Phenomenology as inspiration in interpretive ethnographic research

Margarethe Kusenbach and Dirk vom Lehn

Chapter 18 in Handbook of Interpretive Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 2025, pp 273-289 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: During the past two or three decades, European and North American interpretive scholars, ourselves included, have periodically turned to phenomenology in search of grounding and inspiration for research methods and theory in the social sciences. A review of works situated at this intersection reveals that there are distinct ways and traditions of drawing on phenomenology when examining the structures and dynamics of lived experience sociologically, of which we describe several here. Our chapter begins with some background information on what could be considered “social phenomenology” following in the footsteps of Edmund Husserl, Alfred Schutz, Harold Garfinkel, and others. In the main section, we offer introductions to, and examples of, four ethnographic approaches situated within interpretive sociology that draw on phenomenology in one way or the other: go-alongs, life-world analytic ethnography, sensory ethnography, and ethnomethodological ethnography. The chapter closes with some suggestions for phenomenology-inspired interpretive research that may overcome previous limitations and unlock future potentials.

Keywords: Social phenomenology; Ethnography; Lived experience; Embodiment; Senses; Meaning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803926384
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