ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF HOSPITAL WORKERS

Ethnographic Study of Hospital Workers

Ethnographic Study of Hospital Workers

Introduction

In today's world, with its unprecedented expansion and interconnection of commercial markets, it is increasingly difficult to contest that economic structures influence our social realities. Likewise, it is equally problematic to discuss economics without also referencing issues of culture and politics. This seems to suggest the necessity of deconstructing economic discourse if we hope to better understand our social realities. (Ferguson, 1992)

Although a highly nuanced topic, the media regularly frame 'globalization' with regard to economic issues. Therefore, I have chosen to utilize globalization as a site for the interrogation of economic discourse. I am not suggesting that popular representations of globalization fail to reference culture and politics. Rather, my intent is to demonstrate how culture and politics can become so enmeshed within our understanding of economics that their presence is rendered transparent.

Ethnograpic Study - A Description of Ogranization

The Transparency of Culture and Politics in Economic Discourse

The topic of globalization provides a conceptual entry point to an evolving world order and a concept of evaluating 'a particular series of developments concerning the concrete structuration of the world as a whole (Robertson, 1990) _ our incorporation into a one-world, global society is contingent on changing value orientations (1992, p. 70).

Subsequently, this essay will draw a connection between globalization, ideology, and the structuring of our realities. It will demonstrate how media representations and globalization mythology have contributed to the naturalization of 'sensible economics' as value-free by incorporating an analysis of globalization discourse from IKEA. This essay will emphasize the significance of linguistic codes. It will also designate critical consciousness as key to recognizing our potential to shape the future. This project has been fundamentally driven by a desire to expose the false representations of 'globalization' as an inevitable stage in the 'natural' evolution of economic life. My primary concern in conceptualizing this project was to illustrate how current discourse and popular representations fail to reveal the political nature of globalization as a business strategy. My plan was to analyze globalization discourse as a sign system, making a requisite call for the inclusion of semiotic analysis as a way to approach the topic and thereby demonstrate its hidden agenda.

Although my plan to examine constructions of discourse has endured, the following report emerged from this initial finding: globalization was explicitly represented as a business strategy in a variety of popular media publications. My investigation of theoretical approaches that frame the study of globalization also revealed that far from distinguishing between the spheres of culture and economics, researchers have increasingly focused on their convergence. And additionally, far from discrediting the influence of culture, even the staunchest proponents of economic structuration incorporated elements of cultural representation into their arguments.

Globalization: From Cultural Imperialism to Cultural Studies

The investigation of economic structuration and the study of globalization can be usefully charted along a continuum of theoretical and methodological approaches. Cultural Imperialism is customarily categorized as a radical, leftist perspective that presumes the non-existence of human agency ...