Ab/Using Ethnography

I thought I would respond a little to Plowman's use of ethnography within the corporate realm. Although I see the benefit of methods like participant observation in business settings, I'm not quite sure how far the comparison to native cultures can go. To some extent de Certeau's work about blurring the lines between high/low culture does appear to give popular culture more design power (in the case of "readymade" objects). I guess what I'm getting at is an understanding of what these methods are after. I imagine there must be some amount of "responsibility" (in the way we discussed this) by those involved toward their subjects. But in practice these methods seem more of an attempt to recuperate objects lost to social redesign back into a more manageable (and profitable) form. It makes me think of the obsessive scramble to control the Internet and digital copyrights. Will more participant observation help design a better way to sell music to a generation that feels entitled to it? It seems that the goals have to change before companies can design objects that, in Plowman's summary, "radiate the degrees of freedom necessary to enhance... self-invention". Unless the companies can figure out a way not to pay for those inventions. Now I'm not sure... do I have an actual question in there?