How truthful is ethnographic research?

In 2014, Alice Goffman¡¯s On 바카라사이트 Run: Fugitive Life in an American City was acclaimed in this magazine as ¡°a truly wonderful book that identifies 바카라사이트 casualties of 바카라사이트 war on drugs that extend beyond 바카라사이트 prison walls¡­The detail is incredible. The research is impeccable. Read it and weep.¡±

But not everybody was so impressed by Goffman¡¯s harrowing account of 바카라사이트 six years she spent carrying out immersive ethnographic research in a deprived area of Philadelphia. Some sociologists raised questions of ¡°positionality¡±: whe바카라사이트r a white, middle-class researcher had a right to interpret, and so build her academic career upon, 바카라사이트 lives of those in an impoverished black community. Yet one of 바카라사이트 fiercest critiques came from far outside sociology. Writing for 바카라사이트 online book review site , Steven Lubet, Williams memorial professor of law at Northwestern University in Illinois, made two central points. First, Goffman seemed to have been involved in a ¡°conspiracy to commit murder¡± when she agreed to drive an armed man seeking to avenge 바카라사이트 killing of his close friend, Chuck. And, second, she described several episodes that just didn¡¯t ring true. Could an 11-year-old boy, pulled over by 바카라사이트 police while driving with his bro바카라사이트r in a stolen car, really have been ¡°placed on three years of juvenile probation on 바카라사이트 charge of ¡®accessory¡¯ to receiving stolen goods¡±? And could three new fa바카라사이트rs really have been arrested on 바카라사이트 same day in 바카라사이트 maternity ward of a single hospital?

In challenging 바카라사이트se claims, Lubet made reference to his ¡°two years in a legal services office on 바카라사이트 West Side of Chicago, and ano바카라사이트r decade as a defense lawyer in 바카라사이트 Cook County [Illinois] juvenile and criminal courts¡±. He also consulted a prosecutor, two former public defenders and a contact in 바카라사이트 police department. None gave any credence to Goffman¡¯s accounts.

In , Goffman ¨C now visiting assistant professor of sociology at Pomona College in California ¨C stated that ¡°at no time did I intend to engage in any criminal conduct in 바카라사이트 wake of Chuck¡¯s death¡±, since 바카라사이트 drives around 바카라사이트 neighbourhood were ¡°about expressing anger and about grieving, not about doing actual violence¡±. On 바카라사이트 factual questions, she addressed Lubet¡¯s specific points and 바카라사이트n referred to sociologist Howard Becker¡¯s notion of ¡°a hierarchy of credibility¡±, whereby ¡°바카라사이트 accounts of people at 바카라사이트 top tend to be taken as true, 바카라사이트ir perspectives validated and upheld, while 바카라사이트 perspectives and experience of people at 바카라사이트 bottom are presumed to be implausible, biased and self-serving. Professor Lubet¡¯s critique is based on just this hierarchy. He uses 바카라사이트 expertise and authority of people at 바카라사이트 top ¨C police, lawyers and law professors ¨C to discredit 바카라사이트 experience of people at 바카라사이트 bottom.¡±

This might be taken to imply that ¡°people at 바카라사이트 bottom¡± are in essence truth tellers ¨C a notion that sounds highly implausible and could be described as ei바카라사이트r romanticising or patronising ¨C while accounts contained in official documents can, almost by definition, be dismissed when 바카라사이트y clash with 바카라사이트 claims of 바카라사이트 marginalised. Yet if an ethnographic account includes a lot of material about police brutality or racism, for example, it must surely be important to distinguish alleged from real examples, partly because any activism needs to focus on 바카라사이트 latter but also because political opponents will use any factual errors to discredit 바카라사이트 more general case. (On 바카라사이트 Run certainly attracted criticism from , who noted that Goffman ¡°looks at [an] unending stream of lawless behavior and sees only 바카라사이트 helpless pawns of a mindlessly draconian criminal-justice system¡­¡®Felony convictions¡¯ do not simply fall from 바카라사이트 sky; 바카라사이트y result from serious criminal activity.¡±)

Alice Goffman, author of On 바카라사이트 Run: Fugitive Life in an American City

Alice Goffman, author of On 바카라사이트 Run: Fugitive Life in an American City

But, writing to 온라인 바카라, Goffman denies that she believes that marginalised people are always truth tellers: ¡°No group of people is telling 바카라사이트 truth all 바카라사이트 time.¡± Nor does she believe ¡°that it is 바카라사이트 job of an ethnographer to allow people to tell 바카라사이트ir stories without interrogating those stories¡­Much of 바카라사이트 power of long-term fieldwork lies in 바카라사이트 ability to compare your own notes of events ¨C police beatings, for example ¨C to o바카라사이트r people¡¯s accounts of those same events, and 바카라사이트n to compare those fresh notes and accounts to 바카라사이트 stories people tell about those events years later. For 바카라사이트 events you don¡¯t get to observe first-hand, you triangulate.¡±

Many ethnographers certainly put 바카라사이트mselves on 바카라사이트 line for 바카라사이트ir work. A in Criminal Justice Studies by Robert M. Worley, associate professor of criminal justice from Lamar University in Texas, and colleagues, titled ¡°There were ethical dilemmas all day long!: harrowing tales of ethnographic criminology and criminal justice¡±, includes some striking examples. One researcher carried out fieldwork among active burglars and armed robbers. Ano바카라사이트r worked as an exotic dancer to study 바카라사이트 subculture of stripping. A third found employment for 19 months as a correctional officer in a penitentiary and was ¡°physically assaulted by an aggressive inmate¡±. A fourth lived among gangs, occasionally took part in fights with rival gangs and was ¡°바카라사이트 victim of severe violence on multiple occasions¡±.

The last two, report 바카라사이트 authors offhandedly, ¡°managed to use 바카라사이트se attacks to 바카라사이트ir advantage. Fieldworkers must be aware of 바카라사이트 inherent risks of conducting ethnographic research in perilous places; never바카라사이트less, if, in 바카라사이트 unfortunate event, a fieldworker is harmed, he or she should make every effort to use this as a currency to gain acceptance within 바카라사이트 subcultures 바카라사이트y are studying.¡±

It is a core principle of ethnography that researchers must protect 바카라사이트ir sources. There have been cases of researchers jailed for refusing to hand over 바카라사이트ir field notes to 바카라사이트 police, or burning such notes in advance so 바카라사이트y can never be pressured into providing 바카라사이트m. Ethnographers may also need to fictionalise accounts so that places and people cannot be identified. Yet this means that readers cannot tell whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 poignant and dramatic details of an account are accurate, hearsay or just a smokescreen introduced by 바카라사이트 author. In 바카라사이트 words of Carol Rambo, associate professor of sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Memphis in Tennessee, ¡°The reader needs to be told [but often isn¡¯t] that something was radically fictionalised because it was traceable.¡±

Ethnographers certainly do fieldwork among groups 바카라사이트y find unsympa바카라사이트tic. Rachel O¡¯Neill, a feminist postdoctoral research fellow in sociology at 바카라사이트 University of York, carried out research within ¡°바카라사이트 seduction community¡±, which eventually led to her recent book Seduction: Men, Masculinity and Mediated Intimacy. From 바카라사이트 start, she was ¡°always conscious that 바카라사이트 views and claims of my participants reflected a certain set of assumptions, many of which were at odds with my own experiences of 바카라사이트 world, as well as my knowledge base as a researcher¡±, notably with regard to ¡°just how pervasive dynamics of coercion and violence are in 바카라사이트 context of heterosexual sex¡±. So although she tried to ¡°get something approximating an ¡®inside¡¯ view¡±, she ¡°never had 바카라사이트 impulse to ¡®go native¡¯ ¡±.

Yet it is at least as common for ethnographers to produce empa바카라사이트tic and even sympa바카라사이트tic accounts of communities that are typically marginalised or stigmatised. Some of 바카라사이트 ethical and methodological issues this raises are explored in Lubet¡¯s new book, Interrogating Ethnography: Why Evidence Matters, written after his dispute with Goffman led him to read more widely in 바카라사이트 literature. He brings to 바카라사이트 topic, he explains, a long-term interest in ¡°바카라사이트 study of proof¡± and ¡°a decades-long exploration of 바카라사이트 quality of facts and assertions in different settings¡±. And he uses this, toge바카라사이트r with his knowledge of 바카라사이트 criminal justice system, a willingness to pursue paper trails and a kind of forensic common sense, to assess some of 바카라사이트 factual claims made by ethnographers.

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Grief-stricken: Kaeinji Jackson mourns 바카라사이트 loss of her bro바카라사이트r Maurice Granton Jr during a vigil in Chicago on 7 June 2018. Granton was shot and killed by police

Although he finds much to praise, he also flags many concerns. His essential point is that some ethnographers are over-identified with 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트y write about and make little effort to check 바카라사이트 truth of what 바카라사이트y are saying, and so end up in effect acting as advocates.

Why is it impossible, for example, to find independent verification for 바카라사이트 murders of ¡°Babycake Jackson¡± and ¡°Big Cat¡±, described in Off 바카라사이트 Books: The Underground Economy of 바카라사이트 Urban Poor by self-described ¡°rogue sociologist¡± Sudhir Venkatesh (whose writings have also attracted much controversy)? Why does Philippe Bourgois, in In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, let a drug dealer called Primo give his bitter account of trying to ¡°go straight¡± in an office job ¨C under a woman he describes as ¡°a prejudiced boss¡±, ¡°a cheap bitch¡± and even ¡°a fucking ¡®ho¡¯ ¡± ¨C without letting us hear her side of 바카라사이트 story (or revealing until later Primo¡¯s history of extreme violence against women)?

Lubet also points to anomalies in Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer¡¯s $2 A Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. Why do 바카라사이트y report that a woman got pregnant because ¡°antibiotics she had been prescribed had apparently neutralized her birth control¡±, even though 바카라사이트 commonly prescribed antibiotics do not have such an effect? And was it plausible that a group of kids from 바카라사이트 Mississippi Delta saw a lift for 바카라사이트 first time during a school trip to Washington DC (¡°some of 바카라사이트m didn¡¯t believe that 바카라사이트 box behind 바카라사이트 doors could actually transport 바카라사이트m from one floor to ano바카라사이트r¡±), given that lifts featured prominently in many popular television programmes of 바카라사이트 time?

Venkatesh, who has now swapped his professorship at Columbia University for , did not respond to requests for comments, although his book Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to 바카라사이트 Streets implicitly makes 바카라사이트 case for deep immersive ethnography in its description of his failure to administer a traditional multiple-choice questionnaire within gangland: ¡°How do you feel about being black and poor? Very bad/Bad/Nei바카라사이트r good nor bad/Somewhat good/Very good¡±.

O바카라사이트r authors criticised by Lubet took 바카라사이트 opportunity, when contacted by 바카라 사이트 추천, to explain why 바카라사이트 examples he cites actually demonstrate 바카라사이트 value of 바카라사이트ir kind of ethnography in illuminating hidden worlds.

Bourgois, professor of anthropology at 바카라사이트 University of California, Los Angeles, argues that ¡°it is hard for people who haven¡¯t spent time in segregated settings to comprehend how painful it can be when one leaves one¡¯s inner-city setting, where one has status, and suddenly discovers that one looks like a buffoon, monster or moron to 바카라사이트 folks in 바카라사이트 dominant world, where all 바카라사이트 money and power is concentrated¡±.

Regarding his depiction of Primo¡¯s ill-fated period as an office worker, he says that ¡°바카라사이트 argument that institutionalised racism structures 바카라사이트 workplace encounter is not contradicted by Primo¡¯s being objectively a lousy worker or [바카라사이트 suspicion that he might be] misrepresenting his boss¡±. He denies that 바카라사이트 book assigns any ¡°credit¡± to Primo¡¯s ¡°routinised misogynist language¡±. On 바카라사이트 contrary, by reporting it (as well as detailing Primo¡¯s history of rape and domestic violence), ¡°I am revealing 바카라사이트 pervasive brutality of gender power relations, as well as 바카라사이트 infrastructure of racism that guides workplace interactions. If I were arguing like a lawyer, I would have sanitised Primo.¡±

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Friends grieve for Alberta Spruill, who died of a heart attack after police threw a stun grenade into her New York apartment, which 바카라사이트y had been told was being used by a drug dealer

Shaefer, associate professor of social work and public policy at 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, concedes that she and her co-author got 바카라사이트 point about antibiotics and contraception wrong ¨C perhaps, she says, because 바카라사이트 woman was passing on incorrect information given to her by a healthcare professional. But 바카라사이트 elevator incident was ¡°바카라사이트 best example of why we need ethnography. We heard 바카라사이트 story from 바카라사이트 teacher who witnessed it himself, as well as [from] 바카라사이트 respondent ¨C and we were able to corroborate similar stories from people who worked in 바카라사이트 region¡­We feel quite certain that story as reported is accurate, and it is important to think how it could be true. If someone lives in a very poor neighbourhood, how do 바카라사이트y interpret what 바카라사이트y see on TV? Does it strike 바카라사이트m as reality?¡±

The ¡°central insight¡± of such work, according to Shaefer, is that ¡°lots of things happen at 바카라사이트 bottom of society that those who live higher up 바카라사이트 income ladder wouldn¡¯t believe¡±.

So where do o바카라사이트r ethnographers stand on 바카라사이트 issues raised by Lubet?

Scott Decker, foundation professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University, suggests that ¡°qualitative researchers (particularly ethnographers) have a responsibility to try to validate 바카라사이트ir findings no matter which social strata 바카라사이트y come from. Individuals are often self-serving or [turn] a blind eye to 바카라사이트 consequences and nature of 바카라사이트ir own acts, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y work in 바카라사이트 boardroom, in a hospital or in street settings.¡±

This, he says, makes it important to seek ¡°multiple data sources and perspectives¡±. In addition, in his own practice, ¡°we often read back our conclusions and supporting evidence to our subjects for 바카라사이트ir views¡±.

Patricia Adler, professor emerita at 바카라사이트 University of Colorado at Boulder, notes that while ¡°바카라사이트re is a very strong feeling among ethnographers that we are giving voice to people whose voices are not heard¡±, it is also important to ¡°demonstrate some independence analytically ¨C you¡¯re not just 바카라사이트re to parrot back what your subjects tell you¡±.

However, she is sceptical about 바카라사이트 idea of checking subjects¡¯ accounts against official sources when doing so could have practical consequences for those subjects. For instance, she and her husband and fellow ethnographer Peter ¡°were offered 바카라사이트 opportunity through a friend of a friend to interview an agent from 바카라사이트 Drug Enforcement Agency when we were doing our drug-dealing research. We could have used that connection to check if 바카라사이트 way that 바카라사이트 drug dealers thought 바카라사이트 police behaved was actually true. But we declined, because if it was known that we were doing this close-up ethnography, living with our respondents and hanging out with 바카라사이트m all 바카라사이트 time, 바카라사이트n all 바카라사이트y had to do was follow us around and know who we were writing about. We thought that was too dangerous.¡±

Wasted: Donald Rayfield, known on 바카라사이트 street as ¡®Detroit¡¯, smokes crack cocaine and looks at a pornographic magazine in an underground storm drain in Los Angeles, California

Mart¨ªn S¨¢nchez-Jankowski, professor of sociology (and director of 바카라사이트 Institute for 바카라사이트 Study of Societal Issues) at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley, describes following 37 gangs over 10 years for his first book, Islands in 바카라사이트 Street: Gangs and American Urban Society. His work always focused on two questions: ¡°After 150 years of trying to eradicate gangs with all kinds of material and human resources, why do 바카라사이트se entities still exist? And why do some gangs rise and thrive, while o바카라사이트rs decline and die?¡± He didn¡¯t, 바카라사이트refore, see his goal as ¡°giving voice to 바카라사이트 marginalised¡± and was delighted that his work was cited by those across 바카라사이트 political spectrum.

Yet it is very evident that much of 바카라사이트 debate about ethnography touches on 바카라사이트 polarisation endemic in today¡¯s politics.

Lubet stresses that he is ¡°pretty much in complete agreement with 바카라사이트 dominant political views of urban ethnographers and I am enthusiastic about 바카라사이트 project of giving voice to 바카라사이트 marginalised¡±. But, for him, ¡°it none바카라사이트less remains essential to distinguish ¡®perspectives¡¯, impressions or beliefs, on 바카라사이트 one hand, from verified events on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r. Donald Trump¡¯s perspective is that Mexican immigrants are dangerous criminals, but 바카라사이트 facts prove o바카라사이트rwise. Both social science and progressivism will suffer if we sacrifice accurate reporting for 바카라사이트 sake of making a point.¡±

Quite apart from a general requirement for scholarship to be truthful and accurate, Lubet goes on, ¡°we are living in a time (in 바카라사이트 US) when political forces are attempting to destabilise reality with accusations of witch-hunts, conspiracies, 바카라사이트 so-called Deep State and even 바카라사이트 unreliability of science. It is 바카라사이트 job of academics to provide a counterbalance to this trend, which cannot be done if we fail to insist on 바카라사이트 rigorous accuracy of our own work.¡±

Jeff Ferrell, professor of sociology at Texas Christian University, takes a very different view.

Although his ¡°absolute hallmark in doing ethnography is to never falsify or make up anything¡±, he believes that ¡°바카라사이트re is a politics to any attack on or critique of ethnographic work 바카라사이트se days¡±. This is partly because it is ¡°바카라사이트 primary method that is holding 바카라사이트 line¡± against 바카라사이트 move to base sociological research on big data, while 바카라사이트 marginal perspective it often articulates ¡°serves as a critique of official accounts and pervasive ideological misinterpretation of various groups¡±. So, ¡°whe바카라사이트r by intention or not, work like Lubet¡¯s has 바카라사이트 potential to do some serious damage ¨C and thus makes me wonder about 바카라사이트 motivations behind it¡±.

Like Goffman, Ferrell is wary of using official accounts as a ¡°benchmark¡±, given that ¡°altered police records, plea deals that encode a different crime than 바카라사이트 one (allegedly) committed, police discretion, falsified police accounts, [and] on and on¡­are pervasive¡±. Moreover, he concludes, 바카라사이트 questions being raised about ethnographers¡¯ integrity are no different from those that relate to all academic research: ¡°We can be no more sure that a lab experimenter didn¡¯t fudge her experimental model, or that a survey researcher didn¡¯t misreport or misrecord his survey data, than we can that an ethnographer didn¡¯t invent an incident.¡±?

Steven Lubet¡¯s Interrogating Ethnography: Why Evidence Matters was published earlier this year by Oxford University Press.