How may Ethnomethodological Studies be Related to Social Issues: Cases of Studies of Work in Emergency Medical Settings

Abstract

“Ethnomethodological studies of work” may be located as one branch within ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. It is a research program Harold Garfinkel, the founder of ethnomethodology had been concerned with during his later years. Studies of work have investigated how work is conducted in workplaces to feed information about the actual organization of work practices into design of work, technologies, and social policies. Thus, studies of work have been conducted in various interdisciplinary contexts. This paper looks into hybridity, i.e., the ambition to merge ethnomethodological studies with the investigative topics treated within the settings being studied, which Garfinkel introduced as a set of criteria studies of work should satisfy, to reflect on how Garfinkel intended this policy to be implemented. Two studies in emergency medical settings are examined in light of hybridity, and also in light of how studies prompted people to think reflectively about social issues.