All Outputs (17)

Ethnographic Explorations: Surrender and Resistance (2023)
Book
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2023). Ethnographic Explorations: Surrender and Resistance. London: Routledge

In Ethnographic Explorations: Surrender and Resistance, Whitaker and Atkinson, two experienced ethnographers, explore the complexities of fieldwork, analysis and writing from new perspectives. It takes the opportunity to reflect on Ethnography not ju... Read More about Ethnographic Explorations: Surrender and Resistance.

Reflexive ethnography (2022)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2022). Reflexive ethnography. In A. Poferl, & N. Schröer (Eds.), Handbuch Soziologische Ethnographie (265-279). Wiesbaden: Springer

Reflexivity refers to the fact that the perspectives and methods of the social sciences construct the phenomena that are studied. Reflexivity is not a matter of choice nor is it a researcher virtue. Ethnographic research needs to take account of the... Read More about Reflexive ethnography.

Hope : the dream we carry (2021) (2021)
Journal Article
Featherstone, K., & Whitaker, E. (2021). Hope : the dream we carry (2021). Sociology of Health and Illness, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13416

Book review of De Nora, Tia, 'Hope : the dream we carry', Palgrave Macmillan. 1st ed. 2021 edition (22 April 2021); ISBN-10: 3030698696; ISBN-13: 978–3030698690

Reflexivity in social research (2021)
Book
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2021). Reflexivity in social research. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84095-2

This book provides students and researchers with clear guidance through this tricky, but fundamental, aspect of ethnographic and other qualitative research methods. This concise overview clarifies, illustrates and develops a highly popular methodolog... Read More about Reflexivity in social research.

Grasping the social life of documents in human service practice (2021)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E. (2021). Grasping the social life of documents in human service practice. In K. Jacobsson, & J. Gubrium (Eds.), Doing Human Service Ethnography (83-99). Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.47674/9781447355809

Human service work of all kinds is full of documentation; it is central to the creation and maintenance of the work itself and to stabilising local professional cultures and identities. Yet, all too often, practices of authorship and readership are o... Read More about Grasping the social life of documents in human service practice.

Interactionist research : extending methods, extending fields (2021)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2021). Interactionist research : extending methods, extending fields. In D. vom Lehn, N. Ruiz-Junco, & W. Gibson (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Interactionism (425-434). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429276767-43

Symbolic interactionist research has long been associated with qualitative methods, and with ethnographic fieldwork in particular. This chapter outlines the basic principles that underpin such affinity, while acknowledging that there is no one-to-on... Read More about Interactionist research : extending methods, extending fields.

Interviewing – a final contribution (2021)
Journal Article
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2021). Interviewing – a final contribution. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 24(3), 397-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1847997

Article commentary

Response to Hughes, Hughes, Sykes and Wright (2020)
Journal Article
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2020). Response to Hughes, Hughes, Sykes and Wright. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 23(6), 757-758. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1806591

‘Bring yourself to work’ : rewriting the feeling rules in ‘personalised’ social work (2019)
Journal Article
Whitaker, E. (2019). ‘Bring yourself to work’ : rewriting the feeling rules in ‘personalised’ social work. Journal of Organizational Ethnography, 8(3), 325-338. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-06-2018-0030

Purpose: This paper explores how feeling rules are constructed, experienced and contested within personalised social work practice. It considers how organisations seek to shape practitioners towards certain forms of emotional display in increasingly... Read More about ‘Bring yourself to work’ : rewriting the feeling rules in ‘personalised’ social work.

Reflexivity (2019)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2019). Reflexivity. In P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, A. Cernat, J. Sakshaug, & R. Williams (Eds.), SAGE Research Methods Foundations. SAGE Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036819785

Central to reflexivity is an awareness that the researcher and the object of study exist in a mutual relationship with one another. Thus, reflexivity calls for attention to how thinking comes to be, how it is shaped by preexisting knowledge, and how... Read More about Reflexivity.

Authenticity and the interview : a positive response to a radical critique (2019)
Journal Article
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2019). Authenticity and the interview : a positive response to a radical critique. Qualitative Research, 19(6), 619-634. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794118816885

We respond to recent discussions of the interview, and the ‘radical critique’ of interviewing, as reiterated in publications by Silverman and Hammersley. Reviewing and extending the critical commentary on the social life of the interview and its impl... Read More about Authenticity and the interview : a positive response to a radical critique.

Emic and etic analysis (2017)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E. (2017). Emic and etic analysis. In The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory. Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118430873.est0640

This entry explores the origins and usage of the terms “emic” and “etic” as they relate to positions of knowledge in research in the social sciences.The entry explains the origins of the emic–etic distinction and how these have changed over time. Read More about Emic and etic analysis.

Surrender, catch and the imp of fieldwork (2017)
Journal Article
Whitaker, E., & Atkinson, P. (2019). Surrender, catch and the imp of fieldwork. Qualitative Inquiry, 25(9-10), 936-944. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800417735137

We build on the work of Kurt Wolff to capture some distinctive aspects of ethnographic fieldwork. Drawing on the sociology of knowledge and phenomenology, Wolff introduced and developed the idea of surrender-and- catch in order to encapsulate the tw... Read More about Surrender, catch and the imp of fieldwork.

The cultural contemplation of death by the living : from sequestration to the 'Cosmopolitan Aesthetic' of death and dying (2015)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E. (2015). The cultural contemplation of death by the living : from sequestration to the 'Cosmopolitan Aesthetic' of death and dying. In C. Tandy (Ed.), Death And Anti-Death, Volume 13: Sixty Years After Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Ann Arbor, MI, USA.: Ria University Press

Beyond black and green : children visioneering the future (2015)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E. (2015). Beyond black and green : children visioneering the future. In J. Collier (Ed.), The Future of Social Epistemology : A Collective Vision (247-256). London: Rowman & Littlefield International

Personalisation in children’s social work : from family support to “the child’s budget” (2015)
Journal Article
Whitaker, E. (2015). Personalisation in children’s social work : from family support to “the child’s budget”. Journal of Integrated Care, 23(5), 277-286. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICA-07-2015-0031

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing meaning of personalisation from the New Labour era of bespoke, integrated family support to the more recent implementation of personal budgets for disabled children to deliver “choice and... Read More about Personalisation in children’s social work : from family support to “the child’s budget”.

Finding Aristotle on the frontline : phronesis and social work (2014)
Book Chapter
Whitaker, E. (2014). Finding Aristotle on the frontline : phronesis and social work. In K. Farnsworth, Z. Irving, & M. Fenger (Eds.), Social Policy Review 26 Analysis and Debate in Social Policy 2014 (181-200). Bristol: Policy Press

This chapter outlines how Aristotle’s concept of phronesis has gained traction as an analytical concept for research in recent years, particularly in areas of social policy most concerned with the professions of social work, education and medicine. F... Read More about Finding Aristotle on the frontline : phronesis and social work.