interpretivism

• Interpretivists argue that individuals are not just passive puppets of society who react to external social forces
• Individuals are intricate and complex, they argue people have different personal experiences and react differently so it cannot be scientifically accurate.
• They derive from the social action theory.

  • Social action theory contrast with structuralist theories arguing people are responsible for their own actions and people construct their society
  • This is a micro approach
• They prefer qualitative methods such as:

  • Unstructured interviews
  • Participant observation
• They argue that we need to achieve Verstehen to understand human action, we need to see the world through the eyes of the people in the world
• Interpretivists criticize the scientific sociology ( positivism ) as many statistics are socially constructed so cannot be trusted
• They want to understand interactions, feelings and motives.