Rebecca WB Lund and Ann Christin Nilsen (eds),Institutional Ethnography in the Nordic Region

Institutional Ethnography in the Nordic Region illustrates the state-of-the-art use of the Institutional Ethnography (IE) approach and the response to it in the so-called Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and offers insightful pathways for the theoretical and methodological development of this alternative sociological approach, which can also be valuable beyond these countries.

Established by the Canadian sociologist Dorothy E. Smith over 40 years ago, IE is not yet a well-known approach internationally. The school of thought created around Smith’s seminal work developed first in North America, and since then it has grown slowly but incessantly among the international community of scholars who began recognizing the value of this approach.

IE begins by considering people’s everyday experiences and standpoints with the aim to conduct research for people and not just about people. IE aims to develop an alternative sociology to investigate the social organization of everyday life, to understand the processes of objectification in research and institutions, and to challenge such processes; in doing so, it challenges some theoretical assumptions and dualisms (e.g. the micro–macro, structure–agency, individual–society dualisms). These essential characteristics of IE are explained effectively in the first chapter, which serves as an insightful introduction to this edited volume.

The underlying theoretical, methodological, ontological, and epistemological foundations of IE are grounded in and respond to debates in the field of feminist studies and sociology (e.g. the linguistic turns). Because IE is an alternative sociology, it has its own terminology, which is often not easily understandable for those who do not practice IE actively. However, from its first pages onward, this book offers a clear and valuable explanation of this terminology while avoiding being trapped in jargon that could limit the potential of IE, leaving no space for linguistic variation. Specific IE terms and concepts – such as, standpoint, local, and translocal social relations, ruling relations, institutional captures, actualities, and coordination – and how they can be applied in IE are explained in an accessible way, even to those unfamiliar with the approach and its terminology.

The book collects contributions from Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, and Danish scholars who are affiliated with the Institutional Ethnography in the Nordic countries network (IEN), established in 2011. The volume offers the reader original theoretical reflections grounded in the different research experiences and theoretical backgrounds of the scholars affiliated with this network. These reflections are contextualized with the particularities of the Nordic countries: the institutional characteristics of the welfare state, the social science trends, and the features of research policy and university reform.

One of the most innovative contributions of this edited volume is the recognition that the theoretical and methodological developments of IE take a particular form in different contexts. Based on this recognition and inspired by the reflections of the Danish sociologist Gosta Esping-Andersen on welfare capitalism, the editors provide an accurate analysis of how the social, cultural, economic, and historic characteristics of the Nordic countries and the academic analysis of these characteristics shape how IE inquiries and debates have developed in the Nordics. For its emancipatory and transformative power, IE has been adopted by many scholars in the Nordics, addressing, in particular, the topics of the Nordic welfare system and the legacy and development of social research in those countries. The intersections between international processes and national societal and political aspects (e.g. the Nordic welfare state) affect the conditions for conducting sociology and, therefore, the choice of applying IE instead of other approaches. These conditions have been favorable, in particular in Norway, where sociology is a highly recognized, professionalized, legitimized discipline with a strong problem-oriented approach. Therefore, the editors explain that, in comparison to other countries, the Nordic countries have not seen difficulties in legitimating IE, thanks to their strong predisposition toward qualitative and participatory research.

The editors invited the contributors to explore the relevance of IE in investigating contemporary societal issues in the Nordics and the development of IE by combining and confronting IE with other theoretical and methodological approaches. The volume is organized into four sections. The first section contextualizes IE in the Nordic framework for social sciences and explores how the IE position has evolved. The second section presents analyses of the intertwining of IE with other theories. The third section comprises empirical studies conducted in the Nordic countries. Finally, the fourth section discusses the transformative potential of IE in research in the Nordic region and beyond.

The first section, after the meaningful introductory chapter by the editors, contains a precious contribution by Karin Widerberg, the founding member of the IE network in the Nordic region. She explains the ground-breaking nature of Smith’s work and describes why IE studies need historical, contextual, and theoretical understanding and not only a descriptive analysis, making it possible for IE discussions with sociological theory to enhance the potential of local empirical studies. The analysis that Widerberg provides in reflecting on the Norwegian context is powerful, because she underlines the need to deconstruct the IE anti-theoretical approach and to apply broader historical and contextual analysis to local IE studies.

The analytical work conducted in the chapters of the second section responds to Widerberg’s reflection on and editors’ invitation to the value of creating a dialogue between IE and other sociological theories. Scandinavian neo-institutional theory, the actor-network theory, the feminist studies of technoscience, interactionism, and the Nordic postcolonial and critical race studies are the perspectives discussed to highlight how IE can link and contribute to them. This section is particularly innovative in the field of IE international theoretical debates. For instance, Ann Christin E. Nilsen’s chapter offers the opportunity to bridge the gap between Foucault’s discourse analytical approach and Goffman’s interactionism through the IE framework.

The third section provides empirical cases and applications of IE in the Nordic countries while contributing to the theoretical discussion of the IE concepts. A well-rounded example of this contribution is the chapter written by Marjo Kuronen, who explains why and how IE is a valuable approach for social work research in Finnish society, in which social work research and practice have for years ignored gender issues and the feminist approach. After tracing the evolution of IE in the Finnish context, she argues that the remarkable characteristics of IE enable the problematization of social work’s institutional categorization from the point of view of service users. At the same time, it enables analysis of how social workers and other professionals are positioned in the relations of ruling and practices in which users take part. The IE and social work research share the commitment to emancipating and empowering social service users and to the ethical values of a critical and feminist approach.

The fourth and last section gives both the neophyte and the expert reader precious insights into the links between IE and resistance studies. Starting from the context of the Nordic countries, in which resistance is seen as something unnecessary or minor due to the universalistic and egalitarian policies of the Nordic model, the chapter shows the potential of IE, in connection with the concept of everyday resistance, to challenge some of its own boundaries in incorporating or relating with other theoretical concepts and models. Furthermore, it discusses ethical concerns in connecting IE with resistance in empirical research.

To conclude, this edited volume brilliantly meets its two main goals: to show how IE is applied in the Nordic countries and to facilitate IE development by analyzing how it can be combined with other sociological theories and approaches.

One significant contribution of this book is the recognition that IE has developed and works differently in different countries due to the varying sociocultural characteristics of each context. This means that researchers may develop different questions and ways of conducting IE, aspects that should be further explored beyond the Nordic countries.

Accompanied by great analytical and descriptive lucidity of the context of the Nordic countries, this book is also an important exegetical work. Although sometimes the jargon and concepts of IE are difficult for neophytes to understand, the volume brings to fruition the effort to make everything clear and understandable to an audience unaccustomed to IE. At the same time, it develops a high-level, ground-breaking discussion on theoretical and methodological issues, which is not limited to the field of IE studies but rather conceives of IE as a theory and a method in dialogue with other theories and methods. This makes this book indispensable to international scholars who already have advanced knowledge of the IE approach.

Thus, this book offers insightful pathways for the theoretical and methodological development of the IE approach within and beyond the Nordic countries. Finally, it forms a cornerstone in the development of the IE debate outside the North-American context where it was born.