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Trent Green
Dr. Fiebig
COM480
31 January 2017
Theoretical Framework

Hope House is an organization in which individuals attend to celebrate their recovery.

These individuals come from backgrounds of drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and many other

forms of addiction. The leaders of Hope House, Brian and Larry, have come from pasts of drug

addiction, drug dealing, and even imprisonment. However, now they lead many others through

their addictions and give hope for recovery. Brian and Larry have been to celebrate recovery

meetings and therefore know the ins-and-outs of the ideology of celebrate recovery, and wanted

to have one of their own in Hartford City, IN at Grace United Methodist Church. To begin, they

had to create a culture, and establish a philosophy of rites and rituals. My ethnography of Hope

House is to observe this culture and the individuals within. I want to know how this organization

works the way it does. Having so many individuals with different backgrounds, different

addictions, and different personalities will definitely impact the created culture. Therefore, I will

presently be looking at Hope House through two communication theory lenses [throughout my

ethnography I may discover the need or seek out the application of other communication

theories]. The first lens I will be looking through during my field study with Hope House will be

the cultural approach to organizations developed by Clifford Geertz and Michael Pacanowsky.

This is a subjective theory that will allow me to gaze into the meaning of culture within Hope

House. What is the shared meaning? The second lens I will be looking through is the standpoint

theory developed by Sandra Harding and Julia T. Wood. This is a subjective theory as well. This

theory is based of exactly what it says, the viewers standpoint. Being in a culture while observing

it is more effective in understanding the people within, rather than observing the culture from the
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outside looking in. I will be using standpoint theory to allow myself to step into the shoes of an

addict. No I will not be subjugating myself to any forms of addictive substances, but I will be

spending time with the recovering addicts in and outside Hope House. Standpoint theory can be

coupled with cultural approach to organizations by simply putting myself in the culture of Hope

House to observe and participate in the practices and lives of the individuals.

Within the theory of the cultural approach to organizations, there are three major ideas I

would like to point out to defend my claim in using this theory for my ethnography of Hope

House. Firstly, the individuals within the culture, by means of what they say and what they do,

reveal culture; Geertz and Pacanowsky call this Cultural Performance, and define it as, actions

by which members constitute and reveal their culture to themselves and others (Griffin, 2006,

p.245). In Hope House, addicts communicate their stories and where they come from by what

they wear and how they talk. For instance, one individual is from New York, NY. When she gets

really passionate or begins to talk really fast, her New Yorker comes out. Words like talk and

dog begin to sound like tawwk and dowwg. She brings a bit of her culture to this new culture of

Hope House. The second idea is something that Geertz and Pacanowsky call Thick Description.

It is defined as, common meaning that underlie what a particular people group say and do

(Griffin, 2006, p.246). There are many thick descriptions within celebrate recovery, however, one

that is most common and easily understood would be: Hi, my name is _____ and I am a

recovering addict. This simple phrase is stated before (almost) every testimony that is given. But

these words carry such strong meaning for each of the recovering addicts in Hope House, or

other form of celebrate recovery. There is a sense of pride of taking ownership of your name and

addiction, but also adding the award of recovering to it. This statement is a thick description

because it is a common and underlying meaning to addicts of drugs, alcohol, and even gambling.
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It is something they say and do to allow them the freedom to express what their present state of

mind is. Lastly, I will ground my research and field study with Hope House by using cultural

approach to organizations by observing rituals. Geertz and Pacanowsky define these rituals as,

texts that articulate multiple aspects of cultural life, often marking rites of passage or life

transitions (Griffin, 2006, p.250). Many recovery programs have badges or certificates that

express sayings such as 60 days sober that they give to those who have warranted the badges

meaning. It is nearly impossible to lie to the other members of the recovery program because

most of them have been in and experienced the same symptoms that may be displayed on an

individual. So when one receives a 60 days sober badge, it becomes an honor. However, if that

individual goes and gets high or drunk the following day they start back at square one. The

badges and certificates mark a rite of passage for the individuals. Once they receive that badge,

they want to live up to it and build to the next mile mark. It becomes a ritual for them. In my

ethnography, I intend to use the cultural approach to organizations to search out the cultural

performance, thick description, and rituals within the culture of Hope House.

The standpoint theory assists, grounds, and defends my field study by allowing me to

actually be in the culture that I am studying. In standpoint theory, Harding and Wood highlight

two ideas that I would like to bring with me in my field study. The first one is the idea of local

knowledge. Harding and Wood define local knowledge as, knowledge situated in time, place,

experience, and relative power (Griffin, 2006, p.450). If I were to observe Hope House and

victims of addiction from online research and third party sources, I would not receive justified

knowledge of the culture. The idea of me taking the standpoint within Hope House and being a

part of their practices and rituals, allows me to tune into this local knowledge. I will gain

significant knowledge by presently being there in time. I will become a regular attendee by being
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at Hope House, and therefore gain the trust of the other attendees by consistently being in the

same place. I will gain unique experience by working along side these individuals, and through it

all gain relative power by relating to those in Hope House. The second idea addressed by

Harding and Wood is strong objectivity, which is defined as, the strategy of starting research

from the lives of marginalized groups, which upon critical reflection and resistance provides

them with a less false view of reality (Griffin, 2006, p.451). Observing the culture and

individuals within Hope House from the standpoint of me being there, as a leader and

participant, allows them to trust in me and shows that I care about them. I will be starting

research and field study at Hope House, and with the individuals. They know I genuinely care

about each of them and that I want to be there. Due to their marginalized group of addicts, they

do have a false view of reality. They come from areas of hurt and disregarded feelings, and

through the ability of strong objectivity they see a new reality from outsiders, therefore giving

them a provision of a less false view of reality.

As I mentioned before, these are the theories I hold present to my field study thus far. I

may enact another theory later on in my research but that is yet to be discovered. With the help of

the cultural approach to organizations and the standpoint theory, I hope to adequately gain the

desired research and knowledge to successfully preform my ethnography of Hope House.

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Works Cited:

Griffin, Emory A. A First Look at Communication Theory. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.