Interview data: a qualified defence against the radical critique

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn Hammersley
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social World ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Interview Data ◽  
Important Contributor ◽  
Discourse Practices ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Opening Section

This article focuses on what has been referred to as the ‘radical critique’ of interview data, to which Paul Atkinson has been an important contributor. This critique challenges the two main uses of such data in qualitative research, and in other forms of social science: to tap the knowledge of informants; and to draw inferences about the typical beliefs, attitudes, etc. of some group or category of actor to which the informant belongs. I argue that this radical critique relies upon a constructionist attitude towards the social world, and I examine one source of this: the influence of ethnomethodology. However, I suggest that a naturalistic stance can take account of the features of interviews to which the radical critique properly draws attention, without undercutting the normal uses of interview data. I emphasise that this does not obviate the need for careful consideration of how such data are produced, and particularly of the discourse practices involved. I illustrate my argument by briefly examining the opening section of an interview.

Reflexivity and Sociological Practice

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim May
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Social World ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Sociological Practice ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social

Attention to reflexivity is often assumed to be the means through which the assumptions and values of social scientists may be uncovered. Researchers are thus called upon to position themselves explicitly in terms of their place within the research process in order that their interpretations may be assessed according to situated aspects of their social selves. Taking a reconstructive social science as one whose aim is to examine our pre-theoretical knowledge in the spirit of producing more adequate accounts of the social world, this article seeks to make sense of these ideas in relation to their consequences for producing an engaged practice and body of knowledge.

Abstract Right: Natural Immediacy within the Matrices of Personhood

2018 ◽  
pp. 168-188
Author(s):  
Wes Furlotte
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social World ◽  
Acting Out ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Opening Section

Chapter ten, therefore, examines the opening section of Hegel’s Rechtphilosophie, “Abstract Right,” in order develop a ‘preliminary sketch’ of the concepts of right and juridical personhood. The chapter historically contextualizes Hegel in relation to the mechanical deterministic conception of the individual (Hobbes) and abstract, though free, conceptions (Rousseau, Kant, Fichte). The chapter then moves to point out Hegel’s uniqueness in this context. Synthesizing Hobbesian and Fichtean standpoints, Hegel argues that the natural dimension of the individual (impulse, drive, and whim) is crucial to the genesis of actual freedom in the social world. Reconstructing Hegel’s analysis, the chapter shows that freedom is not undermined by acting out on one’s desires, impulses etc. but is brought into the world by these very drives. Although these drives are historically and socially conditioned they are, nevertheless, immediate and therefore constitutive of the basal level of juridical personhood. Thereby the chapter argues that a new sense of nature arises within Hegel’s political philosophy. The task, then, is to pursue what nature must mean within the fields constituting the socio-political.

Disrupting Sovereignty: Deleuze and Guattari on the War Machine

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-118
Author(s):  
Gavin Rae
Keyword(s):  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
Social World ◽  
The State ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Ontological Difference ◽  
Radical Critique ◽  
The Social ◽  
War Machine ◽  
Moving Fluid

This chapter engages with Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s analysis of the war machine, suggesting that it contradicts Arendt’s analysis and offers the most radical critique within the radical-juridical paradigm. Premised on the notion that we must rethink sovereignty from ontological difference rather than unity, Deleuze and Guattari radically undermine the indivisibility that defines the classic-juridical conception. Far from being located in one individual or point, sovereignty is always tied to the State, which is a multiplicity that expresses the constantly moving, fluid, and dynamic field of difference. By thinking the social world in terms of heterogeneity, Deleuze and Guattari undermine the hierarchical conception of sovereignty underpinning the classic-juridical model, but continue to implicitly insist that State sovereignty is tied to the maintenance of juridical order; an order that is always threatened by or in conflict with the war machine that disrupts it. As a consequence, they conclude that sovereign order is always far more unstable and disordered than it appears to be.

scholarly journals A Dialogue on Social Inquiry: Expanding Our Understanding of Sociological Thinking

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Rebat Kumar Dhakal
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social World ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
Philosophy Of Social Science ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Core ◽  
Social Inquiry ◽  
The Social

Highlights Social inquiry is much more than the study of society. It further excavates historical facts, critically reflects on everyday happenings, and envisions the future we wish to create. The intent of initiating this dialogue on social inquiry is two-fold: a) to offer a sociological perspective (i.e. ‘thinking sociologically’), and b) to expand our understanding of sociological thinking. Sociological thinking can be developed by examining the periphery of the core. Context matters in understanding any phenomenon under the sociological microscope. Sociological thinking allows many different viewpoints to coexist within a larger structure and that it respects pluralism. Sociological thinking is about developing or providing a perspective to examine social nuances. Sociological thinking should act as a means for social transformation.  Social inquiry serves as a methodology for the social sciences and humanities. It deals with the philosophy of social science and the workings of the social world – giving a way for understanding both the biosphere and the sociosphere.

scholarly journals Recovering critique in an age of datafication

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1135-1151
Author(s):  
Nick Couldry
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social World ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Questions

This article starts out from the need for critical work on processes of datafication and their consequences for the constitution of social knowledge and the social world. Current social science work on datafication has been greatly shaped by the theoretical approach of Bruno Latour, as reflected in the work of Actor Network Theory and Science and Technology Studies (ANT/STS). The article asks whether this approach, given its philosophical underpinnings, provides sufficient resources for the critical work that is required in relation to datafication. Drawing on Latour’s own reflections about the flatness of the social, it concludes that it does not, since key questions, in particular about the nature of social order cannot be asked or answered within ANT. In the article’s final section, three approaches from earlier social theory are considered as possible supplements to ANT/STS for a social science serious about addressing the challenges that datafication poses for society.

Beyond Theory: The Cumbersome Materiality of Shock

1993 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
U Strohmayer
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Social World ◽  
It Use ◽  
Rigorous Analysis ◽  
Fatal Flaw ◽  
The Social ◽  
Abstract Formulation

We all practice it, use its presumed power of explanation, and never seem to get tired of it: theory, only recently introduced to geography at large, appears to be indispensable for any truly rigorous analysis of the social world. But is it really? In this paper it is argued that even the most sophisticated of attempts at ‘theorizing the social’ can claim success only by abandoning reason where reason is needed most: in the abstract formulation of particularity. In the pursuit of this ultimately fatal flaw of any theoretical endeavour, the author ultimately asks what it is about society and space that seems to require a theoretical approach, and what precisely we stand to lose if we opt for a theoretically informed abandonment of theory. With reference to Walter Benjamin, whose work is read as an embodiment of the most crucial conflict between reason and justification, an attempt will be made towards a genuinely material social science that does not rely on external guarantees to achieve a modest goal in the possibility of cognizance.

Predictive Success and Non-Individualist Models in Social Science

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Lauer
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Theory Of The Firm ◽  
Social World ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Predictive Success ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Diagnosis ◽  
Resource Based Theory

The predictive inadequacy of the social sciences is well documented, and philosophers have sought to diagnose it. This paper examines Brian Epstein’s recent diagnosis. He argues that the social sciences treat the social world as entirely composed of individual people. Instead, social scientists should recognize that material, non-individualistic entities determine the social world, as well. First, I argue that Epstein’s argument both begs the question against his opponents and is not sufficiently charitable. Second, I present doubts that his proposal will improve predictive success for the social sciences, which I support with Edith Penrose’s resource-based theory of the firm.

scholarly journals Community’s Response Toward The Study Program Of Al-Qur’an Science And Tafsir

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Ali Sati ◽  
Anhar Anhar
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Study Program ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science And Research

The purpose of this study is to find out how the community's response is toward the study program of Al-Qur'an and Tafsir at IAIN Padangsidimpuan. This research is a qualitative research which in collecting data it uses a phenomenological approach. Data collected is based on inner perspective of human behavior. The main data sources of this study were from Muslim community leaders and were selected by purposive sampling domiciled in Padangsidimpuan. The results found that the community emphasized that the vision, mission and objectives of the development of the Study Program of Al-Qur'an and Tafsir were truly directed towards strengthening scientific and methodological competence in understanding and interpreting the Qur'an. According to the community, the urgent curriculum content was, first, the linguistics of the Qur'an. The second is the sciences concerned the intricacies and various aspects of the Qur'an, which is commonly called ‘ulum al-Qur`an. The third is about the sciences related to the interpretation of manhaj (an approach and methodology of interpretation) that is classical, modern and contemporary. The fourth is the sciences related to the intricacies and various aspects of the hadits which are commonly called ‘ulum al-hadits. The fifth is the sciences related to the philosophy of science and research methodology. The sixth is the sciences related to social science and nature. These aspects are useful for understanding the social and scientific aspects of the verses of the Qur'an.

scholarly journals Conceptualising and researching the body in digital contexts: towards new methodological conversations across the arts and social sciences

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carey Jewitt ◽  
Sara Price ◽  
Anna Xambo Sedo
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Body ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social

The turn to the body in social sciences has intensified the gaze of qualitative research on bodily matters and embodied relations and made the body a significant object of reflection, bringing new focus on and debates around the direction of methodological advances. This article contributes to these debates in three ways: 1) we explore the potential synergies across the social sciences and arts to inform the conceptualization of the body in digital contexts; 2) we point to ways qualitative research can engage with ideas from the arts towards more inclusive methods; and 3) we offer three themes with which to interrogate and re-imagine the body: its fragmenting and zoning, its sensory and material qualities, and its boundaries. We draw on the findings of an ethnographic study of the research ecologies of six research groups in the arts and social sciences concerned with the body in digital contexts to discuss the synergetic potential of these themes and how they could be mobilized for qualitative research on the body in digital contexts. We conclude that engaging with the arts brings potential to reinvigorate and extend the methodological repertoire of qualitative social science in ways that are pertinent to the current re-thinking of the body, its materiality and boundaries.

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