TOWARD AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION IN YOUNG PEOPLES CULTURES - ONTHE FIELD AND METHODOLOGY OF PEER-GROUP STUDIES

This paper discusses the merits and shortcomings of ethnographic resea rch in the field of the sociology of youth. Methodologically the domin ant research practice in ethnography is restricted to an actor's point of view because its data consist of reconstructive accounts of everyd ay practices given by the actors rather than documentation of everyday practices themselves. It is concluded that the traditional mode of re search still has not reached the reality of the everyday practices of adolescents. This point is demonstrated by means of a critique of the interview methods that prevail in ethnographic studies. As an alternat ive to traditional modes of research the approach of an ethnography of the communication of young people's cultures founded on conversation analysis is advocated, and the conception of an integration of convers ation analytic and ethnographic procedures is outlined. Finally, the w ays in which this new perspective might advance new answers to questio ns in the field of the sociology of youth are discussed.