Strengthening Qualitative Research Through Methodological Innovation and Integration: The Dynamics of Civic Relationships:

christopher WeareAnn crigllerina S. EliasophPaul R. lichterman南加州大学本研究将民族志研究与社会网络分析（SNA）相结合，探讨影响公民群体如何定义其身份和公共问题的关系、文化和制度动态。这项研究的动机是关于公民协会、公民文化和公民参与的理论和实证研究结果。许多研究将强大的公民文化（一套支持民主制度的规范）与充满活力的社团生活联系在一起，在社团生活中，公民保持有公共精神的对话，发展团结和兴趣视野，超越他们志同道合的朋友圈子。然而，这些关联在某种程度上仍然是一个黑盒子。仔细研究过协会的民族志学家发现，许多自愿协会并不符合这些理论所提出的理想，这些协会实际上支持多种形式的公民文化，类似的活动确实发生在其他机构领域。该研究旨在通过研究群体内部和群体之间的日常谈话和协调行动如何有助于构成组织及其领域，提高我们对协会如何塑造公民文化的理解。一个领域是所有与公共问题有关的讨论或行动的公民、政府或商业组织、联盟等。这项研究的重点是洛杉矶的住房问题，因为它是由一系列具有不同兴趣和文化背景的丰富协会组成的。这一重点还突出了不同群体对该领域的不同理解，以及不同理解之间相互作用产生的动态。这项研究以三个关键概念为指导。第一种是群体风格，它被定义为言语规范、概念边界和成员关系之间的交集，对内部和外部互动具有促进和约束作用。第二个是问题词汇——人们如何定义社会问题，密切关注日常交流中的单词和短语；第三个是网络，它不仅是个人和协会之间的一组联系，还包括赋予这些联系的意义和维系这些联系的故事。实证研究首先对住房领域内的关联进行社会网络分析，以确定组织如何理解该领域的边界和结构。然后，该项目将进行大量的民族志研究，以检查群体风格形成、维持和在群体之间转移的过程，利用网络数据来比较协会的真实环境和感知环境。这项工作对该领域产生了实证和理论影响，并为解决公民参与中的感知缺陷带来了更广泛的社会效益。从经验上看，这项工作比以前的工作更紧密地结合了民族志和SNA，从而利用从每种方法中产生的见解来改进另一种方法。这些协同作用对于探索兴趣的公民动态和促进理论发展至关重要，通过将民族志工作置于背景中，并通过更深入地探索通过SNA确定的社会关系所附加的意义。这种结合将深化和补充有关社团公民角色的现有工作，从而降低人们对旨在提高社团参与的项目的期望，并完善促进积极公民形式所需的制度改革概念。此外，通过澄清公民风格的多样性，它将增强公民在公民参与方面的选择意识，特别是那些来自历史上被剥夺权利的社区的公民，他们往往不参与传统形式的公民活动。

SES-0719760Christopher WeareAnn CriglerNina S. EliasophPaul R. LichtermanUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThis study integrates ethnographic research with social network analysis (SNA) to explore the relational, cultural, and institutional dynamics that shape how civic groups define their identities and public issues. The study is motivated by theoretical and empirical findings concerning civic associations, civic culture, and civic engagement. Many studies link a strong civic culture, a set of norms in support of democratic institutions, with a vibrant associational life in which citizens sustain public-spirited conversation and develop solidarities and horizons of interest that reach beyond their circles of like-minded friends. These associations, however, remain somewhat of a black box. Ethnographers who have closely examined associations find that many voluntary associations do not fit the ideal propounded in these theories, that associations actually support multiple forms of civic culture, and that similar activities do occur in other institutional spheres. The study seeks to improve our understanding of how associations shape civic culture by examining how everyday methods of talking and coordinating action both within and between groups help to constitute organizations and their fields. A field is all of the civic, governmental or commercial organizations, coalitions, alliances, etc., that have discussed or acted in relation to a public problem. The study focuses on housing issues in Los Angeles because it is constituted with a rich set of associations with differing interests and cultural backgrounds. This focus also highlights the contrasting understandings that differing groups bring to that field and the dynamics generated by interaction between differing understandings. The research is guided by three key concepts. The first is group styles which are defined as the intersection between speech norms, conceptual boundaries, and membership bonds that have enabling and constraining effect on internal and external interactions. The second is issue vocabularies -- how people define social issues, paying close attention to words and phrases in everyday communication, and the third is networks which are not only the set of ties between individuals and associations but also the meanings attributed to those ties and the stories that sustain them. The empirical work begins with a social network analysis of the association within the housing field to define the how organizations understand the boundaries and structure of the field. The project will then conduct a number of ethnographies to examine the process by which group styles are formed, maintained, and transferred between groups, employing the network data to compare associations' real and perceived environments. This work has empirical and theoretical impacts on the field as well as broader social benefits for addressing perceived deficits in civic engagement. Empirically, this work more closely integrates ethnography and SNA than previous efforts, thereby leveraging insights generated from each method to improve the other. These synergies are critical for exploring the civic dynamics of interest and facilitate theoretical developments by contextualizing ethnographic work and by more deeply exploring the meanings attached to the social relations identified through SNA. This combination will deepen and complement existing work on the civic role of associations in ways that will temper expectations for programs that aim to increase associational participation and refine concepts on the institutional reforms required to promote positive forms of citizenship. Also, by clarifying the diversity of civic styles, it will enhance citizens' sense of choices in civic engagement, particularly those from historically disenfranchised communities that tend not to participate is traditional forms of civic activities.