ENGLISH

The Ethnographic Imagination: Textual Constructions of Reality

By Paul Atkinson

Book information

Publisher
Routledge
Year
1990
ISBN
0415017610, 9780415017619
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
11 MB (11924274 bytes)
Edition
1st
Pages
208\203
DPI
300
Orientation
portrait
Paginated
yes
Scanned
yes
Time added
2013-10-29 18:26:21

Description

Scholars in the social sciences are realizing more and more the extent to which the work of "scientists" in all disciplines is rhetorical, involving the persuasion of colleagues and students and depending upon textual conventions. Sociological texts themselves are part of a set of traditions and conventions that are in turn part of our academic culture. "The Ethnographic Imagination" explains how one sociological tradition - the ethnographic - has been reflected and represented in its texts. Paul Atkinson looks at selected sociological texts in the light of contemporary social theory and analyzes how their arguments are constructed and illustrated. His discussion ranges widely, from classic ethnographies of the Chicago School up to contemporary monographs. Using a wealth of illustrations, he explores how ethnographic texts persuade their readers of the authenticity of their accounts; how they portray social actors as "characters" and "types"; and how they use narrative to convey social action, and to transmit implicit sociological theory.

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