‘Inquiries of Every Imaginable Kind’: Ethnomethodology, Practical Action and the New Socially Situated Learning Theory

Abstract

This paper examines the increasing interest in practice-based theorising in the new social learning theory. It argues that this body of work does not pay sufficient attention to ethnomethodology's understanding of practical action. The paper then illustrates ethnomethodology's approach to understanding practical action, highlighting the concepts of ‘inquiry’ and ‘work’, and drawing upon examples from two phases in Garfinkel's work. Potential implications are then discussed for the new practice-based social learning theory and conclusions are drawn.