Ethnomethodology's Program - (Legacies of Social Thought) by Harold Garfinkel (Paperback)

About the Book

Ethnomethodology's Program: Working out Durkheim's Aphorism emphasizes Garfinkel's insistence that his position focuses on fundamental sociological issues--and that interpretations of his position as indifferent to sociology have been misunderstandings. Durkheim's aphorism states that the concreteness of social facts is sociology's most fundamental phenomenon. Garfinkel argues that sociologists have, for a century or more, ignored this aphorism and treated social facts as theoretical, or conceptual, constructions. Garfinkel, in this new book, shows how and why sociology must restore Durkheim's aphorism, through an insistence on the concreteness of social facts that are produced by complex social practices enacted by participants in the social order.

Book Synopsis

Since the 1967 publication of Studies in Ethnomethodology, Harold Garfinkel has indelibly influenced the social sciences and humanities worldwide. This new book, the long-awaited sequel to Studies, comprises Garfinkel's work over three decades to further elaborate the study of ethnomethodology.

"Working out Durkheim's Aphorism," the title used for this new book, emphasizes Garfinkel's insistence that his position focuses on fundamental sociological issues-and that interpretations of his position as indifferent to sociology have been misunderstandings. Durkheim's aphorism states that the concreteness of social facts is sociology's most fundamental phenomenon. Garfinkel argues that sociologists have, for a century or more, ignored this aphorism and treated social facts as theoretical, or conceptual, constructions. Garfinkel in this new book shows how and why sociology must restore Durkheim's aphorism, through an insistence on the concreteness of social facts that are produced by complex social practices enacted by participants in the social order.

Garfinkel's new book, like Studies, will likely stand as another landmark in sociological theory, yet it is clearer and more
concrete in revealing human social practices.

Review Quotes

"Anne Rawls's introductory essay is without doubt the most systematic, clear, valid, and resonate secondary source on what is called ethnomethodology. The Garfinkel papers live up to the promise of a well-reasoned extention of Durkheim's aphorism that points sociology to the natural order of concrete facts in the world. A close reading of this book is bound to be refreshing and stimulating. It is an essential task if one is to understand one viable variant on mechanistic, technically driven empiricism." --Contemporary Sociology

"Ethnomethdology's Program is a mine of rich insight into ethnomethodology's history; providing details of Garfinkel's intellectual biography, models of ethnomethodological study to which to refer, and alternative ways of thinking about the study of social order and the work of the social sciences." --Linguistics & Education

"Ethnomethodology's Program is written in...[a] particular, expressive and careful manner." --Graham Button, Xerox Research Centre, Grenoble, France, Computer Supported Cooperative Work

"This ambitious volume will not end the controversial discussions of ethnomethodology, but will certainly enrich them by providing enormous intellectual resources. Rawl's editing provides an in-depth, informed, and intelligible access to Garfinkel's thought, and the book will bring further recognition of the originality and significance of Garfinkel's many contributions." --American Journal of Sociology

"In sum, Ethnomethodology 's Program: Working out Durkheim 's Aphorism is a challenging and dense extension of the initial work of Garfinkel. . . Sociologists already familiar with ethnomethodology will be delighted by these exciting presentations and sometimes unexpected, such as the phenomenon of the order over the telephone interviews, methods." --Recherche Litteraire / Literary Research

About the Author

Harold Garfinkel has been on the faculty of the sociology department at UCLA since 1954. Retired in 1987, he remains active as an emeritus professor. Anne Warfield Rawls received degrees in philosophy and sociology from Boston University in 1979 and 1983. Since that time she has worked to establish the philosophical implications of contemporary interactionist sociology and ethnomethodology.