sense of the social world through the use of language and other forms of communication. This process involves drawing on shared cultural knowledge and norms to interpret social situations and coordinate actions with others.
Garfinkel also emphasizes the importance of examining the methods and practices that individuals use to accomplish this reflexive accounting. He argues that these methods and practices are often taken for granted and go unnoticed, but they are essential to the production and maintenance of social order in everyday life. Through detailed empirical investigations of social interactions, Garfinkel and other ethnomethodologists aim to uncover these implicit methods and practices and to reveal the practical methods that individuals use to make sense of their social world.
thus, Garfinkel’s work highlights the importance of reflexive accounting in ethnomethodological analysis, as it provides a framework for understanding how individuals make sense of their social world and produce and maintain social order in their everyday lives. By examining the details of social interactions and the implicit rules and assumptions that underlie them, ethnomethodologists aim to uncover the practical methods that individuals use to navigate social situations and interact with others.
The concepts of ‘indexicality’ as used in the ethnomethodological analysis.
In ethnomethodological analysis, the concept of indexicality refers to the ways in which language and other forms of communication are used to reference and make sense of the social context in which they occur. Indexicality is concerned with how words, gestures, and other forms of communication take on meaning through their relationship to the specific social context in which they are used.
The term indexicality was first introduced by Charles Peirce, an American philosopher, and has been adapted and expanded upon by ethnomethodologists such as Harold Garfinkel. For Garfinkel, indexicality is central to the production and maintenance of social order in everyday life. He argued that individuals use indexicality to make sense of the social context in which they find themselves, drawing on shared cultural knowledge and norms to interpret the meaning of language and other forms of communication.
Indexicality is an important concept in ethnomethodological analysis because it emphasizes the importance of studying the specific context in which social interactions occur. It highlights the ways in which language and other forms of communication are not static or fixed but rather are continually being created and re-created through social interaction.
Ethnomethodologists are interested in studying how individuals use indexicality to produce and maintain social order in everyday life. This involves examining the practical methods that individuals use to interpret the meaning of language and other forms of communication in specific social contexts. By focusing on the details of social interaction and the implicit rules and assumptions that underlie them, ethnomethodologists aim to uncover the practical methods that individuals use to make sense of their social world and coordinate their actions with others.
For example, the word “you” has meaning in referring to a specific individual only within the context of its use in interaction. Indexical expressions contrast with objective expressions, which have a relatively stable meaning across contexts, such as “chair,” “car,” etc. Garfinkel (1967) argues that, in reality, all expressions and actions need to be understood as indexical in that context of use influences meanings. Indexicality is a problem with which members need to engage in social action; they must use resources that are in some sense abstract and context-free (e.g. words, gestures, actions) to achieve orderliness in specific, situated, local circumstances and contexts.
Thus, the concept of indexicality is an important part of the ethnomethodological analysis, as it highlights the importance of studying the specific context in which social interactions occur and the practical methods that individuals use to make sense of their social world. By examining the ways in which language and other forms of communication are used in social interaction, ethnomethodologists aim to uncover the implicit methods and practices that underlie social order and to reveal the ways in which individuals use indexicality to navigate social situations and interact with others.
The idea of ethnomethodological analysis
An ethnomethodological analysis is an approach to understanding the ways in which individuals make sense of and navigate social situations. Ethnomethodologists study the methods and practices that individuals use to create and maintain social order rather than studying social structures and institutions themselves. The focus of ethnomethodological analysis is on the details of social interaction, including the rules and assumptions that individuals use to make sense of their experiences and coordinate their actions with others.
One of the key ideas in the ethnomethodological analysis is that individuals have a shared understanding of the social world and the rules that govern social interaction. This shared understanding is often implicit and taken for granted, but it underlies much of the social order that individuals create and maintain. Ethnomethodologists seek to uncover this implicit knowledge and understand how it is used in social interaction.
An ethnomethodological analysis is interested in the practical methods and practices that individuals use to make sense of their social world and to navigate social situations. This can include the use of language, gestures, and other nonverbal cues to communicate meaning and establish social relationships. Ethnomethodologists study these practices in their natural setting, such as through participant observation or the analysis of audio and video recordings of social interaction.
An ethnomethodological analysis is a research approach that seeks to understand how individuals make sense of their social world and create and maintain social order. Ethnomethodologists believe that individuals have a shared understanding of the social world and that this shared understanding is based on the implicit and taken-for-granted rules and assumptions that govern social interaction.
To study this shared understanding and the methods that individuals use to navigate social situations, ethnomethodologists employ a variety of research methods. One common method is participant observation, in which researchers immerse themselves in a particular social setting and observe and document the details of social interaction. This can involve taking notes on conversations, gestures, and other nonverbal cues, as well as analyzing audio and video recordings of social interaction.
Ethnomethodologists also conduct interviews and other forms of inquiry to elicit information from individuals about their methods and practices for making sense of their social world. Through these methods, ethnomethodologists seek to uncover the implicit knowledge that underlies social order and understand how individuals use this knowledge to coordinate their actions with others and create and maintain social reality.
Thus, ethnomethodological analysis is an approach to understanding social order that emphasizes the practical methods and practices that individuals use to create and maintain social reality. By studying the details of social interaction, ethnomethodologists seek to uncover the implicit rules and assumptions that underlie social order and understand how they are used in everyday life.
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