Participant Observation -- Definition

Participant Observation Definition The participant observation method, also known as ethnographic research, is when a sociologist actually becomes a part of the group they are studying in order to  collect data and understand a social phenomenon or problem. During participant observation, the researcher works to play two separate roles at the same time: subjective participant and objective observer. Sometimes, though not always, the group is aware that the sociologist is studying them. The goal of participant observation is to gain a deep understanding and familiarity with a certain group of individuals, their values, beliefs, and way of life. Often the group in focus is a subculture of a greater society, like a religious, occupational, or particular community group. To conduct participant observation, the researcher often lives within the group, becomes a part of it, and lives as a group member for an extended period of time, allowing them access to the intimate details and goings-on of the group and their community. This research method was pioneered by anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski and Franz Boas  but was adopted as a primary research method by many sociologists affiliated with the Chicago School of Sociology in the early twentieth century. Today, participant observation, or ethnography, is a primary research method practiced by qualitative sociologists around the world. Subjective Versus Objective Participation Participant observation requires the researcher to be a subjective participant in the sense that they use knowledge gained through personal involvement with the research subjects to interact with and gain further access to the group. This component supplies a dimension of information that is lacking in survey data. Participant observation research also requires the researcher to aim to be an objective observer and record everything that he or she has seen, not letting feelings and emotions influence their observations and findings. Yet, most researchers recognize that true objectivity is an ideal, not an actuality, given that the way in which we see the world and people in it is always shaped by our previous experiences and our positionality in the social structure relative to others. As such, a good participant observer will also maintain a critical self-reflexivity that allows her to recognize the way she herself might influence the field of research and the data she collects. Strengths and Weaknesses The strengths of participant observation include the depth of knowledge that it allows the researcher to obtain and the perspective of knowledge of social problems and phenomena generated from the level of the everyday lives of those experiencing them. Many consider this an egalitarian research method because it centers the experiences, perspectives, and knowledge of those studied. This type of research has been the source of some of the most striking and valuable studies in sociology. Some drawbacks or weaknesses of this method are that it is very time-consuming, with researchers spending months or years living in the place of study. Because of this, participant observation can yield a vast amount of data that might be overwhelming to comb through and analyze. And, researchers must be careful to remain somewhat detached as observers, especially as time passes and they become an accepted part of the group, adopting its habits, ways of life, and perspectives. Questions about objectivity and ethics were raised about sociologist Alice Goffmans research methods because some interpreted passages from her book  On the Run  as an admission of involvement in a murder conspiracy. Students wishing to conduct participant observation research should consult two excellent books on the subject:  Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes  by Emerson et al., and  Analyzing Social Settings, by Lofland and Lofland.

Social and Cultural Framing in America Essay Example

Social and Cultural Framing in America Essay Example Social and Cultural Framing in America Paper Social and Cultural Framing in America Paper Essay Topic: Best Worst American Stories Social and Cultural Framing in America People build a series of mental filters through biological, social, and cultural influences, and they use these filters to make sense of the world. This is called framing. Framing is so effective because it is a mental shortcut, human beings are by nature lazy thinkers, and we don’t like to think too much or too hard. Frames provide people a quick and easy way to process information. Diana Kendall, a sociology professor at Baylor University has studied how mass media has portrayed upper, middle, working, and poverty classes by how they stereotype them in different ways. Rather than providing a meaningful analysis of inequality and showing realistic portrayals of life in various social classes, the media either play class differences for laughs or sweep the issue under the rug so that important distinctions are rendered invisible† (Kendall 330). The media has created the notion that in society the affluent are rewarded and the workin g class and poor are punished. TV shows like The Simple Life, Life of Luxury, and The Fabulous Life show how socio-economic classes are either played-up or minimalized and used for laughs. In a mass-mediated culture such as ours, the media do not simply mirror society; rather, they help to shape it and to create cultural perceptions† (Kendall 331). The media blurs the line between what is real and what is not when it comes to perceptions of economic or social class. Televisions shows, magazines, and newspapers tell us that the only way to move up in the world is to identify yourself with the rich and powerful and to live â€Å"vicariously† through them. My mother watches Entertainment Tonight and reads those tabloid magazines, and I constantly ask her â€Å"Why Mom? Why do you bother reading up on these people that waste their undeserved riches and get married and divorced at least 10 times? † and she just says â€Å"Well I want to know what’s going on in their life, and hear all the gossip†. But WHY?! How does their life affect YOU at all? The media bombards the middle and lower classes with these useless tabloid stories. Diana Kendall explains that â€Å"Viewers feel a sense of intimacy with elites, with whom they have little or no contact with in their daily lives† (Kendall 332). Non-elites over identify with the wealthy, because the media tells us that these upper class people are better than us. In contemporary society, equality does not exist. Although, media audiences can purchase material items that can somehow make you equal to higher class people. Take Paris Hilton, a woman famous for just being born into a wealthy family. She has made millions and millions of dollars by marketing products to her lower class fans so they can get a taste of her life, so they can be â€Å"Just like Paris†. Not stopping at just jewelry, Ms. Hilton has decided to exploit people in even more ways: Calendars, toys, autobiographies, and another book about her dog’s life. But I can’t just pick on Paris Hilton; thousands of celebrities do the exact same thing. These egocentric people will slap their name on anything to encourage unnecessary consumerism among all their fans. The media loves to glorify the material possessions of these celebrities, as if ravenous consumerism can make you happy. People who extensively watch television have an exaggerated sense of how wealthy most Americans are and how they spend their money. Also, since television stimulates consumerist desires, extensive viewing may lead to more spending and less saving. Which makes sense, considering every commercial implies that â€Å"YOU NEED THIS† or â€Å"THIS MAKES YOUR LIFE EASIER†. Most media framing about the wealthiest class is positive, ranging from framing that depicts members of the upper class to be like everyone else, to framing that portrays them as generous, caring individuals. But the most popular type of framing for the wealthy class is called â€Å"emulation framing†. This type of framing suggests that people in all classes should â€Å"reward† themselves with a few of the perks of the wealthy, such as buying Paris Hilton’s jewelry. Many adults who try to live the â€Å"good life† through trying to buy happiness end up in the poor house. When will normal people realize that they do not have the household funds to just go off and spend food or house repair money on frivolities? Many reports are showing that middle and working class people are incurring massive debt because of the reckless spending on big houses, expensive vehicles, and other items that are beyond their budget. There is a stark contrast between the media framing of the upper class to the framing of the lower classes. At best the poor are portrayed as deserving of our sympathy only around the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas). Around these times, the poor are depicted as people who are just down on their luck, working class families who work really hard but just can’t catch a break. The worst types of depictions of the poor are stereotypical bums, drug addicts and losers who are poor because they deserve it or because of their bad decisions. â€Å"Episodic Framing† shows some of the problems of the poor, but does not link it to larger societal problems such as limited educational opportunities, high rates of unemployment, and low paying jobs. The media will keep this status quo of depicting rich people as perfect and poor people as something to laugh at or a faceless statistic. If the media industry persists in retaining the same old frames for class, it will behoove each of us readers and viewers to break out of those frames and more thoroughly explore these issues on our own† (Kendall 346). After Hurricane Katrina, some disaster photographs were released with some controversial captions. The two pictures in the article Loot or Find: Fact or Frame? By Cheryl I. Harris and Devon W. Carbado depict two such pictures. They are both of people wading thr ough chest deep water with supplies, although the captions were different. One of them was of a black man carrying Pepsi and a suspicious black bag full of items. The caption said the black man was â€Å"looting†. The other picture showed a white couple wading through water with supplies, and the caption said they were â€Å"finding†. As you can guess, people complained that the captions accompanying the images were racially suggestive. The fact that most of the people who were not allowed to leave the city and were left to fend for themselves were overwhelmingly black made some think that maybe the executive powers did not care about blacks. We all know about Kanye West’s amusing blurt â€Å"George Bush doesn’t care about black people†. Katrina challenged the notion of â€Å"Color Blindness†, that is, that race is not a factor in how we see the world. I believe that race is a huge factor in how some people see the world. I don’t think anyone is 100% colorblind, especially when the media depicts certain races different ways. When many of the black musicians today are portrayed as tough, gritty gangsters, what are you, the viewer supposed to think? When blacks in the media are shown wearing tons of gold jewelry, baggy clothes and carrying guns, what are you going to think when you see a black man with baggy pants and jewelry walking around? I don’t think that everyone who looks that way will act a certain way, but looks are a first impression. Most of the people suffering during Katrina were black and poor, and that raised a lot of questions. Was it â€Å"†¦a case of presidential indifference? Or dislike of, poor black people? Or was it†¦the predictable consequence of a natural disaster that befell a city that just happened to be predominantly black? Was it†¦the result of a culture of dependency combined with local bureaucratic incompetence? Was race a factor in determining who survived and who did not? Or did class provide a better explanation? † (Harris and Carbado 427). The point is that during Katrina, blacks were framed into being looters, criminals, or just uncontrollable rioters. I feel that one can only explain this type of disaster if one was there in the thick of it. The existence of racial frames makes it difficult for people to confront the complex problems of racism and racial prejudices. Immigration. I am very emotionally conflicted about immigration in America today. My father’s side of my family has been in this country for around 90 years, emigrating across the Atlantic from southern Italy. My mother’s side has been here for about 50 years, coming from a French town in New Brunswick. I can imagine how difficult it was to come to a new country that wasn’t fond of foreigners, get a job, a raise a family. It’s still the same now, Mexican immigrants come into the country looking for work in a somewhat hostile environment. I hate that illegal immigrants sneak into this country, and take labor away from Americans. But I’m conflicted because America is a nation of immigrants, and if this land belongs to anyone its definatly not White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, it’s the Native Americans. In the current presidential race, some candidates don’t want immigrants in the country. But it’s usually those same candidates who give tax cuts to the wealthy and couldn’t care less about working class folks or their jobs anyway. The whole terrorism scare with immigrants is a bit tricky. I believe that there could be terrorist cells in this country, but with basically all of these guys being extremist Muslim, how can our police force, with its inefficient and bureaucratic system, go after these bad guys without being criticized for being racist and religiously prejudiced? Things are different in this country today, and we can’t cling to our old xenophobic, materialistic values anymore. How can a nation run on values and principles that were established in 1776? Things change, people change, morals change, and America needs to change or else we will run ourselves into the ground.

Persuasive Writing Folio 1250 words 30% Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Persuasive Writing Folio 1250 words 30% - Essay Example I am really excited and honored to proclaim that, the establishment of the hospital in the city. The reasons for constructing this hospital nearby to your town is to give you ease in a framework include all aspects of your life. This hospital offers not only the most basic requirements but it also offers many advanced services and operation facilities as well. This hospital will play an important role in serving the residents of the city in a better way and preventing us from different diseases as well. This hospital will also help in reducing the dependency on other hospitals in the city like Bush hospital and Bendalong Regional hospital. Therefore, it will help you all as you do not have to go too far, plus you do not have to wait for such a long time as the volume of customers will reduce from these hospitals as well. So, with fewer patients it will also help in improving the efficiency and giving more time to patients. I have seen and identified the problem of different patients waiting for their turn at other hospitals in the city and with too much workload; I felt that the doctors were not happily serving each and every patients. Same was the case observed with the support staff. Thus, considering this situation I planned to give a gift to the residents of Bilby by establishing another hospital and after discussion with the ministry and with the efforts of residents of Bilby, today we are have been able to accomplish our dream. The hospital will not only be serving the residents of Bilby but people from different cities and states will also be allowed and encouraged to avail the services of the hospital. In addition to this, the hospital will be helpful in creating more jobs for the residents. Moreover, with better healthcare facilities in the country, it will also encourage other investors to invest in the city and thus the city may see more ventures in near future. In the end I am again inclined to give credit to all of you to be here with me and I am a lso thankful to all of those people who have given their assistance at each stage of this project. Persuasive Writing Plan for Bilby Land Care Pro-environment Campaign 1. Analysing the situation and defining the problems and opportunities you face Situation Analysis: Bilby Land Care group wants to promote the concept of environment preservation and oppose the construction of hospital at the grasslands / graveyard location. The grasslands / graveyard location cannot be used for the construction of hospital as environment is sensitive and it is important to preserve environment and greenery as increasing population growth has negatively affected the overall environment. The grasslands / graveyard location provide support to the growth of grass and other greenery along with orchids which otherwise are extinct in the region. Apart from this it is also essential to preserve and protect the ecological systems and elements which reflects and shows the overall Australian environment and the local species. The graveyard and wetlands provide feasible environment and circumstances for the growth of grass-fog which is also extinct. 2. Outlining your purpose or objectives describing how you intend to measure whether or not these objectives have been reached Purpose: To inform and persuade the members of the Bilby Land Care g