The Palgrave Handbook of Institutional Ethnography

A comprehensive guide to the alternative sociology originating in the work of Dorothy E. Smith, this Handbook not only explores the basic, founding principles of institutional ethnography (IE), but also captures current developments, approaches, and debates. Now widely known as a “sociology for people,” IE offers the tools to uncover the social relations shaping the everyday world in which we live and is utilized by scholars and social activists in sociology and beyond, including such fields as education, nursing, social work, linguistics, health and medical care, environmental studies, and other social-service related fields. Covering the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of IE, recent developments, and current areas of research and application that have yet to appear in the literature, The Palgrave Handbook of Institutional Ethnography is suitable for both experienced practitioners of institutional ethnography and those who are exploring this approach for the first time.

Paul C. Luken is Associate Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of West Georgia, USA, where he taught graduate-level courses on IE. He has helped to draw together IE scholars in multiple contexts, from special issues of journals such as The Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, to the co-founding of the Institutional Ethnography Division of the Society for Study of Social Problems and the ISA Working Group on Institutional Ethnography of the International Sociological Association.

Suzanne Vaughan is Associate Professor Emeritus of Sociology in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University, USA, where she taught undergraduate and graduate classes in institutional ethnography. She is a co-founder and Secretary-Treasurer of the Working Group on Institutional Ethnography of the ISA. She has co-authored numerous journal articles on the institutional ethnography of housing, including in the journals Social Problems and Social Forces, and has co-edited a special issue of The Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare.