Moments of Disjuncture
The Value of Corporate Ethnography in the Research Industrial Complex
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5948404 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shaheen Amirebrahimi (University of California, Davis, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 2015 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 13-23 |
| Publication date | 2015-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings (CONFERENCE) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1559-890X • E-ISSN: 1559-8918 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1559-8918.2015.01036 |
| OpenAlex | W2268697737 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 13 |
This paper seeks to examine some of the underlying tensions that shape how and why ethnographers in industry often find their efforts devalued or not realized by stakeholders - i.e. "moments of disjuncture." I argue that in many large corporations there is a separation between the stories anthropologists tell about themselves and those which are told about them, which mutually constitute an "informed fiction." This fiction acts as a catalyst within a broader cycle of knowledge exchange (the industrial research complex) that demands a fast paced churning out of "newness" in insights before they grow old. These two processes often come to a head, creating a "seen it before" phenomena which risks devaluing timely and important work. To understand this I examine a case study of smart and automated technologies and offer potential solutions
Churning · Economics · Epistemology · Ethnography · Knowledge management · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Sociotechnical system · Value (mathematics · Work (physics · Anthropology · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Computer Science · Engineering · Mechanical Engineering
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,2 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2025 (10) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |