Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities: An Ethnographic Research Agenda for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences

368 Pages·1997·13.998 MB·English

by  Robert Prus

Subcultural Mosaics
and Intersubjective Realities

Subcultural Mosaics
and Intersubjective Realities
An Ethnographic Research Agenda
for Pragmatizing the Social Sciences
Robert Prus
State University of New York Press
Published by
State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1997 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Prus, Robert C.
Subcultural mosaics and intersubjective realities : an
ethnographic research agenda for pramatizing the social sciences /
Robert Prus.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914*3239-4 (alk. paper). — 0-7914-3240-8 (pbk. : alk.
paper)
1. Symbolic interactionism. 2. Participant observation.
3. Social sciences—Methodology. I. Title.
HM29.P726 1997
302—dc20
96-32485
CIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated to my wife, Lorraine, and
our daughters, Kitzi, Mitzi, and Robin
And in Memory of
Carl Couch (1925-1994)
Fred Davis (1925-1993)
and Anselm Strauss (1916-1996)
who have helped further our educations

Contents
Preface xi
Part I Establishing the Conceptual Foundations 1
1 Studying the Human Condition: An Interactionist
Approach to the Ethnographic Venture 3
Theoretical and Methodological Foundations 5
Outlining the Premises 11
Human Group Life is Intersubjective 11
Human Group Life is (Multi)Perspectival 11
Human Group Life is Reflective 12
Human Group Life is Activity-based 13
Human Group Life is Negotiable 14
Human Group Life is Relational 15
Human Group Life is Processual 15
Conceptual and Methodological Implications 17
2 Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities:
Acknowledging Ambiguity, Activity, and Accomplishment 27
Reformulating the Cultural Problematic 28
Acknowledging the Subcultural Mosaic 31
Culture as "Something in the Making" 38
Attending to Subcultural Enterprises 41
Working Notions of Subcultural Variants 43
Local, Embedded, and Transcontextual Associations 43
Totalizing, Focused, and Interfused Subcultures 45
Cyclical, Occasional, and Supportive Subcultural
Phenomena 46
Tbward a Conclusion 48
3 Subcultural Involvements: Experiencing, Forming, and
Coordinating Subcultural Associations 55
vii
viii Subcultural Mosaics and Intersubjective Realities
Becoming Involved in Subcultural Enterprises 58
Getting Started (Initial Involvements) 60
Sustaining and Intensifying Involvements (Continuities) 60
Becoming Disinvolved 61
Becoming Reinvolved 61
Experiencing Subcultural Life-Worlds 62
Acquiring Perspectives 62
Achieving Identity 63
Doing Activity 64
Experiencing Relationships 67
Experiencing Emotionality 68
Developing Communicative Fluency 69
Forming and Coordinating (Subcultural) Associations 70
Establishing Associations 71
Objectifying Associations 72
Encountering Outsiders 75
Part II Pragmatizing the Social Sciences: A Research Agenda 83
4 Achieving Intersubjectivity, Managing Place and Space,
and Maintaining Presence 85
Subcultural Mosaics: Examining Realms of
Human Endeavor 88
Achieving Intersubjectivity 88
Managing Symbolic Interchange 89
Developing Stocks of Knowledge 91
Dealing with Objects 93
Managing Place and Space 97
Acknowledging the Physical (Geographical) Environment 97
Obtaining and Maintaining Spaces and Accommodations 98
Achieving Mobility and Transportation 100
Maintaining Presence 101
Locating and Consuming Foods (Including Liquids and
Other Substances) 101
Developing and Using Clothing 103
Providing Person-Directed Services 105
Obtaining Negotiables for Exchange 107
5 Encountering the Other, Managing Morality, and
Emphasizing Community Presence 125
Contents ix
Encountering the Interpersonal Other 125
Acknowledging Family Life 126
Encountering the Broader Community 127
Experiencing Intimacy and Sexuality 128
Managing Intergroup Relations within the Community 129
Venturing and Moving into New Communities 131
Participating in Collective Events 131
Managing Morality 136
Participating in Religious and Cultic Movements 137
Defining Propriety (and Deviance) 138
Identifying Deviants and Regulating Deviance 140
Becoming Involved in Deviance 142
Emphasizing Community Presence 146
Implementing Political (Governmental) Forums 146
Creating Military Agendas and Agencies 148
Enhancing Communications (and Generating the Media) 150
6 Experiencing the [Intersubjective] Self 169
Acknowledging the Contextualized Self 169
Attending to the Physical (Physiological and Imaged) Self 171
Developing an Ownership Self 172
Appreciating the Proficient and Accomplished Self 173
Attending to the Relational Self 173
Invoking the Tactical (Target and Tactician) Self 176
Managing the Centralizing and Fragmented Self 178
Tbward a Conclusion 179
Part III Pursuing the Ethnographic Venture 189
7 Doing Ethnographic Research: Fieldwork As Practical
Accomplishment (with Mary Lorenz Dietz and
William Shaffir) 191
Ethnographic Research 192
The Ethnographic Advantage 194
Clarifying Ethnographic Assumptions 198
Accessing Human Lived Experience 199
Methodological Practices 199
Substantive Settings 207
Analytical Foci 211