SOCIOLOGY + SUICIDE - INTERPRETIVISM Flashcards
Briefly, what do interpretivist sociologists believe?
Interpretivist sociologists do not believe that sociology should model itself on the natural sciences.
These sociologists criticise the ‘scientific’ approach as inadequate.
SUBJECT MATTER OF SOC
What do interpretivists believe is the subject matter of sociology?
Interpretivists believe that the subject matter of sociology is meaningful social action, and that we can only understand it by successfully interpreting meanings and motives of the actors.
SUBJECT MATTER OF SOC
Why do they believe the natural sciences are different to the study of society?
Natural science studies matter which has zero consciousness. Behaviour in natural sciences can be explained as a reaction to an external stimulus e.g., an apple falling to the ground is because of the force of gravity.
Sociology studies people however, and so we have consciousness. We make sense of and actively construct our world through meanings. Our actions can only be understood because of these meanings… these are internal to our consciousness.
We have free will and can easily exercise choice, and so we don’t respond automatically to external stimuli – we interpret the meaning of stimuli and then choose how to respond to it.
SUBJECT MATTER OF SOC
Explain the example of the motorist at a red light
A motorist sees a red light, but before he stops, he must interpret the meaning ‘stop’. How they respond to the interpretation depends on the meaning they give to the situation.
When motorists do stop at a red light, it’s not because there is a force determining their behaviour… it’s because they understand the social rule which concerns the red light.
SUBJECT MATTER OF SOC
Are we puppets?
Interpretivists believe that individuals are NOT puppets on a string, and cannot be manipulated by external social facts, like the positivists believe.
SUBJECT MATTER OF SOC
What do interpretivist think sociology is about?
To interpretivists, sociology is the study of uncovering these meanings.
VERSTEHEN + QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Abandoning attachment and objectivity
To discover the actual meanings we give to their actions, we have to abandon attachment and objectivity. We must place ourselves in the position of the actor and use Weber’s Verstehen to grasp the meanings.
VERSTEHEN + QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
What research methods do interpretivists use and what do they produce?
Interpretivists favour qualitative methods and data such as participant observation, unstructured interviews, and personal documents.
These all produce richer, highly personal data, which are all high in validity and give the sociologist a subjective understanding of the meanings.
TYPES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Is there a division between the Interpretivists?
There is! This is between how we understand the actor’s meanings.
Can we combine with the positivist-style causal explanation of human behaviour.
TYPES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Grounded Theory - who established this?
Glaser and Strauss 1968
TYPES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Grounded Theory - Does it agree with positivism?
We CAN have causal explanations.
BUT, they reject Positivist view that we should define the hypothesis prior to the research.
TYPES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Grounded Theory - What do G+S argue?
Glaser and Strauss 1968 argue that defining a hypothesis risks imposing our personal view of what is important – through defining, we end up distorting the reality we are trying to capture.
They favour the bottom-up approach (grounded theory). They enter the research with the view that our ideas emerge gradually from the observations that we make.
These ideas can be used later to produce hypotheses of the sort favoured by positivists.
TYPES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Phenomenology + Ethnomethodology - What does Garfinkel think about causal explanations?
Sociologists such as Garfinkel completely reject the possibility of causal explanations of human behaviour because they take the radical and anti-structuralist view that society is not a real thing out there that determines our actions.
TYPES OF INTERPRETIVISM
Phenomenology + Ethnomethodology - Is society external or internal?
They believe that social reality is just shared meaning and knowledge.
Society is NOT an external force, because it only exists in our consciousness.
Consequently, the subject matter of sociology can only REALLY consist of interpretive procedures.
As our actions aren’t governed by the external causes, we have no cause-and-effect explanations.
INTERPRETIVISM + SUICIDE
DURK V DOUG - suicide
What does Jack Douglas believe?
Jack Douglas (interactionist) strongly rejects the positivist ideals that external social facts that control our behaviour.
Individuals have free will.
To actually understand suicide, we must uncover meanings for those involved - not our own meanings.
e.g., Durkheim’s ineffective analysis and categorisation of the four types of suicide.
