The Companion

A Hospital Autoethnography on the Relationship Between Informal and Formal Institutions

Bibliographic Data

ID2365744
AuthorsD A Yavuz (0000-0001-9716-9483, Lehman College of CUNY Division of Natural and Social Science, Bronx, NY, USA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume53
Issue4
Pages488-515
Publication date2024-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Ethnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0891-2416 • E-ISSN: 1552-5414
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/08912416241248459
OpenAlexW4395667253
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited30

The article is an analytical autoethnography that explores the author's experience of navigating the Turkish healthcare system while caring for his father who underwent emergency bypass surgery. Their atypical positions, at once members of a privileged group but lacking extensive familial connections, helped bring to light the diverse range of tactics that patients use to navigate the hospital, despite reforms that tried to establish greater universalism. By highlighting the relationship between formal institutions and informal practices in the healthcare system and how they survive to include/exclude different status groups, the author's micro-level observations and background in political sociology help reveal the complex impact that non-universalistic practices have on democratization and political change in Turkey and beyond

Autoethnography · Democracy · Democratization · Health care · Healthcare system · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Turkish · Universalism · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Law · Turkey's Politics and Society