The focus of this article is the character of ethnomethodology and its relation to mainstream sociology, specifically as regards assumptions about the nature of social phenomena and the attitude that ought to be adopted towards these. This issue is explored mainly through the example of suicide, which has been used by some ethnomethodologists to highlight the distinctiveness of their position. The viability of three interpretations of ethnomethodology is assessed: as being agnostic regarding the ontological status of suicide and other social phenomena, as insisting that such phenomena are entirely constituted in and through processes of social interaction on particular occasions, and as itself constituting the world as one in which social phenomena are occasioned products. It is argued that none of these is sustainable, but that the plausibility of the second varies somewhat across different types of phenomena, with money being even more evidently constituted through ongoing social interaction than is suicide or death.

中文翻译：

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通过自杀、死亡和金钱探索民族方法论独特的本体论态度

本文的重点是民族方法论的特征及其与主流社会学的关系，特别是关于社会现象本质的假设以及应对这些现象采取的态度。这个问题主要通过自杀的例子来探讨，一些民族方法学家用它来突出他们立场的独特性。对民族方法学的三种解释的可行性进行了评估：对自杀和其他社会现象的本体论地位不可知，坚持认为这些现象完全是在特定场合的社会互动过程中并通过社会互动过程构成的，以及本身构成世界的一种以社会现象为契机的产物。有人认为，这些都不是可持续的，