Advances In Interpretive Sociology

The ‘interpretive’ branch of sociology privileges the experience of participants in social life. It emphasizes thick description of their interactions and a reconstruction of the emotional, cognitive and normative meanings of their actions and sufferings. Its roots lie in Diltheyan Verstehen, phenomenological analysis and the pragmatist traditions underlying symbolic interactionism as well as ethnomethodology. Interpretive sociology has been thoroughly canonized – but has it lost its contemporary edge?

The session aims to show how sociology in the interpretive tradition has moved beyond its classics and turned to new themes, concepts and methodologies. Fundamental approaches such as the ‘social construction’ of reality have been rethought through the integration of questions of power, domination and materiality. Basic assumptions about actorhood and agency – crucial for the interpretive approach – have been unsettled through methodologies such as discourse studies, video analysis and experimental approaches.

New themes have emerged: violence, power and domination are discussed along with human rights and the role of critique. Polarization and identity politics are studied from first-person and interactional perspectives. In areas such as gender studies, disability studies, postcolonial studies and subjectivation studies, the interpretive perspective is mobilized to understand the experiences and normative perspectives of marginalized as well as overprivileged individuals and populations.

In our era, where society has become ‘subjective’ in frightening and encouraging ways – from alternative facts to the discovery of diverse subjectivities – this session highlights recent advances in interpretive sociology and demonstrates its continuing relevance for understanding contemporary social and political transformations.