Abstract
Noting the emergence of ethnographic or fieldwork methods as the preferred methodology of many researchers in the sociology of deviance, this article focuses on a particular problem which occurs when such methods are adapted to the study of deviant groups, namely the strains that develop in researchers' relationships with professional colleagues and significant others, particularly family and friends, outside of academia. The article is based on the authors' observations of others' reactions to their research on the homosexual or gay subculture, informal conversations with sociologists who have done fieldwork among stigmatized groups, and more general observations of the ways in which sociology is practiced. The authors seek to increase awareness of the problem, especially among those who will do similar studies in the future; and to offer practical suggestions that may be employed to reduce the possibility of labeling and its accompanying problems.
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This article is a version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society, Minneapolis, 1979. We thank Karen Peterson, Murray L. Wax, and anonymous referees for criticisms of earlier drafts. The authors' names were ordered arbitrarily. Their contributions are equal.
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Kirby, R., Corzine, J. The contagion of stigma: Fieldwork among deviants. Qual Sociol 4, 3–20 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987041
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00987041