Date: Friday, August 8

Time: 8:30 AM - 10:10 AM

Session 005: CRITICAL DIALOGUE: Institutional Ethnographies of Family Welfare
Room: Chicago Room

Sponsors: Family, Aging, and Youth
Institutional Ethnography

Organizer &

Presider/Discussant: Hans-Peter de Ruiter, Minnesota State University

Description: 

This session explores the application of Institutional Ethnography (IE) in examining the intersections of family, aging, and youth within welfare systems. Through critical dialogue, scholars will share research that unpacks how institutional processes shape the lived experiences of families across the lifespan. Topics may include the medicalization of childhood through cultural texts, the interplay of parenting, precarity, and gender transformations, ethical lessons from National Socialist-era healthcare practices, textually mediated helping relationships in public social services, and the overarching question of who takes responsibility for care in family and societal structures By centering the perspectives of those directly affected, this session highlights how IE can reveal hidden power structures and opportunities for transformative change in family welfare.

Papers:

“Ethical and Professional Dilemmas Facing Social Workers in Eldercare,” Chris R. Wellin, Illinois State University

“Lessons from National Socialist-era Healthcare for Ethical Practices Today: An Archival Institutional Ethnography,” Hans-Peter de Ruiter, Minnesota State University

“Medicalizing Childhood: A Discourse Analysis of Children’s Books about Doctors and Hospitals,” Wendy Simonds, Georgia State University

“Textually Mediated Helping Relationships in Public Social Services,” Hagit Sinai-Glazer, Tel Aviv University

“Who Cares? An Institutional Ethnographer’s Sensibility at Work,” Brenda Solomon, University of Vermont

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