Open AccessThe Yin and Yang of Seduction and Production: Social Transitions of Ethnography Between Seductive Play and Productive Force in Industry
Author(s) -
TUNSTALL ELIZABETH DORI
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-8918.2006.tb00041.x
Subject(s) - ethnography , sociology , persona , aesthetics , context (archaeology) , representation (politics) , production (economics) , epistemology , computer science , anthropology , art , law , economics , philosophy , political science , human–computer interaction , history , archaeology , politics , macroeconomics
This paper examines social transitions in forms of ethnographic representation from seductive play to productive force in Industry. With a focus on the hi‐tech consulting and marketing fields, I examine the eight strategies of ethnographic representation include, (1) informal conversations, (2) designed printed materials, (3) video, (4) electronic presentations, (5) personas and scenarios, (6) experience models and diagrams, (7) opportunity matrices, (8) and experience metrics. It addresses the use of these strategies within modal degrees of symbolic seduction and productive force as shaped by the theories of Baudrillard and Taoist philosophy. I propose that the combination of the concepts of Seductive Play and Productive Force and Yin Yang provide a way out of several challenges in ethnography's engagement with business decision‐making, especially related to its role, mission, and power. I attempt to seduce ethnographers into seeing themselves as Taoist “scholar/warriors” able to maintain the human‐centered balance in any Industry context.