Illustrations of ethical dilemmas during ethnographic fieldwork: when social justice meets neoliberalism in adult education

IF 1.1 Q3 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Ethnography and Education Pub Date : 2023-01-02 DOI:10.1080/17457823.2023.2180324

Virginie Thériault, Jean-Pierre Mercier

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the ethical dilemmas encountered by two ethnographers in adult education research in a context where neoliberalism impacts on education settings, policies, and social justice. Everyday ethical dilemmas arise in thorny situations in which the general ethical principles ethnographers are regulated by cannot help them react or respond in the heat of the moment. The three technological processes through which neoliberalism in education is operationalised (the market, management, and performance) are used to analyse two ethnographic research contexts in adult education settings in Québec, Canada. The empirical data generated from these two separate investigations are used to construct six vignettes illustrating how neoliberal technologies influence social justice in those settings. Neoliberalism, precarity and social justice are closely related both theoretically and in our results. The data show the sensitivity required by the ethnographer to navigate the precarious situations that individuals and organisations face vis-a-vis neoliberalism in adult education.

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民族志田野调查中伦理困境的例证:当社会正义与成人教育中的新自由主义相遇

摘要本文探讨了两位民族志学者在新自由主义影响教育环境、政策和社会正义的背景下，在成人教育研究中遇到的伦理困境。日常的伦理困境出现在棘手的情况下，民族志学家所遵循的一般伦理原则无法帮助他们在最激烈的时刻做出反应或回应。教育中新自由主义运作的三个技术过程（市场、管理和绩效）被用来分析加拿大魁北克成人教育环境中的两个民族志研究背景。这两项独立调查产生的经验数据被用来构建六个小插曲，说明新自由主义技术如何在这些环境中影响社会正义。新自由主义、不稳定和社会正义在理论上和结果上都有着密切的联系。这些数据显示了民族志学家在应对个人和组织在成人教育中面临的新自由主义时所需的敏感性。

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来源期刊

Ethnography and Education EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH-

CiteScore

1.80

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0.00%

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期刊介绍： Ethnography and Education is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing articles that illuminate educational practices through empirical methodologies, which prioritise the experiences and perspectives of those involved. The journal is open to a wide range of ethnographic research that emanates from the perspectives of sociology, linguistics, history, psychology and general educational studies as well as anthropology. The journal’s priority is to support ethnographic research that involves long-term engagement with those studied in order to understand their cultures, uses multiple methods of generating data, and recognises the centrality of the researcher in the research process. The journal welcomes substantive and methodological articles that seek to explicate and challenge the effects of educational policies and practices; interrogate and develop theories about educational structures, policies and experiences; highlight the agency of educational actors; and provide accounts of how the everyday practices of those engaged in education are instrumental in social reproduction.