Interpretivist Methods

1. Interpretivist Methods www.educationforum.co.uk

2. 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.

3. The Interpretivist Spectrum Social action theories – Symbolic Interactionism – Phenomenology Moderate - - extreme Broad studies - micro studies of interactions – no objective facts Weber - Blumer Mead - Atkinson

4. 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.

5. Spirit of Capitalism • Weber’s 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!

6. Example 2: Herbert Blumer • Symbolic Interactionism focuses on a much smaller scale than Weber’s social action approach • SI seeks to uncover the ‘meanings’ which direct action and interaction between individuals – doesn’t 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.

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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)