As a technique for gathering data on human behavior, "ethnography" has become very popular in a wide range of disciplines and fields. Such popularity has its cost, however. While providing valuable insights and depth of knowledge into understanding behavior, the perspective that informed its historical development and provides a continuing intellectual reationale is often dulled through excessive familiarity. This article places the term and the generic idea at its semantic core in the context of its development in anthropology and consequent adoption by other disciplines.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Barker, R. G. (1968). Ecological psychology: Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
2.
Barker, R. G. , & Wright, H. F. (1951). One boy's day: A specimen record of behavior. New York: Harper.
3.
Barker, R. G. , & Wright, H. F. (1954). Midwest and its children: The psychological ecology of an American town. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.
4.
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
5.
Conklin, H. C. (1968). Ethnography. In International encyclopedia of the social sciences (Vol. 5, pp. 172-178). New York: Macmillan and Free Press.
6.
Glaser, B. G. , & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine.
7.
Hammersley, M. , & Atkinson, P. (1989). Ethnography: Principles in practice. London: Routledge.
8.
Hughes, C. C. (1976). Introduction. In C. C. Hughes (Ed.), Custom-made: Introductory readings for cultural anthropology (2nd ed., pp. 5-21). Chicago: Rand McNally.
9.
Klein, E. (1971). A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the English language: Dealing with the origin of words and their sense development, thus illustrating the history of civilization and culture. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
10.
Malinowski, B. (1953). Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An account of native enterprise and adventure in the archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea. New York: E. P. Dutton.
11.
Northrop, F.S.C. (1947). The logic of the sciences and the humanities. New York: Macmillan.
12.
Notes and queries on anthropology. (6th ed.). (1951). Revised and rewritten by a Committee of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
13.
Pareto, V. (1935). The mind and society: A treatise on general sociology: Vol. 1. Non-logical conduct. New York: Dover.
14.
Sapir, E. (1951). Culture, genuine and spurious. In D. G. Mandelbaum (Ed.), Selected writings of Edward Sapir in language, culture and personality (pp. 308-331). Berkeley: University of California Press.
15.
Thomas, W. I. , & Znaniecki, F. (1958). The Polish peasant in Europe and America (2 vols.). New York: Dover.
16.
Whyte, W. (1943). Street corner society: The social structure of an Italian slum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
