Abstract

The present analysis aims at thinking about the contributions of ethnography to the study of public policies, using as an example, the case of state intervention concerning violence against women in Chile in the last decade. To do so, we present here an ethnographic study carried out in Family Courts in the Metropolitan Region, following cases of domestic violence, which combines direct observation with participant observation. We suggest the idea that the ethnographic methodology is substantial when it comes to apprehending the implementation phase of public policies, since it allows to reveal problems and inequalities that go beyond those presented in the contact between the State and the users, revealing also internal conflicts of legitimacy that the more classic methodologies of Political Science of top down nature would not have a priori brought to light. In this way, the conclusion is that ethnography not only gives an account of the modalities of intervention, but also advances in the knowledge of the «State in action», which has allowed a better understanding of the barriers that the Justice Department has had in the study of violence against women in this country.