Because of the variety of ethnographic research nowadays, the need increases to locate the researcher’s own approach within this variety for the intersubjective comprehensibility of the research. The argument is that specific ethnographic research programs face different challenges when conducting fieldwork, especially in mediatized fields. This article proposes a differentiation of ethnographic research by theoretical paradigm, methodological stance, and scientific purpose. Following these categories, we specify life-world-analytical ethnography as originating from the (subject-centered) action theory with an emphasis on observational participation, an affirmative–descriptive attitude toward the research, as well as the implementation of data gathered by personal experience and its interactive verification within the field. Furthermore, we address the challenges ethnographers are facing when conducting their research in mediatized fields and illustrate the advantages of a life-world analytical approach on our case of online-livestreams and videogaming. We thereby introduce the concept of passing to methodologically expand this approach.

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Abstract:With the emergence and spread of digital media, more business models foster and empower client participation in medical professions. With services and products ranging from rating platforms to apps targeting self-diagnosis, these businesses transform the client-practitioner relationship yet risk undermining a central pillar of professions-autonomy. Practitioners have to take legal actions against these business models, making visible the frictional interplay among the involved actors. This development calls for an analytical understanding of how this technology-induced cultural change affects professions and discourses on professionalism. We argue that a perspective on how practitioners deal with these challenges in various situations can be beneficial. Hence, we conceptualize professionals as engaged in identifying, assessing and managing risks for themselves and their clients. The emerging risk-management practices lead to an understanding of how this apparent cultural change plays an increasingly meaningful role for research on how professionalism regarding legitimation of authority is negotiated.

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