Harris2003

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Harris2003
BibType ARTICLE
Key Harris2003
Author(s) Scott R. Harris
Title Studying equality/inequality: naturalist and constructionist approaches to equality in marriage
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Social constructionism, Marriage, Equality, Research Methods
Publisher
Year 2003
Language
City
Month
Journal Journal of Contemporary Ethnography
Volume 32
Number 2
Pages 200–232
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/0891241602250886
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

This article compares naturalist and constructionist approaches to the qualitative study of equality and inequality, and encourages more ethnographers to adopt the latter. Focusing on the subfield of marital equality, three areas of divergence are explored: sampling, interviewing, and the analysis and presentation of data. In each area, naturalists tend to obscure the diversity and complexity of respondents’ interpretations. The constructionist alternative is to make storytelling paramount by treating equality and inequality as situated narrative accomplishments. A constructionist approach focuses on respondents’ own ethnographic skills while still fitting “the data” into a larger analytic story about equality.

Notes