Researching Sex Work: Dynamics, Difficulties and Decisions

The sexual behaviour and lifestyles of others are entrenched in anthropological and sociological studies. Classic works from Malinowski (1929/1987) and Mead (1928/1949) both explore the sexual activities of so-called ‘primitive’ societies. More recent, somewhat controversial work places sexual behaviour at the centre of sociological inquiry. Bolton (1995) had sex with gay informants; Goode (2003) became a member of the Fat Civil Rights Organization by admitting and pursuing his sexual attraction to large women, while Blackwood (1995), Altork (1995) and Killick (1995) all reveal their involvement in erotic field relations. ‘Going native’ is not uncommon in the sexual setting. Douglas (1977) left his clothes behind to partake in the nude beach scene, Parry (1982) became a naturist in order to understand the codes and practices of the subculture, and Humphreys (1970) became a ‘watch queen’ outside public toilets in a park while men engaged in homosexual rendezvous. One...

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- This is an excellent collection of papers which celebrates the best of traditional approaches to fieldwork, whilst also looking to its future. The Handbook will quickly become essential reading for the novice and experienced fieldworker across many of the social sciences' - Chris Pole, University of Leicester. Fieldwork is widely practiced but little written about, yet accounts of the exotic, mundane, complex and often dangerous are central to not only sociology and anthropology but also geography, social psychology and criminology. In all these - increasingly overlapping - fields, experience underlies any comprehensive understanding of social life. The SAGE Handbook of Fieldwork presents the first major overview of this method in all its variety, introducing the reader to the strengths, weaknesses, and 'real world' applications of fieldwork techniques. Its 22 carefully chosen chapters are each based on a substantive field of empirical enquiry, written by an acknowledged expert in the field. The range is impressive: from the traditional to the virtual, concerning subjects as diverse as emotion, sexuality, sport, embodiment, identity, self-narrative, fieldwork in organizations, science and technology. Specifically intended for use in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in qualitative research design and methodology in sociology, anthropology, criminology, urban studies, social geography, public health and education, the handbook will also prove beneficial to academic researchers in these and other disciplines.
Table of contents
- - Front Matter
    - Copyright
    - Preface
- - PART ONE: LOCATING FIELDWORK
    - The Fieldwork Tradition
      - George J. McCall
    - Praxical Reasoning and the Logic of Field Research
      - Gary Shank
  - PART TWO: SITUATING FIELDWORK
    - Jelly's Place: An Ethnographic Memoir
      - Elijah Anderson
    - Your Place or Mine: The Geography of Social Research
      - Michael Stein
  - PART THREE: SITUATING THE RESPONDENTS
    - Fieldwork with the Elite: Interviewing White-Collar Criminals
      - Mary Dodge
      - Gilbert Geis
    - Entering the Field: Recruiting Latinos for Ethnographic Research
      - C. H. Browner
      - H. Mabel Preloran
  - PART FOUR: FIELDWORK AS A REFLEXIVE ENTERPRISE
    - Self-Narratives and Ethnographic Fieldwork
      - Ben Crewe
      - Shadd Maruna
    - ‘You Don't Do Fieldwork, Fieldwork Does You’: Between Subjectivation and Objectivation in Anthropological Fieldwork
      - Bob Simpson
  - PART FIVE: THE FIELD OF EMOTION
    - Aural Sex: The Politics and Moral Dilemmas of Studying the Social Construction of Fantasy
      - Christine Mattley
    - The Case for Dangerous Fieldwork
      - Bruce Jacobs
  - PART SIX: FIELDWORK AND SEXUALITIES
    - Fieldwork on Urban Male Homosexuality in Mexico
      - Joseph Carrier
    - Knowing Sexuality: Epistemologies of Research
      - Chris Haywood
      - Mairtin Mac an Ghaill
    - Researching Sex Work: Dynamics, Difficulties, and Decisions
      - Teela Sanders
  - PART SEVEN: EMBODIMENT AND IDENTITY
    - Fieldwork and the Body: Reflections on an Embodied Ethnography
      - Lee F. Monaghan
    - Sport Ethnography: A Personal Account
      - Susan Brownell
    - Hidden Identities and Personal Stories: International Research about Women in Sport
      - Jennifer Hargreaves
  - PART EIGHT: FIELDWORK IN ORGANISATIONS
    - Fieldwork and Policework
      - Nigel Fielding
    - An Ethnographer's Tale: A Personal View of Educational Ethnography
      - Robert G. Burgess
  - PART NINE: FIELDWORK, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    - Software and Fieldwork
      - Susanne Friese
    - Seeking Science in the Field: Life Beyond the Laboratory
      - Steve Fuller
  - PART TEN: LOCATING FRESH FIELDS
    - Postmodern Fieldwork in Health Research
      - Nick J. Fox
    - Fieldwork in Transition
      - Peter Kirby Manning
- - Back Matter
    - Author Biographies
Methods Map
- Research Terms
- Key People
Ethics / Research ethics
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