Hopefully, by the end of the year or at the latest by Spring 2023 “The Anthem Companion to Harold Garfinkel” co-edited by Philippe Sormani and myself will be published with Anthem Press. It’s currently due to be published in March 2023.

Hopefully, by the end of the year or at the latest by Spring 2023 “The Anthem Companion to Harold Garfinkel” co-edited by Philippe Sormani and myself will be published with Anthem Press. It’s currently due to be published in March 2023.
The introduction to “Introduction to “The Routledge International Handbook of Interactionism” edited by Dirk vom Lehn, Natalia Ruiz-Junco, and Will Gibson (2021) can be downloaded below.
Soeben ist mein Aufsatz/Review Essay zur exzellenten Übersetzung von Harold Garfinkels ‘Studies in Ethnomethodology’ in der Soziologischen Review erschienen.
vom Lehn, D. (2021). Ethnomethodologie: von marginalem Forschungsprogramm zu soziologischem Klassiker. Review Essay zu Harold Garfinkel, ‚Studien zur Ethnomethodologie‘, herausgegeben von Erhard Schüttpelz / Anne Warfield Rawls / Tristan Thielmann, übersetzt von Brigitte Luchesi, Frankfurt/New York: Campus 2020, 386 S., gb., 24,95 € Original: Harold Garfinkel, ‘Studies in Ethnomethodology’, Englewood Cliffs/NJ, Prentice-Hall 1967, 304 S. In Soziologische Revue, vol. 44, no. 4, 2021, pp. 518-531. https://doi.org/10.1515/srsr-2021-0069
Brigitte Biehl and I have continued our exploration of “atmospheres” by examining how spaces and their atmospheres are dynamically produced through people’s action and interaction. Our analysis is based on studies at a museum and a techno club that due to the global pandemic was transformed into an art exhibition. The research was published in the book “The Metamorphosis of Cultural and Creative Organizations” edited by Federica De Molli and Marilena Secco.
Atmospheres as dynamic configurations: The case of a museum and a techno club by Brigitte Biehl & Dirk vom Lehn
Abstract: Organizational spaces and museum exhibitions are often designed to encompass people with a given atmosphere that encourage particular behavioural and cognitive responses. In a leisure context such as techno clubs, people are given the opportunity to have experiences that are site-specific standing in a particular a nightlife tradition. Similarly, in museums people encounter objects and artefacts displayed to allow them to have an aesthetic experience. In our chapter, we will draw on Gernot Böhme’s aesthetic theory, developing his notion of atmosphere and aesthetic work. We explore how spaces and their atmospheres are dynamically produced through people’s action and interaction. Our investigation will consider atmospheres as ongoing, as continually produced and transformed through people’s “aesthetic work”, i.e. actions, movements, and embodied interaction influenced by their moods, emotions and energy, as well as their memories and past experiences. Based on our analysis we will argue that leisure and cultural experiences arise within the spaces and atmosphere that people co-create through their presence and activities. We draw on examples from the cultural and creative industries: the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Berghain techno club in Berlin, which during the global pandemic in 2020 was transformed into an art exhibition “Studio Berlin” in co-operation with Boros art foundation.
Table of Contents
Preface Antonio Strati
1. Cultural and creative organizations’ space: An introduction
Federica De Molli and Marilena Vecco
Part I – Aesthetic
2. Atmosphere in cultural organisations: A circumplex model of affective atmospheres
Christian Julmi
3. Atmospheres as dynamic configurations: The case of a museum and a techno club
Brigitte Biehl (Biehl-Missal) and Dirk vom Lehn
4. Creative spaces in higher education
Tatiana Chemi
5. ‘Being t/here apart-together’: Co-creative work(ing) in bodily-digital ‘inter-places’
Wendelin Küpers and Stephan Sonnenburg
Part II – Symbolic
6. Organizational spatial transformation: The case of the un-festival
Grant Hall and Ruth Rentschler
7. The spatial production of festivals: Ritualization, liminality and performativity
Leonore van den Ende
8. Artistic space: Painting and the making of space
Eleonora Montagner and Alvise Favotto
9. Museum spaces and changes
Graham Black
Part III – Instrumental
10. Space technologies and cultural organizations
Daniel Ericsson
11. The regional context in entrepreneurial finance of cultural business: Urban versus rural space for creative and cultural entrepreneurship
Elmar D. Konrad and Max Höllen
12. Community-driven cultural spaces and the COVID-19 pandemic
Matina Magkou, Laura Huret and Vincent Lambert
13. The expansion of virtual spaces of superstar and star museums during the COVID-19 lockdown
Anne Gombault and Oihab Allal-Cherif
14. Future perspectives for research on creative and cultural sectors using a spatial approach
Federica De Molli
Over 20 years ago, in 2000, Franz Breuer, Jo Reichertz and Wolff-Michael Roth started a FQS debate on the “Quality of Qualitative Research.” In past contributions to this debate a wide range of issues has been discussed, such as various qualitative techniques of collecting or analyzing data, or the application of such methods within different disciplinary and institutional contexts. Since its beginning, the call for contributions to this debate has remained unchanged, while academic discussions surrounding this topic have changed substantially. The questions that were raised originally—What is “good” science? What are “good” social sciences? What is “good” qualitative social research? What are the criteria and standards for such evaluations?—are still relevant today and will continue to provide a baseline for future contributions, however, an update of the call for this FQS debate may be in order.
In the past, qualitative researchers have fought hard for acceptance and recognition of their work; this battle has largely been won. Today, in most social science disciplines (perhaps with the exception of psychology), qualitative epistemologies, theories, and methods are used and taught as “mainstream” science alongside their quantitative counterparts. Most university colleagues, students, and administrators have fully accepted their legitimacy and utility. While this is excellent news, it does not mean that debates about the “quality” of qualitative research have been, or should be, abandoned. Today, such debates take place in multiple contexts of discourse in which the “quality” of qualitative research is understood and treated in very different ways.
Despite long-standing discussions about the quality of qualitative research, still no agreement has been reached about a catalogue of criteria that would serve to guarantee its value across the myriad contexts in which it is used today, similar to the classical, canonical standards that exist for quantitative scholars. In fact, we must broaden our understandings of what qualitative research is, and how it is practiced, while we continue to ask questions about its “quality.” The many issues and questions raised above may serve to re-invigorate discussions about the “Quality of Qualitative Research” in this FQS Debates, in alignment with current developments and concerns. As internal and external conditions for qualitative research practice have changed, a new engagement with the original issues, we hope, will invite new participants, raise new questions, and will lead to new insights within this worthwhile “Quality” debate. A reconfigured international FQS debate team eagerly awaits your submissions.
This is a Call without a deadline.
For questions, please contact the Section Editors: Franz Breuer, Paul Eisewicht, Margarethe Kusenbach, Jo Reichertz, Dirk vom Lehn, e-mail: deb_quality@qualitative-research.net
There is lots of interest in the influence robots have on our work and life. Public debate often considers the emerging technology as an external force that shapes and threatens social relationships, thereby ignoring that it is people who make decisions about the design, development and deployment of new technology.
In her book “The New Breed” Kate Darling offers a novel perspective on human-robot relationships by introducing the human-animal relationship as an analogy that may encourage researchers, including interactionists, to consider the relationship between humans and robots in new ways. My review of The New Breed” has just been published in Symbolic Interaction.
In June, I wrote a short piece about the practice of theorising, ethnomethodology, and the pandemic for the Magazine of The Sociological Review. The brief text can be accessed HERE or by clicking the image below.
The changing role of the optometrist in assessing eye-sight and eye health during and after Covid-19
King’s Business School have a 4 year, fully funded PhD studentship (fees and stipend) available to undertake research concerned with communication and interaction in remote optometry consultations. The successful candidate will be expected to undertake qualitative, in-depth, studies of the organisation of eye examinations undertaken via telephone, video-phone, etc. Their research will relate to previous video-based studies of communication and interaction undertaken by the supervisory team.
The successful candidate will be a member of the Work, Interaction & Technology Research Group at King’s Business School. Members of the WIT Group are concerned with social interaction in organisational settings, examining the interplay between social interaction and technology. Candidates will undertake naturalistic studies of communication and interaction in optometry that draw on ethnographic and video-based research methods. They will have a social science background and have received training in qualitative research methods, including ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, ethnography, qualitative interviewing and grounded theory.
The PhD project will be undertaken in collaboration with the College of Optometrists and co-supervised by Professor Dirk vom Lehn (KCL) and Professor Peter Allen (Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge). It, therefore, provides candidates with the opportunity to develop a distinctive approach to their research.
The successful candidate will begin in October 2021.
For further information, please contact Professor Dirk vom Lehn at dirk.vom_lehn@kcl.ac.uk
Application Information
Early applications are encouraged. Applicants are strongly advised to contact the supervisor Professor Dirk vom Lehn at dirk.vom_lehn@kcl.ac.uk
Please submit the following to kbs-phd@kcl.ac.uk
Note – applicants must check that they meet our entry requirements prior to applying
You should hold, or be completing, a Master’s degree with a Merit or higher (or overseas equivalent) and have achieved a 2:1 Bachelor’s degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant subject.
If you are a native English speaker or have been awarded a degree within the last five years from one of the countries listed here, you may not be required to take an English language test. English language competency is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
If your first language is not English you must be able to provide recent evidence that your spoken and written command of the English language is adequate for the programmes for which you have applied. Check our English language requirements here (Band B). You can use our pre-sessional English calculator to check if your language scores meet our requirements.
Please note, we cannot review individual eligibility before you apply and are only able to consider complete applications which include all supporting documents.
Application Procedure
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview and the successful candidate will be asked to submit their formal application via King’s Apply online system.
Please contact kbs-phd@kcl.ac.uk if you have any queries regarding the application procedure.
Part 1
Dirk vom Lehn, Natalia Ruiz-Junco and Will Gibson
Part 2 – Varieties of Interactionism
2.1. Pragmatism and Interactionism – Frithjof Nungesser
2.2. Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism and 21st century sociology – Thomas J. Morrione
2.3. Straussian Negotiated Order Theory c.1960-Present – Adele Clarke
2.4. Recent Developments in the New Iowa School of Symbolic Interactionism – Michael Katovich and Shing-Ling S. Chen
2.5. Dramaturgical Framework and Interactionism – Greg Smith
2.6. Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis: The Other Interactionism – Jason Turowetz and Anne Warfield Rawls
Part 3–Self, Identity, and Emotions
3.1 Click, Validate, and Reply: Three Paradoxes of the Terminal Self – Simon Gottschalk
3.2. Animal Selfhood – Leslie Irvine
3.3. The Self and the Supernatural – Rachael Ironside
3.4. The (Un)Healthy Body and the Self – Lisa Jean Moore and Sumayra Khan
3.5. Identity and Racialisation – Matt Hughey & Michael Rosino
3.6. Symbolic Interaction beyond Binaries – J.E. Sumerau
3.7. Culture and Emotion: Interactionist Perspectives – Doyle McCarthy
Part 4 – Social Organisation
4.1. Organizations and Institutions – Patrick McGinty
4.2. Symbolic Interactionism, Social Structure, and Social Change: Historical Debates and Contemporary Challenges – Stacey Hannem
4.3. Mental Health and Symbolic Interactionism: Untapped Opportunities – Baptiste Brossard
4.4. Handling Video of [Police] Violence: Theoretical versus Practical Analyses
– Patrick Watson & Albert J. Meehan
4.5. Space, Mobility, and Interaction – Robin James Smith
4.6. Nature and the Environment in Interaction – Anthony Puddephatt
4.7. The Social Construction of Time – Michael G. Flaherty
4.8. Collective Memory – Lisa-Jo van den Scott
Part 5 – Interactionism, Media and the Internet
5.1. Media Logic, Fear, and the Construction of Terrorism – David Altheide
5.2. Public Fear and the Media – Joel Best
5.3. Policing and Social Media – Chris Schneider
5.4. Interactionism and online identity: How has interactionism contributed to understandings of online identity? – Hannah Ditchfield
5.5. Physical Co-presence and Distinctive Features of Online Interactions – Xiaoli Tian and Yui Fung Yip
5.6. Happy Birthday Michael Jackson: Dead Celebrity and Online Interaction – Kerry O. Ferris
5.7. Multi-Player Online Gaming – David Kirschner
Part 6 – New Developments in Methods
6.1. Situational Analysis as Critical Pragmatist Interactionism – Carrie Friese, Rachel Washburn & Adele Clarke
6.2. Video in Interactionist Research – René Tuma
6.3. Digital Naturalism: Ethnography in Networked Worlds: Ethnography in Networked Worlds – Michael Dellwing
6.4. Ethics in Symbolic Interactionist Research – Will & Deborah van den Hoonard
Part 7 – Reimagining Interactionism
7.1. Toward an expanded Definition of Interactionism – Linda Liska Belgrave, Kapriskie Seide and Kathy Charmaz
7.2. Some Antinomies of Interactionism – Martyn Hammersley
7.3. Interactionist Research: Extending Methods, Extending Fields – Emilie Morwenna Whitaker & Paul Atkinson
7.4. The New Horizons of Symbolic Interactionism – Kent Sandstrom, Lisa K. van den Scott & Gary Alan Fine
This was fun! Over the past couple years, I worked with Natalia Ruiz-Junco, Will Gibson and over 30 colleagues on the production of the International Routledge Handbook of Interactionism. The book is currently prepared for publication on May 27th. The electronic version of the Handbook which is much more affordable than the printed book, can already be purchased.
Because we had so much fun cooperating on this book, we are planning our next joint project already. We are currently working on an edited book with the working title “People, Technology, and Social Organization: interactionist studies of everyday life”. A Call for Abstracts with a deadline of May 15th can be accessed here.