The Second Edition of Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Interpretive Turn offers an innovative extension of grounded theory useful in qualitative research projects that draws on interviews, observations, and visual, narrative, and historical discourse materials. To engage the dense complexities of real world situations, Situational Analysis (SA) braids together Strauss's ecological social worlds/arenas theory, Foucault's discourse analysis, and Deleuze and Guattari's rhizomes and assemblages. In SA, the situation itself becomes the fundamental unit of analysis. Using extensive examples, the authors discuss getting started, how to create three kinds of maps emphasizing differences and relationality (situational maps, social world/arena maps, and positional maps), the kinds of analytic work they accomplish, and how to write up the results centered on the distinctive strengths of the method. The book will serve as an invaluable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate-level students, as well as professional researchers and consultants from diverse backgrounds pursuing qualitative projects.

About the Author
Adele E. Clarke was Professor of Sociology and History of Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She studied with Anselm Strauss and used and taught grounded theory, developing situational analysis as an extension. Her book Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn (SAGE, 2005) won the Cooley Distinguished Book Award, Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. The 2nd edition with Carrie Friese and Rachel Washburn appeared in 2018. Clarke's research centered on science, technology, and medicine studies, especially biomedicalization and technologies for women. Her book Disciplining Reproduction: Modernity, American Life Sciences and the "Problem of Sex" won the Basker Award, Society for Medical Anthropology, and Fleck Award, Society for Social Studies of Science. Clarke received the 2013 Bernal Prize for Outstanding Contributions from the Society for Social Studies of Science and the 2015 Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology. Carrie Friese (PhD) is associate professor of sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her initial research focused on assisted reproductive technologies for humans and endangered species, including the development of interspecies nuclear transfer (aka cloning) for species preservation in zoos. Her book Cloning Wild Life: Zoos, Captivity and the Future of Endangered Animals (NYU Press) appeared in 2013. Friese's new research project explores animal husbandry and care in scientific knowledge production, including comparisons of care practices and their regulation in the United Kingdom. She has used situational analysis across these research projects and has given talks and taught courses on the method across Europe. Rachel Washburn (PhD) is associate professor of Sociology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She used situational analysis in her doctoral research on the politics of human biomonitoring and has continued to do so in subsequent research on the same topic. Her dissertation, Measuring the Chemicals Within: The Social Terrain of Human Biomonitoring in the United States, was awarded the Anselm Strauss Outstanding Qualitative Dissertation Award in 2009. She has given talks and workshops on situational analysis at universities in the United States and Canada. Her current research examines the politics of mid-20th-century science related to the human health effects of pesticides.

Reviews

"The book is a milestone in the development of qualitative research. It shows comprehensively and convincingly how pragmatism and post-structuralism can be used to analyze the complexity of our contemporary condition."

-- Rainer Winter

"This updated text has moved the field further along in its understanding of not just the theoretical underpinning of SA, but the practical steps of how to use it well. Anyone wanting to know how to construct a sound SA research design must read this book."

-- Adah Ward Randolph

"Relentlessly empirical and fiercely situated, the second edition is dense, refreshing, and conversational. It invites readers to practice the art of Situational Analysis and extends the reach, relevance, and versatility of the conceptual methodology."

-- Nancy D. Campbell

"The new edition captures the substance and the excitement of Situational Analysis and its relation to other developments in social science, provides well-elaborated examples to make the methods concrete, and points to questions of theory that invite career-length exploration."

-- Peter Taylor

"Imagine a conceptual methodology textbook that serves as coach, mentor, and cheerleader for Situational Analysis. The second edition supports and facilitates constant reflection while you are researching, analyzing, and writing. It will motivate many fine projects in the years to come."

-- Nancy Campbell

"Situational Analysis helps researchers critically and constructively map the complexities of today's diverse and often contested aspects of human and technological interaction. Use of this second edition of Situational Analysis will enable further ideas and dialogues to address postmodern dilemmas."

-- Tom Strong

"This extensively updated edition puts qualitative data analysis in the grounded theory tradition on the map, literally and figuratively."

-- Stefan Timmermans

"The present book is a powerful revision of Situational Analysis. Adele E. Clarke and her co-authors succeed all through this 'theory-methods package' in combining older and newest theory and methodology in social inquiry beyond jargon, with a carefully elaborated introduction into the practice of doing SA analysis. The authors so much know and live what they are writing about - this is the book's core feeling from start to end."

-- Reiner Keller

"I have been teaching Situational Analysis to my graduate and post-graduate students based on the first edition of Clarke's book for some years. The students have appreciated her direct and hands-on approach to studying complex and intricate empirical issues. I very much look forward to use this second edition of Situational Analysis in my courses. It will offer the students even more guidance for their studies. It has a unique blend of theoretical depth and practical applicability that speaks directly to students and scholars who want engage with empirical complexities."

-- Anders Buch



Book Information
ISBN 9781452260907
Author Adele E. Clarke
Format Paperback
Page Count 464
Imprint SAGE Publications Inc
Publisher SAGE Publications Inc
Weight(grams) 820g