Harold Garfinkel: Katalog odnoi zhizni

Abstract

This tribute to Harold Garfinkel (1917–2011) attempts to situate the U.S. sociologist’s work, and in particular the ethnomethodological approach he developed, in the present state of the social sciences. Ethomethodology is neither a sociological theory nor a tradition in the customary sense of the term. This makes it more difficult to appreciate Garfinkel’s legacy as a unified project. In order to overcome this difficulty, the paper uses the metaphor of a catalog or, more precisely, a series of differently organized catalogs. First and most important among these is an inventory of Gafinkel’s research, beginning with his doctoral dissertation. The second is a catalog of ethnomethodological studies carried out by his colleagues and students. The third includes the sources, authors, and books that Garfinkel continuously returned to in his intellectual endeavor. Far from being exhaustive or final, this list aims, rather, to convey the spirit of ethnomethodology, whose effectiveness was proven in every one of Garfinkel’s studies.