Interpretive Social Science (ISS): An Overview and Critique
.Interpretive Social Science (ISS)
Opposition to Positivism Max Weber (1864-1920)
Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) According to Dilthey: 2 types of science:
Naturwissenschaft (rests on Erklärung, abstract explanation) Geisteswissenschaft (rests on Verstehen, empathetic understanding of everyday lived experience of people in historical settings) Interpretive Social Science (ISS) Weber embraces Verstehen argued that social science should study social action with a purpose Argued that we must learn the personal reasons or motives that shape a person’s internal feelings and guide decisions to act in particular ways “ISS emphasises meaningful social action, socially constructed meaning, and value relativism” Interpretive Social Science (ISS) Interpretive researchers often use participant observation and field research à qualitative research
Require direct personal contact with people Others analyse transcripts of conversations or videotapes of behaviour, looking for subtle nonverbal communication to understand details of interactions aim is to acquire an in-depth understanding of how people create meaning in their everyday lives. How people interact and get along w/ each other Interpretive Social Science (ISS) “ISS the systematic analysis of socially meaningful action through the direct detailed observation of people in natural settings in order to arrive at understandings and interpretations of how people create and maintain their social worlds” Interpretive Social Science (ISS) Wants to study meaning in social action, not just visible, external behaviour ISS adopts a nominalist ontology Social reality is largely what people perceive it to be Reality exists as people experience it and assign meaning to it Social reality is fluid and fragile Reality constructed as we interact with others through communication and negotiation (constructionist orientation)
That’s why we need to capture people’s subjective sense of reality to really understand social life Interpretive Social Science (ISS) Constructionist orientation: people construct reality out of their interactions and beliefs No inner essence causes the reality for people to see Example of social action and meaning Chair has not innate essence of “chairness” Concept of a “week= 7 days” Empirical reality of objects and actions arise out of cultural-social processes that tell us to define it Once social creations are accepted as facts (as real), these creations have very real consequences Language as a construction Positivists attempt to make language as pure and logical as possible to reflect reality Constructionists see language as social construction Learning a language à effects how we think and see the world Language has little direct connection to essential reality Language contains a worldview that colours how we see and experience Language as a construction For Positivists genders and races are facts, are real (essential distinctions in reality) Constructionist says that ppl see no or 6 races, no or 4 genders Summary of ISS The purpose of social science is to understand social meaning in context A constructionist view is that reality is sociallycreated Humans are interacting social beings who create and reinforce shared meaning A voluntarist stance is taken regarding human agency Scientific knowledge is different from but not better than other forms 6.Explanations advance via inductive reasoning 7. Explanations are verified using postulate of adequacy with people being studied 8. Social scientific evidence is contingent and context specific 9. A practical orientation is taken toward knowledge that is used from a transcendent perspective (research together with the ppl being studied to understand to create mutual understanding) 10. Social Science should be relativistic regarding value positions Critical Social Science (CSS)
Also called: dialectical materialism, critical structuralism Mixes nomothetic (based on law) and ideographic (based on interpretation of text) approaches Agrees with many of the criticisms of interpretative approach against positivism
Also disagrees with some points if ISS Critical Social Scientists Karl Marx (1818-1883) Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) Erich Fromm (1900-1980) Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979)
Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) Critical Social Science Often associated with conflict theory, feminist analysis and radical psychotherapy Tied to critical theory developed by Frankfurt school in 1930s Germany Criticised positivist science as being too narrow, antidemocratic and non-humanist in its use of reason Critical Social Science Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) rejected both the objective, lawlike quantitative empirical approach of positivists and the subjective, voluntarist approach of ISS Bourdieu: Social sciences must be reflexive (study and criticise itself and the subject matter) and is necessarily political Goal of research is to uncover and demystify ordinary events Summary of Critical Social Science Purpose of social science is to reveal what is hidden to liberate and empower people Social reality has multiple layers People have unutilized potential and are misled by reification; social life is relational A bounded autonomy stance is taken toward human agency Scientific knowledge is imperfect but can fight false consciousness 6. Abduction is used to create explanatory critiques 7. Explanations are verified through praxis 8. All evidence is theory dependent, and some theories reveal deeper types of evidence 9. Knowledge used from a transformative perspective 10. Social reality and the study of it necessarily contain a moral-political dimension, and moral-political positions are unequal in advancing human freedom and empowerment Critique of PSS and ISS ISS criticised PSS for failing to deal with the meaning of real people and their capacity to feel and think ISS criticised PSS for ignoring social context and being antihumanist PSS defends the status quo CSS agree with most of these criticisms of PSS Critique of PSS and ISS CSS criticises ISS for being too subjective and relativist ISS treats people’s ideas as more important than actual conditions ISS focuses too much on local, microlevel, short-term settings and ignores broader long-term structural conditions ISS is amoral and passive .ISS fails to take a strong value position or actively help people to see false illusions around them