While it documents a remarkable career, Participant Observer is also a personal chronicle in which William Foote Whyte reflects on his childhood, his education, his courageous struggles with polio and with the crises of family and academic life. Beginning with the study of gangs in Boston's North End recorded in Street Corner Society, Whyte listened to what working people had to say, becoming a powerful voice for worker participation and workplace democracy. His career is a model for the social sciences, and his story should be read by any serious student of them.
The classic study of a poor community in Boston’s North End in the mid-twentieth century. Street Corner Society is one of a handful of works that can justifiably be called classics of sociological research. William Foote Whyte's account of the Italian American slum he called “Cornerville”—Boston's North End—has been the model for urban ethnography for fifty years. By mapping the intricate social worlds of street gangs and “corner boys,” Whyte was among the first to demonstrate that a poor community need not be socially disorganized. His writing set a standard for vivid portrayals of real people in real situations. And his frank discussion of his methodology—participant observation—has served as an essential casebook in field research for generations of students and scholars. This fiftieth anniversary edition includes a new preface and revisions to the methodological appendix. In a new section on the book’s legacy, Whyte responds to challenges to the validity, interpretation, and uses of his data. “The Whyte Impact on the Underdog,” the moving statement by a gang leader who became the author’s first research assistant, is preserved. “Street Corner Society broke new ground and set a standard for field research in American cities that remains a source of intellectual challenge.”—Robert Washington, Reviews in Anthropology
Other field researchers, who usually convey their craft only through one-on-one apprenticeships, should follow Whyte's lead and try to create their own vicarious apprenticeships through candid backstage accounts of their judgment calls in the field. . . . This book gives seasoned investigators an excuse to rethink what they take for granted and to see, step-by-step, how their practice compares with that of another seasoned person. Most people will welcome the chance to do this because of a final characteristic in this book, its even-handed tone." --Journal of Contemporary Ethnography "Useful for a better understanding of the character and promise of ethnographic research." --Journal of Communication "Goes beyond statements of principles to give a realistic picture of problems encountered by the field researcher." --Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique A highly regarded field researcher tells how he has plied his craft for the past 50 years. William Foote Whyte, in collaboration with his wife, Kathleen, describes the successes--and failures--he has had in studying street corner society in Boston, oil companies in Oklahoma and Venezuela, restaurants in Chicago, worker cooperatives in Spain, factories in New York State, and villages in Peru. With the goal of taking readers into the field with him, Whyte discusses and dissects his chief tools--participant observation and the semistructured interview. He also explains how to evaluate and analyze field data, why the use of local history in social research is valuable, and the ethics of fieldwork. Whyte focuses on four general problems that have plagued his career as a researcher:
From the street corners of the North End of Boston to the Basque regions of Spain, renowned sociologist William Foote Whyte has been a pioneer in developing methods and theories that have changed and expanded the way that we look at social structures and the individuals within them. Now, Whyte passes on his experience and knowledge with a look at problems he encountered in the field, and how he was able to overcome them. This book is both a guide through the practical and conceptual complexities and problems associated with fieldwork, as well as a look back on the life of one of the most interesting and important sociologists of our time.
Other field researchers, who usually convey their craft only through one-on-one apprenticeships, should follow Whyte's lead and try to create their own vicarious apprenticeships through candid backstage accounts of their judgment calls in the field. . . . This book gives seasoned investigators an excuse to rethink what they take for granted and to see, step-by-step, how their practice compares with that of another seasoned person. Most people will welcome the chance to do this because of a final characteristic in this book, its even-handed tone." --Journal of Contemporary Ethnography "Useful for a better understanding of the character and promise of ethnographic research." --Journal of Communication "Goes beyond statements of principles to give a realistic picture of problems encountered by the field researcher." --Bulletin de Methodologie Sociologique A highly regarded field researcher tells how he has plied his craft for the past 50 years. William Foote Whyte, in collaboration with his wife, Kathleen, describes the successes--and failures--he has had in studying street corner society in Boston, oil companies in Oklahoma and Venezuela, restaurants in Chicago, worker cooperatives in Spain, factories in New York State, and villages in Peru. With the goal of taking readers into the field with him, Whyte discusses and dissects his chief tools--participant observation and the semistructured interview. He also explains how to evaluate and analyze field data, why the use of local history in social research is valuable, and the ethics of fieldwork. Whyte focuses on four general problems that have plagued his career as a researcher:
From the street corners of the North End of Boston to the Basque regions of Spain, renowned sociologist William Foote Whyte has been a pioneer in developing methods and theories that have changed and expanded the way that we look at social structures and the individuals within them. Now, Whyte passes on his experience and knowledge with a look at problems he encountered in the field, and how he was able to overcome them. This book is both a guide through the practical and conceptual complexities and problems associated with fieldwork, as well as a look back on the life of one of the most interesting and important sociologists of our time.
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