Help with a research paper. Cultural Practices... what method should I use?

Question

I've begun working on a research paper for school, and one of the requirements by my professor is for me to tell him what framework I used for my study.

An example is this- if I were to make a paper about a certain industry and how it is performing, I should cite Adam Smith's THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. If I were to write something about dreams, I'd cite Sigmund Freud's INTERPRETATION of DREAMS. he wants the ORIGINAL source of a particular framework.

I'm doing a study on cultural practices that may be observed. Mostly DRINKING Mores and Norms. What framework should I use? Sociology? Anthropology? Ethnomethodology?

If so, what are the original written works that introduced these Ideas? I know that Ethnomethodology was originally explained in Harold Garfinkel's STUDIES IN ETHNOMETHODOLOGY, but I'm not sure if it's the write framework.

THanks.

Answer 1

For drinking I would have to go with Participant Observation.  The major proponents would be Bronisław Malinowski and Franz Boas (and his students including Margaret Mead, Alfred L. Kroeber, and Paul Radin).  This lets you get in there with te drinkers and try to understand what they do and why from an involved perspective.  Get to a bar, have a few drinks with them.  This would be an anthropological perspective but can be applied across the social sciences.