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Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World
In this follow-up to the highly successful Ethnography Unbound, Michael Burawoy and nine colleagues break the bounds of conventional sociology, to explore the mutual shaping of local struggles and global forces. In contrast to the lofty debates between radical theorists, these nine studies excavate the dynamics and histories of globalization by extending out from the concrete, everyday world.
The authors were participant observers in diverse struggles over extending citizenship, medicalizing breast cancer, dumping toxic waste, privatizing nursing homes, the degradation of work, the withdrawal of welfare rights, and the elaboration of body politics. From their insider vantage points, they show how groups negotiate, circumvent, challenge, and even re-create the complex global web that entangles them. Traversing continents and extending over three years, this collaborative research developed its own distinctive method of "grounded globalization" to grasp the evaporation of traditional workplaces, the dissolution of enclaved communities, and the fluidity of identities. Forged between the local and global, these compelling essays make a powerful case for ethnography's insight into global dynamics.
The authors were participant observers in diverse struggles over extending citizenship, medicalizing breast cancer, dumping toxic waste, privatizing nursing homes, the degradation of work, the withdrawal of welfare rights, and the elaboration of body politics. From their insider vantage points, they show how groups negotiate, circumvent, challenge, and even re-create the complex global web that entangles them. Traversing continents and extending over three years, this collaborative research developed its own distinctive method of "grounded globalization" to grasp the evaporation of traditional workplaces, the dissolution of enclaved communities, and the fluidity of identities. Forged between the local and global, these compelling essays make a powerful case for ethnography's insight into global dynamics.
410 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2000
About the author
Michael Burawoy
37 books33 followersMichael Burawoy was a British sociologist working within Marxist social theory, best known as the leading proponent of public sociology and the author of Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Monopoly Capitalism—a study on the sociology of industry that has been translated into a number of languages.
Burawoy was a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was president of the American Sociological Association in 2004. In 2006–2010, he was one of the vice-presidents for the Committee of National Associations of the International Sociological Association (ISA). In the XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology he was elected the 17th President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) for the period 2010–2014.
Burawoy was a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He was president of the American Sociological Association in 2004. In 2006–2010, he was one of the vice-presidents for the Committee of National Associations of the International Sociological Association (ISA). In the XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology he was elected the 17th President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) for the period 2010–2014.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2025
I am a card carrying social science nerd, but an edited book of methodology sometimes makes me flinch. This one did, for a very short period of time. This is an amazing book!
The core argument is the need for ethnography to be attentive to both the granular and the global. Where traditionally ethnography has been deeply grounded in a particular area. This comes out of a reckoning in ethnography in the 1990s that sought to accommodate globalization within ethnographic theory and methodology, for example Ethnography through Thick and Thin or Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. While these are both anthropologist Burawoy and colleagues are coming from a more sociological perspective, albeit deeply informed by the Manchester School of Social Anthropology.
The essays are by graduate students of Burawoy bringing together disparate research to show how globalisation manifests on local, regional and global scales emerging out of their granular ethnographic case studies. These are brilliantly written, for example Haney's writing on recycling culture among unhoused people in California, and Gowan's brilliant auto-ethnography of shipbuilders.
While this book is 25 years old it is well worth a read!!
The core argument is the need for ethnography to be attentive to both the granular and the global. Where traditionally ethnography has been deeply grounded in a particular area. This comes out of a reckoning in ethnography in the 1990s that sought to accommodate globalization within ethnographic theory and methodology, for example Ethnography through Thick and Thin or Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. While these are both anthropologist Burawoy and colleagues are coming from a more sociological perspective, albeit deeply informed by the Manchester School of Social Anthropology.
The essays are by graduate students of Burawoy bringing together disparate research to show how globalisation manifests on local, regional and global scales emerging out of their granular ethnographic case studies. These are brilliantly written, for example Haney's writing on recycling culture among unhoused people in California, and Gowan's brilliant auto-ethnography of shipbuilders.
While this book is 25 years old it is well worth a read!!
May 16, 2013
Cool concept (a collection of global ethnographic case studies conducted by a graduate cohort), but I was only interested in a few of the case studies. I liked the intro and the chapter on Brazilian feminism the most.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews