Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

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145874

Ethnomethodology and the Rashomon problem

Hideo Hama

pp. 183-192

Abstract

In his doctoral dissertation, Harold Garfinkel critically examined Talcott Parsons' classical formulation of the problem of order referred to as the "Hobbesian problem". Garfinkel's criticism can be summarized under the following three headings: (1) common sense rationality replaces scientific rationality; (2) the level of the premises of conduct replaces the level of de facto action; (3) congruence theory replaces the correspondence theory. The aim of this paper is to make some observations on the structure of the problem of order which Garfinkel discovered through this criticism. I propose to call it the "Rashomon problem" after Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon. Ethnomethodology can be regarded as an attempt to solve the "Rashomon problem".

Publication details

Published in:

(1999) Human Studies 22 (2-4).

Pages: 183-192

DOI: 10.1023/A:1005436400730

Full citation:

Hama Hideo (1999) „Ethnomethodology and the Rashomon problem“. Human Studies 22 (2-4), 183–192.