Hermeneutics as a method of interpretation: line by line to the reconstruction of meaning

Cornelia Reiter and Karin Sardadvar

Chapter 16 in Handbook of Interpretive Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 2025, pp 242-258 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The basic assumption of social science hermeneutics is that everything in our social world, including language, cultural elements, and objects, carries meaning and is constantly interpreted by people in their everyday lives. In hermeneutic analysis, researchers aim to understand these interpretations through in-depth analysis. Building on a long history, hermeneutics has evolved into a versatile method for analyzing diverse qualitative data sources while aiming to uncover the meaning behind social interactions and access social structures. Its versatility makes hermeneutic analysis a rich method for different fields of research. Furthermore, it is one of the most in-depth and comprehensive instruments of interpretive analysis. In this chapter, we introduce hermeneutics, explain its central elements, and discuss its strengths and challenges. Moreover, we focus on how hermeneutics works in practice and provide empirical examples. We also introduce different strands of hermeneutic methods, mainly comparing traditions from English-speaking and German-speaking countries.

Keywords: Hermeneutics; Understanding; In-depth analysis; Structures of meaning; Hidden meaning; Sequential analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803926384
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