Ethnomethodology and the study of markets

This chapter advocates for and provides guidance toward using ethnomethodology to study markets, market-centered social orders and practices that enable markets. Ethnomethodology breaks down into ‘ethno’ - the study of people and human behavior - and ‘methodology’ - the systematic study of methods; thus, ethnomethodology emphasizes the practical methods people use to interpret and navigate their social environments. It is not a specific methodology, but rather a sociological perspective or approach that examines the procedures people employ to create and sustain social order in everyday life. Ethnomethodology focuses on uncovering the micro-level details of how people generate social order and the shared understandings that emerge from these practical methods and the resulting social orders. We review the qualitative methods that ethnomethodologists use to achieve these understandings.