The approach that focuses on the background assumptions people use to understand everyday life is called

Question

a. Scientific management.

 

b. McDonaldization thesis.

 

c. Ethnomethodology.

 

d. Alienation.

 

Answer 1

The short answer "c." Ethnomethodology.

Ethnomethodology lets us look at the word ethno. Ethno is derived from the Greek word nation. It usually refers to an ethnic or cultural group. Ethnomethodology is the way humans use cultural knowledge to help them maneuver through their daily lives, such as special food at a holiday or understanding expectations from their family and the broader community. It also relates to those unspoken standards-definitions of behavior, such as roles and expectations. Do not be confused with ethnicity; it is not a race. Race is a social construct Ethnicity describes the cultural differences among populations, usually based on attributes such as language, gender roles, family, lifestyle, and cultural ideas about common descent and territory. An ethnic group is a collective of people who believe they share a common history, values-norms, and ancestry (Peniston lecture 2014).

Enculturation, the process by which people learn, interaction, and acquire their culture. There are two ways by which a person or group of people learn. The first is acculturation. A subordinate group adopts many of the cultural traits of the dominant group. People usually refer to themselves as something, _____American. That is using the identifier of their ethnicity then the word American. Second, is (cultural) assimilation, the process of absorbing an ethnic group into the wider society. Remember, culture is learned, not genetics-biologically inherited. Hair color is genetics vs. Hairstyles are cultural (Peniston lecture 2014).

Ethnomethodology is a social learning process that involves:

1) Observations and responses to a stimulus and that response is added to one’s behavior. 2) Symbolic learning, a uniquely human characteristic which is the ability to use and understand symbols. And 3) Situational learning, trial, and error based upon direct experience and/or adjustments, this is conditioning based upon rewards and punishment.

In conclusion, Ethnomethodology is a learning process that is the accumulation of symbolic knowledge that is shared by the ethnic group.