Field Analysis and Policy Ethnography in the Study of Health Social Movements

This chapter is part of a larger program of research on health social movements. The authors focus upon the most recent developments in their program. First, they elaborate on how they intend to study institutional fields of health social movements. They introduce movement comes from in relation to other social movements. For instance, the environmental justice movement develops out of both the environmental movement and the earlier civil rights movement. That legacy influences the expectations and beliefs of current participants. Second, the authors turn to a methodological development in their work, the writing of policy ethnographies. The policy ethnography helps them to be reflexive as they untangle the activities of movements, themselves as participants, and others in the development of policy. It also adds descriptive richness to the study of movement process and movement outcomes.