INTERPRETIVE SOCIAL SCIENCE
Interpretive social science is one of the three broad paradigms in the Social Sciences which is
sensitive to context (Neuman,1997). This approach claims that the people create and associate
their own subjective meanings as they interact with the world around them. Hence, it is the
duty of interpretive researchers to search for the meanings people assign to certain
phenomena in order to understand them. Interpretive paradigm also claims that our knowledge
of reality is only socially constructed, thus there is no objective reality, as opposed to the claims
of positivist social science that there exists objective reality.
In this lesson, we will discuss two theoretical approaches that fall under interpretive social
science—hermeneutic phenomenology and symbolic interactionism.
INTERPRETIVE SOCIAL SCIENCE
people create and associated their own subjective meanings as they interact with the world
around them
HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGY SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
historical phenomena are symbols help us understand how
interpreted differently in proper we view society and
context through one’s consciousness communicate with each other
Figure 5.1: theoretical approaches under interpretive social science
Origins of interpretive social science can be traced to the German sociologist Max Weber, who
asserted that the social science needed to study significant social action, and the German
philosopher Wilhem Dilthey, who argued the importance of an emphatic discernment of the
everyday lived experience of people in a particular historical setting. Hermeneutics is an
important concept in interpretive social science, a theory of meaning which emphasizes a
thorough evaluation of text (conversation, written word, or picture) to discover meaning
implanted within text, with the belief that each reader brings his or her subjective experience
to a text.
HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGY
Hermeneutics refers to the art of understanding and the theory of interpretation while
phenomenology means the science of phenomena. Hermeneutics means “to interpret’’ and the
term came from the name of Hermes, the wing-footed messenger of gods in Greek mythology.
Hermeneutic phenomenology came up out of German philosophy and aims to reveal the life
world or human experiences as it is lived. It wishes to regain what had been supposedly lost by
the positivist approach. It advocates the ideas that instead of simply one truth as conceived by
the scientists, there are in fact many truths. Hermeneutics, therefore, means the process of
making the incomprehensible understandable. Meanwhile, phenomenology becomes
hermeneutical when its method takes an interpretive instead of solely descriptive nature. Every
description is always ready to interpret, and every mode of human knowledge is interpretive.
Understanding is already a form of interpretation.
Hermeneutic phenomenology, because of its emphasis on the understanding and interpretation
of individual experience in order to explain human actions and behavior, promotes a micro-
level analysis of society.
HERMENEUTICS PHENOMENOLOGY
Art of understanding and The study of experience
theory of interpretation and how we experience
HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGY
Concerned with human experience as it is lived
Figure 5.2 Hermeneutics and phenomenology Defined
According to Filipino feminist scholar Sylvia Guerrero, most feminist research endeavors in the
Philippines are closely associated with hermeneutic phenomenology which emphasizes the use
of qualitative and naturalistic approaches to understand women’s experience in context-
specific settings (Guerrero, 2002). Through this approach, women are given the opportunity to
express their experience in their own terms. Moreover, this approach provides a more intimate
connection between the researcher and his or her subject. This is in response to the nature of
positivist research which, according to its critics, merely reduces people to numbers through
statistics.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Hermeneutics refers to the theory of text interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical
and philosophical texts, as well as wisdom literature. It is a broad discipline that includes
communication, both verbal and nonverbal. It came out as a theory of human understanding
beginning in the late 18th and early 19th centuries through the works of German theologian,
biblical scholar, and philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher and German historian, psychology,
sociologist and hermeneutic philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey.
But the father of phenomenology is the Edmund Husserl, who criticized psychology for applying
methods of the natural sciences to human issues, thus paving the way for the beginnings of
phenomenology or the study of lived experience or the real world. His focus was on the world
as lived by a person, not the world or reality as something separate from the person. He
developed the concept of bracketing, or setting aside the outer world as well as individual
preconceived notions to achieve contact with senses. Through bracketing, one understands a
phenomenon.
A disciple of Husserl, Martin Heidegger, is credited for having started hermeneutical
phenomenology. Both hermeneutic phenomenology and phenomenology share such concern
with the life world or human experience as it is lived. Hermeneutic phenomenology emphasizes
the instructive facts and minor aspects within experience that are often taken for granted in
everyday lives, hoping to create meaning and obtain a sense of understanding. The crucial
difference between Husserl’s phenomenology and Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology
lies in the way the investigation of lived experience ensues: while Husserl focused on
understanding beings or phenomena, Heidegger focused on Dasein or ‘’the mode of being
human,’’ or the authentic human being. The hermeneutic of Dasein is to highlight that he or she
is always found in a spatiotemporal context within which he or she lives. You cannot
understand Daein without putting him or her in this context. Consciousness is a formation of
historically lived experience and is not separate from the world. Understanding is a basic form
of human existence, but understanding is not a way of knowing the world, it is the way we are.
It was Hans-Georg Gadamer, a student of philosophy at Marburg and Freiburg, who extended
Heidegger’s work into practical application. He agreed with Heidegger that language and
understanding always go together as structural aspects of human “being-in-the-world.”
Gadamer believes that the language is the widespread medium for understanding to happen,
and understanding takes place in interpreting. He considers interpretation as a” fusion of
horizons” a dialectical interaction between the expectation of the interpreter and the meaning
of the text. He believes that questioning is a necessary aspect of the interpretive process as it
makes possible the occurrence of new horizons and understanding.
KEY CONCEPTS IN HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLOGY
Hermeneutics phenomenology concerns itself with understanding and interpreting human
experience as it is lived, thus interpretation it seen as critical to the process of understanding.
To be human means to interpret. Every encounter involves as interpretation influenced by an
individual’s background. This interpretive process concentrates on historical meanings of
experience and their development and growing effects on individual and social stages.
Hermeneutics is an interpretive process that aims to bring understanding and revelation of
phenomena through language. As mentioned earlier, individual background is important as it
affects interpretation. This is also referred to us historicality, which is a person’s history or
background that includes what one receives from culture since birth and passed on from
generation to generation, offering ways of understanding the world. One’s background cannot
be made completely specific. People and the world are connected in cultural, social, and
historical contexts. In order to fully understand one’s historicality, it is also significant to have
grasp of the concepts of preunderstanding, which refers to a meaning or organization of a
culture that are already there before we understand.
THINKERS AND THEIR CONSTRIBUTIONS
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
Martin Heidegger was born in 1889 in Germany. He went to Constance and Freiburg for his
early education. His interest in philosophy came at the age of 17 after reading the book On the
Manifold Meaning of Being according to Aristotle, which made a lasting impression on him. From then
on he concentrated to find the meaning of Being- or the meaning that exists in everything that
is. He began his study of theology at the University of Freiburg (Albert Ludwig University of
Freiburg) but Husserl made him change his mind to shift to philosophy. He became Husserl’s
assistant until in 1922 he was appointed as an associate professor at the University of Marburg
where he pursued his studies in Aristotle. In 1927 he published his major work, Being and Time
and in 1928, he was chosen as Husserl’s successor as chair of philosophy at Freiburg. In 1933 he
was elected rector of the University but resigned a year later. Even after his retirement he was
able to publish several essays and interpretations of the history of philosophy. He died in 1976
at the age of 86.
HANS-GEORG GADAMER
Hans-Georg Gadamer was Heidegger’s student who was also a proponent of hermeneutic
phenomenology. According to Gadamer, methodical reflection is opposite to experience and
contemplation. We can arrive at the truth only by understanding or mastering our experience.
Our understanding is always changing and signifying new viewpoints. What is important is to
disclose the character of individuals understanding. Prejudice is considered an important
element of our understanding. We can never set aside our tradition so we might as well try to
understand it.
HERMENEUTIC PHENOMENOLGY: STRENGTHS AND CRITICISMS
Hermeneutic phenomenology as asocial science approach helps researcher to clarify lived
experience and expose meaning through a process of understanding and interpretation
(Wilcke2002). It allows the experiences of people to be presented in a straightforward and
suggestive manner, giving the reader an opportunity to imaginatively take part into the
experiences described.
Those who refuse to use hermeneutic phenomenology as an approach claims that its focus on
experiences unique to the individuals and to their context makes it hard to generalize for a
larger population. It is also criticized for its finding which, because of their subjectively and
specificity, cannot be used as basis for policy frameworks. Its micro-level analysis is also cited as
one of its weaknesses since it focuses on individuals understanding and interpretation of their
experiences.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Symbolic interactionism, also known as symbolic interaction perspective, refers to a key
framework of sociological theory which depends on the symbolic meaning developed by people
in the process of interaction. Through the lens of symbolic interactionism, society is examined
by concentrating on the subjective meanings that people impose on things, incidents, and
actions. Subjective meanings are prioritized because of the belief that people behave based on
what they perceived to be true and not on what are objectively true. Hence, society it seen as
socially constructed based on human interpretation. Because it focuses on individuals and their
interactions, it also espouses a micro-level type of analysis of society.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Symbolic interactionism was a reaction to behaviorism (or the perspective that all behavior are
caused by external stimuli) of psychological theories dominant at the time it was first
formulated in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Its origins can be traced back to American sociologists
George Mead and Herbert Blumer. It stood out against structural-functionalism, which explains
why society functions the way it does by focusing on the relationship between the different
social institutions that make up society. In symbolic interactionism, humans are differentiated
from animals who merely reacts to their environment, because humans have the ability to
disrupt the process of stimulus-response.
Symbolic interactionism is also rooted in phenomenology, for its asserts that the objectives
world has no reality for humans, only objects which are subjectively-identified have meanings.
Meaning are not units that are given to individuals and learned by training. They can be
modified through the ingenuity of humans who may have some bearing on the many meanings
that form their society, making human society a social product.
KEY CONCEPTS IN SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONICISM
Symbolic interactionism is a social science which depends on the symbolic meaning developed
by people in the process of interaction. One of the concepts important in this approach is that
of symbols, which refers to the means by which people extensively and creatively
communicate. Symbols are culturally derived social objects having shared meanings that are
created and maintained in social interaction. It is through symbols that the history, culture, and
forms of communications of people are expressed and it is also the means by which people
associate meanings with interpretation, action, and interaction. Symbolic interactionism is not
only concerned with the individuals or with society, but with interaction, or the cooperative
acts through which lives are systematized and societies are brought together. Society is also
another important concept in symbolic interactionism. It distinguishes between the infrahuman
(lower animal) and human life. in human life, collaboration is cognition and conscious while in
infrahuman life, cooperation is determined physiology. Human cooperation can only be made
possible by each individual determining the purpose of other people’s actions, and each
individual choosing his or her own reaction based on the purpose. Another difference between
humans and infrahuman would be the types of communication used. Infrahuman
communication is based on gestures, which takes places right away without any disruption of
the act for interpretation, while humans must interpret gestures and assign them meanings,
and it can only be possible when there is general agreement in meaning. Meaning for symbols
must be shared, and shared meaning inevitably occurs through role-taking: for the completion
of an act, the actor must put himself or herself in the situation of the other person. People
respond to themselves as other persons respond to them, and by doing so they share the
behavior of others.
The self is another important concept in symbolic interactionism. It refers to the conscious,
contemplative personality of the individual. It is the being or nature of a person one imagines
when he or she thinks about who he or she is. The development of self is made possible
through role-taking: in order to see yourself, you have to be able to take the role of another,
which in turn allows you to contemplate upon your own self. Mead classifies three steps in the
development of the self: the preparatory stage (meaningless imitation by the infant); the play
stage (actual playing of roles); and the game stage (culminating stage if self-development
where the child finds who he or she really is). The self consists of two parts: the I and the Me.
The I refers to the spontaneous and unorganized inclination of the individual, while the Me is
the integrated other within the individual, or the generalized other which provides a structured
set of outlooks and explanations, insights, and prospects.
Another important concept in symbolic interactionism is the mind, or the mental aspects of
individuals which materializes from human communication. The mind becomes evident when
significant symbols are being used in communication. It becomes apparent whenever the
individual is interacting with himself or herself using significant symbols. It also serves as the
aspect of the individuals which disrupts stimuli responses.
THINKERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
George Herbert Mead
George Herbert Mead war bon in South Hadley, Massachusetts on February 27, 1863. He went
to Oberlin College in Ohio and graduated in 1883 with BA degree. He worked as a grade school
teacher and surveyor for a railroad company, after which he enrolled at Harvard University
where he graduated with a Master’s degree in 1888. He was able to secure a post at the
University of Michigan, where he met Charles Horton Cooley and John Dewey, both of whom
influenced his work to a great extent. He moved to the University of Chicago where he taught
until his death in 1961.
His major works include Mind, Self and Society (1934); The Philosophy of the Act (1938); and
The Philosophy of the Present (1932). His theory of the social self states that the self is a social
entity and that it requires that individual selves are the products of social interaction, not the
rational or natural prerequisites of that interaction.
Herbert Blumer
Herbert Blumer got his doctorate in sociology at the University of Chicago in 1928, where he
taught until 1951. He was the founding chair of the Department of Sociology at the University
of California, Berkeley. He was honored with the Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award by
the American Sociology Association in 1983 for his contributions to the codification of the basic
theoretical and methodological tenets if symbolic interactionism. His most important work,
Symbolic Interaction; Perspective and Method, encapsulated the essence of the said theoretical
approach.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: STRENGHTS AND CRITICISMS
Among the strength of symbolic interactionism as a social science approach is the recognition that
people are symbol users, that one can examine society by concentrating on the subjective
meanings that people impose on things, incidents, and actions. Another strength is the claim
that people respond to others based on their understanding of the situation, that people
behave based on what they perceived to be true and not on what are objectively true. Another
strength would be the recognition that society is a process by which people have constructed
meanings and have negotiated social interaction. Lastly, some would say that its focus on
micro-level analysis serves as one of its strengths since it concentrates on individuals rather
than larger structures or institutions.
One of the criticisms against symbolic interactionism is its focus on small-scale aspects of social
life and its over-emphasis on the individual It tends to neglect the over-all level of social
interpretation—the “big picture” This means proponents of this theory may miss the larger
issues of society by focusing too closely” on the trees rather than the forest,” so to speak.
Another criticism is that it downplays the role of social forces and institutions on individual
interactions. It is not able to explain how structures affect individual meanings, perceptions,
and interpretations
CONCLUSION
In this lesson, we have discussed interpretive social science as one of the dominants paradigms
in social sciences. While positivist social science believes that there is only one truth is out
there, interpretive social science recognizes the possibility of many truths and that each one is
valid. Hermeneutic phenomenology gives importance to the meanings we ascribe to
phenomena. Hermeneutics refers to the art of understanding and the theory of interpretation
while phenomenology means the science of phenomena. Hermeneutics means “to interpret”
and the term came from the name of Hermes, the wing footed messenger of gods in Greek
mythology. Hermeneutic phenomenology came up out of German philosophy and aims to
reveal the life world or human experience as it is lived. It means “to interpret” and the term
came from the name of Hermes, the wing-footed messenger of gods in Greek mythology. It also
concerns itself with understanding and interpreting human experience as it is lived, thus
interpretation it seen as critical to the process of understanding while symbolic interactionism
asserts that society can be analyzed by addressing the subjective meanings that people impose
on objects, events, and behaviors. It is also a key framework of sociological theory which
depends on the symbolic meaning developed by people in the process of interaction. Through
the lens of symbolic interactionism, society is examined by concentrating on the subjective
meanings that people impose on things, incidents, and actions. It is not only concerned with the
individual or with society, but with interaction, or the cooperative acts through which lives are
systematized and societies are brought together. These interpretive approaches try to
understand human behavior and actions by focusing on the individuals and their interactions.
