Revisiting the un/ethical: the complex ethics of elite studies research

Lillie, Karen; Ayling, Pere

doi:10.1177/1468794120965361

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Being an 'insider researcher' can present various ethical dilemmas. These arise both in the fieldwork stage, such as around delineating between what is said to the 'researcher' for use in analysis and what is said to the 'person' on a private basis, and in the analysis stage, for example around balancing analytical objectivity with the personal relationship that exists between the researcher, the site and subjects (Lillie and Ayling, 2021). However, being an 'insider' is also often the only way to get access to elite educational institutions (see also Gaztambide-Fernández, 2009;Howard, 2008;Khan, 2011).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practices of Consumption: Cohesion and Distinction within a Globally Wealthy Group

Lillie,

Maxwell

2023

Sociology

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An ongoing debate in the literature is around the existence and constitution of a so-called ‘global elite’. This article enters that debate – seeking to understand what connected but also divided a group of wealthy young people occupying a transnational space. It examines consumptive practices at one of the most expensive secondary schools in the world, educating a cross-section of the globally wealthy in Switzerland. The article offers insights into the boredom that pervaded this group, shaping some of the consumptive practices that bound its members. It also argues that other consumptive practices reflected consciously articulated differences within this group, such as national- and linguistic-based social groupings. The case study offers a unique opportunity to examine consumption as a lens onto cohesion and distinction within a particular group of transnationally located, wealthy young people, thus contributing to scholarship around the nature of the ‘global elite’ at large.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practices of Consumption: Cohesion and Distinction within a Globally Wealthy Group

Lillie,

Maxwell

2023

Sociology

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“…But it is too simple to conclude that researchers are always the more powerful in that process. As elite research (Mikecz, 2012; Lillie and Ayling, 2020) but also other examples such as those discussed in this special issue demonstrate vividly, research subjects also can muster resources and embodied power that can affect the research process strongly or even discriminate or devaluate the researchers—thus inversing supposedly established hierarchies in a more or less fundamental or lasting manner.…”

Section: Disturbing the Role Of The Researcher—hierarchies And Destab...mentioning

confidence: 95%

Hierarchy and inequality in research: Practices, ethics and experiences

Frers

Meier

2022

Qualitative Research

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Research as a social practice enacts social hierarchies in the relation between researcher and the researched. Taking up the critique of the consequences of such hierarchies in the production of knowledge, participatory methods aim to decolonize this power relation. This article contributes to this topic by discussing limits of participation, highlighting the often unexpected reemergence of power and hierarchies in a leveled research field. We take a closer look at how inequalities are emerging and negotiated in the research process. Troublings of hierarchies during the research process are considered as eminently productive for the analysis of social inequalities and for maintaining a precarious ethics of care in the research process. Other articles that also contribute to the special issue opened by this contribution analyze sources and expressions of hierarchy and power troubles during qualitative research by putting a specific focus on unforeseen challenges, inversions, and obstacles that arise during research processes. The contributions demonstrate what specific insights into social inequalities can be gained through an analytical focus on such troubles. It is demonstrated that a critical reflection of inequalities in research relations can also be a contribution to research on social inequalities in general.

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“…Here, I share one strategy I thought was crucial in my experience of studying up. That is by picking and building allies by playing up my researcher identity (Lillie & Ayling, 2020) foremost in the field. Secondly, these allies often also guided me on the cultural nuances of navigating local politics, and I was able to capitalize on this newfound knowledge to make more sensible decisions and relationships in the study, such as how to approach elites for information without comprising mine or their expectations.…”

Section: Leader Grlsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The secret lives of urban kampong chiefs : a political ethnography of grassroots leaders in Singapore's neighbourhood governance and regime politics

Wong¹

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Who are grassroots leaders, how are they organized, and how do their roles and practices as community leaders in grassroots politics shape Singapore"s contemporary urban governance and party-politics? With over 52,000 members spread across hundreds of state-sponsored local organizations such as Citizen Consultative Committees and Resident Committees, and a local presence in every neighbourhood in Singapore today, grassroots leaders are a ubiquitous sight in Singapore"s neighbourhood politics. Despite its empirical significance, previous studies have analysed grassroots leaders through top-down, macro-based, and formal-rational approaches. These studies regard grassroots leaders as passive subjects with the minimal agency to influence local grassroots politics beyond what has been structured through the political institutions they serve. Recently, an emerging scholarship that focuses on the middling roles and emic experiences of community actors in mediating grassroots politics has gained currency. These studies depict the vital roles community leaders play in shaping the styles of urban governance and authoritarian regime resilience. They also call for renewed inquiries into existing political actors" lived experiences and their relationship with political legitimacy and regime durability.This study responds to the above call by examining the political formations, roles, and significance of grassroots leaders in Singapore through a political ethnography of Singapore"s grassroots sector in four neighbourhoods within a local political ward in Singapore. Here, I focus on grassroots leaders and their governing practices as they mediate state-society relations as state-sponsored volunteers. I trace the different ways grassroots leaders reproduce different forms of political and state relations through their daily encounters with other actors such as residents and street bureaucrats at the neighbourhood level that make up a significant

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Revisiting the un/ethical: the complex ethics of elite studies research

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Practices of Consumption: Cohesion and Distinction within a Globally Wealthy Group

Practices of Consumption: Cohesion and Distinction within a Globally Wealthy Group

Hierarchy and inequality in research: Practices, ethics and experiences

The secret lives of urban kampong chiefs : a political ethnography of grassroots leaders in Singapore's neighbourhood governance and regime politics

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