Postmodern Methodology Flashcards
how to postmodernists challenge methodologies
they question the possibility of making definitive statements or generalisations about the social world. They claim that the ‘facts and knowledge’ gained by sociologists and other researchers are simply one way of constructing and making sense of the world and that all views are equally valid, hence there can be no single ‘true’ description of the world.
lyotard ‘story telling’
sees all knowledge as ‘story-telling’ with no way of distinguishing between true and untrue stories. Some postmodernists are simply concerned with revealing the contradictions in other sociological theories, using techniques of deconstruction whereas others support the use of postmodern ethnography.
how would a researcher carry out ethnography
Ethnography involves the collection of different people’s stories. Tyler argues ethnographies should be used to record the viewpoints of the many different people in society, this means the researcher requires no special skills to interpret the accounts of subjects they are the ‘librarian’ collecting the stories from which the reader than formulate their own interpretations.
evaluation Alvesson
states that postmodern methodology can be used to refine traditional methodology; it doesn’t need to be used to reject it. For example, he believes that you cannot take interview results on face value; people’s stated belief can be challenged to see if they really hold them via ethnography.
