Week 8 Flashcards
(27 cards)
Who wrote Slims Table and what is its main focus?
Mitch Duneier; The book focuses on a group of Black men in Chicago who spend time at a local diner, examining issues like race, poverty, and identity through their informal social networks.
What is the focus of Duneier’s Sidewalk?
focuses on homeless individuals in New York City who work as street vendors, exploring their survival strategies, dignity, and the social stigma of living on the streets
What does Sudhir Venkatesh explore in Off the Books?
examines the underground economy in urban neighborhoods, focusing on day laborers, small-time criminals, and informal economic networks
What is the central theme of Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh?
explores the inner workings of a Chicago gang, the Black Kings, highlighting gang leaders’ roles in the community and the struggles of the residents in a marginalized neighborhood
What is the focus of Wheeling and Dealing by Patricia and Peter Adler?
explores the lives of upper-level drug dealers, focusing on the business aspects of the drug trade, the social relationships involved, and the blurred lines between legal and illegal activities
What concept does Arlie Hochschild introduce in The Managed Heart?
Hochschild introduces the concept of “emotional labor,” referring to the process of managing one’s emotions as part of a job, such as in customer service, where workers must display emotions (e.g., warmth or empathy) even if they don’t feel them
What is the main argument of Arlie Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land?
explores the political views of Tea Party supporters in Louisiana, investigating how they reconcile environmental concerns with conservative beliefs and the deeper sources of anger and alienation in American political life
What issue does Matthew Desmond address in Evicted?
explores the eviction crisis in Milwaukee, showing how eviction exacerbates poverty and leads to cycles of instability, especially for poor families, while critiquing the housing system and its role in deepening economic inequality
ethnography
report on social life that focuses on detailed and accurate descriptions of social life from an insider’s perspective
grounded theory
inductive approach to the study of social life that attempts to generate a theory from the constant comparing of unfolding observations
in-depth interviewing
ask open-ended questions to elicit as much details as possible about the interviewee’s experiences, understandings, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs
semi-structured interview
type of in-depth interview in which the researcher prepares a flexible list of questions and probes
interview schedule
prepared list of questions and follow up prompts that the interviewer asks the respondent
purposive sampling
sampling strategy in which cases are deliberately selected on the basis of features that distinguish them from other cases
snowball sampling
sampling strategy in which the researcher starts with one respondent and then asks the respondent to recommend another person to contact
informant
person who has special knowledge about a research question based on the person’s social or professional position
what are the steps to writing an interview guide?
- establish what you want to know
- arrange questions by topic
- edit questions through subsequent interviews
- pre-test the interview guide if possible
saturation
when new materials fail to yield new insights and reinforce what the researcher already knows from data analysis
focus group
group interview led by a moderator on a specific topic.
types of ethnographies
complete participant, observer, covert observer
complete participant
a researcher goes undercover; they immerse themselves in a fieldwork site keeping their researcher identity secretive
observer
researcher tells people they are being observed but does not take part in subjects’ activities and lives
covert observer
researcher observes people who do not know they are being observed or studied
field notes
data produced by a fieldworker (observations, dialogue, thoughts from research experience)
