Interpretivist Methods

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Interpretivist Methods

• www.educationforum.co.uk

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What is Interpretivism?

• It refers to the range of theoretical
  perspectives which assert that there is a
  fundamental difference between the natural and
  the social worlds
• Society cannot be best understood through a
  scientific or quantative approach. There are no
  social laws to uncover. Norms and values do not
  exist independently from individuals.
• Instead the social world can only be understood
  by studying the meanings humans construct and
  negotiate through their interactions The social
  world is separate from the natural world and
  should be studied differently.
• Interpretivists therefore adopt qualitative
  methods.

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The Interpretivist Spectrum

• Social action theories Symbolic Interactionism
  Phenomenology
• Moderate -
  - extreme
• Broad studies - micro studies of
  interactions no objective facts
• Weber - Blumer Mead
  - Atkinson

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Example 1 Weber

• Probably the first interactionist sociologist
• Introduced the idea of verstehen (deep empathetic
  understanding of motives).
• Sociology is a science which attempts the
  interpretive understanding of social action in
  order to arrive at causal explanations
• Weber interested in understanding human behaviour
  through empathy as well as by examining social
  forces.

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Spirit of Capitalism

• Webers famous work the Protestant Work Ethic
  and the Spirit of Capitalism proposed that the
  cause of the rise of capitalism (industrial
  revolution) could be found in religious belief.
  Protestant countries industrialised first and
  became the first capitalism economies
  protestant theologians like Luther emphasised the
  importance of working hard making money pleases
  God!
• Weber tested his theory by comparing societies
  (the comparative method) and was able to say his
  idea had been validated the Protestant
  countries did industrialise first (Britain and
  Germany).
• A structuralist would see things differently e.g.
  a Marxist might say that the rise of capitalism
  determined the change from catholic to protestant
  views on work and making money!

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Example 2 Herbert Blumer

• Symbolic Interactionism focuses on a much smaller
  scale than Webers social action approach
• SI seeks to uncover the meanings which direct
  action and interaction between individuals
  doesnt completely reject the influence of other
  social forces but minimises their importance.
• SI methodology is for the sociologist to
  immerse themselves in interactive situations to
  attempt to see the world through the eyes of
  social actors and catch them at the point they
  are interpreting meaning.

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Example 3 Atkinson

• Phenomenologists like Atkinson reject completely
  any idea that sociology is objective, can be
  studied scientifically or that there are social
  laws or social forces which influence us.
• Instead there are just meanings created and
  negotiated by social actors and once these have
  been uncovered and understood the work of the
  sociologist is done
• STUDY- Discovering Suicide focusses on how
  deaths get categorised as suicide and nothing
  else i.e.. How meaning is constructed and defined

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Phenomenology

• Rejects the possibility of sociology as a
  scientific exercise
• There are no structures, causes or objective
  facts just meanings to be discovered and
  understood

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Methods

• Ethnography refers to methods which aim to
  immerse the sociologist in the lives of the
  people they are studying therefore Participant
  Observation, open ended interviews and Focus
  Groups can be seen as ethnographic methods
• Read pages 289-295 and pages 138-139 of the
  Revision Guide make notes on the above citing
  advantages and disadvantages and also quoting
  actual examples of each method (try to relate to
  Strat and Diff where you can)