Getting the balance right in ethnographic writing

(or, why Alain de Botton is no ethnographer)

Beth Bechky, UC Davis

Three balanced elements

Emic and etic accounts Structure and story Evidence, evidence, evidence

Balance of emic and etic accounts

Emic accounts: The natives’ view Etic accounts: The analysts’ view

Alain is heavy on the etic How do ethnographies balance emic and

etic accounts? Workmanship example

Emic term, used differently by groups of informants

Linked to etic account of objects as representations of knowledge, authority and legitimacy

Balance of structure and story

Story – Thick descriptions that show you were there

Structure – theoretical framing or argument – Alain has stories, but in the service of too many

points. How do ethnographies balance theory with rich,

grounded data ? Workmanship example

Story: Engineers’ treated it as tribal knowledge, to technicians and assemblers it represented skill and effort

Structure: Simultaneously embedded knowledge, authority, legitimacy

Evidence from “The pleasures and sorrows of work”

More evidence?

Evidence, evidence, evidence

Is there such a thing as too much evidence? No. Show me the data!

Do not tell me about the data, show it to me But…

Do not leave your data unattended Explain it – link it to your theory Do not stick unexplained data in tables