Simply Institutional Ethnography

Dorothy E. Smith is an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria.Alison I. Griffith was a professor emerita in the Faculty of Education at York University.

"This book serves as a fitting legacy of the work of authors Smith and Griffith, two pioneers in the field of institutional ethnography, both of whom passed away prior to this book's publication. The authors encapsulate decades of their efforts to create and develop this particularly unique form of sociology and document its conceptual and theoretical refinement along the way. The result is a sophisticated, comprehensive overview that, although rather complex at times, nonetheless lays out for readers the promise and potential of this approach to studying human lived behavior an.d the myriad institutions in which such behavior is embedded." - J. R. Mitrano, Central Connecticut State University (CHOICE) "In this slim volume, the authors encapsulate decades of their efforts to create and develop this particularly unique form of sociology and document its conceptual and theoretical refinement along the way. The result is a sophisticated, comprehensive overview that lays out for readers the promise and potential of this approach to studying human lived behavior and the myriad institutions in which such behavior is embedded." - J.R. Mitrano, Central Connecticut State University (CHOICE)

• PrefacePart I: Introducing Institutional Ethnography1. Introduction2. People’s Experience as the Ethnographic ResourcePart II: Useful Concepts3. Concepts but Not Theory4. Discourse5. Work6. TextsPart III: The Ethnographic Dialogue 7. Transition to the Ethnography8. Exploring Ruling Relations9. Institutional Circuits: From Actual to Textual10. Making Change from BelowPart IV 11. In Conclusion