Fine, Weis, Weseen, & Wong

Holly Kenan
Feb. 26, 2008
EDPSY582
Fine, Weis, Weseen, & Wong
Response
In general I agree with these authors, but was a little uncomfortable with the strong language about Right Wing white men, and the strong emphasis on conservative politics using research data against the people it was meant to help. Though I personally tend to be fairly liberal, the sweeping generalizations that cause problems for the very people they are researching are being utilized. This feels like a double standard to me, though I’m sure their experience has justified their fears on this topic.
I am also very excited about the use of social construction as a model to look at oppression. I find it a useful way to frame social injustice, as it allows for problems to be identified outside of the oppressed, and then leaves them available for improvement.
Main Points
Summarizes the book “The Unknown City”, which is an ethnography of urban poor and working class people, who make up a group of people who are unknown, unheard, and blamed for the ills of society.
Purpose of research was to examine commonalities among Americans and the fractured nature of US society, focusing on low-income people, and placing their voices at the center of national debates about social policy rather than at the margin.
Class-based story is still delineated through lines of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Very different stories coming from people in the same working class but different race, ethnicity, and gender. This complicates defining a specific community.
Trying to define someone to fit into a certain category is very complex, and the lines move. The roots of the idea of race are inherently racist. Though race is a social construction, it is so deeply confounded with racism that it bears enormous power in people’s lives and communities.
Though many argued that race shouldn’t make a difference, the narratives of the people in the study were given in such a way that it would be obvious to the reader, which racial group the informant identified with. In addition, in looking for a sample of “equally poor” or “equally working class” people among different racial groups the spread and depth of poverty among white people was nowhere near as severe in as the African American sample.
Informed consent form, though a procedural requirement, was just a form the respondents would sign without reading in order to move on with the interview. It also highlighted the differences between the researchers and the respondents. Everything that comprises the live of an individual represents just another data set to the researcher. However, informants also took advantage of the situation, knowing the researchers had access to policy makers and the public in ways they did not. “We traded on class and race privilege to get a couternarrative out.”
Ethical considerations: To ignore information about drug use and other illegal activities is to den the effects of poverty, racism, and abuse. But to report these stories is to risk their more likely misuse, all the while not studying the tax evasion, drug use, and neglect of children perpetrated by elites. Researchers are compared to voyeurs.
There are many challenges associated with presenting data in a way that is not taken for granted, that doesn’t romanticize the situation of the respondents, and is not taken advantage of in a way that further compromises the quality of the lives of the people involved in the study. This research left out some data on the premise that it would reinforce oppressive beliefs and attitudes that are already so strongly entrenched in our society.
Researchers also need to make sure not to just highlight that which is dramatic. Even though day to day getting by does not necessarily make for exciting reading, it is still an important component of life that should be included in a representation of someone’s life.
Different methodologies are likely to illuminate different versions of people’s understanding of various aspects of their lives. Using multiple methods for “triangulation” in qualitative data analysis serves the function of seeing the same scenario from different angles and increasing the depth of understanding. In quantitative research, the purpose is to ensure validity.
There was a trend in the research to contextualize voices differently, based on who was talking. For example, working class white women were presented on their own terms, while traditional (probably middle to upper middle class) white men were framed very negatively. Is this a double standard that should be remedied or is it just a way to create space to hear from those who have had very little voice?
The role of critical ethnographers is important in identifying who they are and what biases they may bring to their research. This blends into a sense of responsibility in improving the situation for the populations represented in their research through involvement in policy reform and work in the local communities. A distinct movement from science to advocacy.
There is debate on characterizing oppressed people as victimized and damaged, compared to resilient and strong. Must it be one or the other?

Questions to ask yourself as a researcher:
· Have I connected the voices and stories of individuals back to the setting in which they are situated?
· Have I developed multiple methods?
· Have I described the mundane?
· Have some of the informants reviewed my materials and been given a chance to dissent or challenge it?
· How far do I want to go on theorizing the words of informants?
· Have I considered how my data may be used to benefit repressive policies?
· Where is my authority behind narrations of the informants?
· Am I afraid of anyone seeing these analyses?
· Am I over or underplaying any important factors?
· To what degree has my analyses offered an alternative to the dominant discourse, and what challenges might be presented?
Final words recommending writing across genres when possible, even though this may be challenging in light of requirements by research institutions.
Key Concepts & Terminology
Reflexivity: “. . . the tendency for the self-absorbed Self to lose sight altogether of the culturally different Other.”

Race: “. . . both a floating unstable fiction and a fundamental unerasable aspect of biography and social experience.”

“Great Stories”: Allegories that shed light on both the level and content and the implications of that content.
Linkages to Other Readings
With the multiple references to policy and use of data for various agendas, this article reminds me most of another article for this week from McDermott. It’s the parallel with the social construction model that I see so strongly, both having such a huge influence on maintaining oppressive circumstances for people who are devalued in our society.
Discussion Questions
How do we address issues with race in the context of a race-bound audience?
How do we use a category in a generalized manner, and also address the complexities involved?
Can we use a generalized category like race, without (re)inscribing its fixed, essentialist positionality?
How do you ethically deal with information about “bad stories” (i.e. mothers willing to get beaten by the fathers of their children if it means they can get some money for child support)?
What are the best ways to present data so that it is not misused in ways to create more problems?
What are the specific experiences of people that keep them from being able to break out of cycles of generational poverty?
Is it ethical to intentionally leave out important parts of the data based on the researcher’s opinions about links with oppression? Is it possible to do a thorough analysis if all of the information is not presented?
Additional Readings
Constructions of Disabilit,y by Claire Tregaskis. This is the book I’m reviewing next week, and is an ethnography that goes into great detail about the social construction model, though it is focused on disabilities rather than racism. The same theories apply, and there is also a parallel concern by the researcher of research data being used for someone else’s purposes