Integrating ethics, methods, and the dynamics of power in political science fieldwork
Date
2024-01-12
Authors
Sapiro, Virginia
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
Sapiro V. Integrating Ethics, Methods, and the Dynamics of Power in Political Science Fieldwork. PS: Political Science & Politics. 2024;57(2):310-313. doi:10.1017/S1049096523000999
Abstract
The articles in this symposium underscore at least three common points about understanding and combatting sexual harassment in the context of social science fieldwork:
• (1) This problem draws our attention to research as a matrix of social relationships in which we are obligated to understand the ethics of these relationships. As Carole Mershon pointedly asks: “What are the ethical responsibilities that we as researchers have not only to the people who we study but also to other scholars and to ourselves as scholars?”
• (2) We cannot effectively understand this matrix of social relationships without considering the multiple and overlapping power relationships within them. Sexual harassment draws our attention to gender-based power, but these articles rightly underscore some of the other—and intersectional—power relationships based on class, race, nationality, and standing within the profession that is itself a marker of status and power.
• (3) We cannot leave understanding the harms of these dynamics—and we certainly must not leave identifying prevention and amelioration solutions—to the individual insights of those involved. These insights must be integrated manifestly and systematically into normal professional training and resources available to those involved in research fieldwork.
Description
License
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited. This article has been published under a Read & Publish Transformative Open Access (OA) Agreement with CUP.