Symbolic interactionism as resistance to positivism: an interpretive theory of understanding meaning and meaning-making

Foroogh Mohammadi and Lisa-Jo K. van den Scott

Chapter 3 in Handbook of Interpretive Research Methods in the Social Sciences, 2025, pp 37-53 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, we elaborate on how natural science (naturalist or positivist) models of knowledge diminish the perceived importance of research in the tradition of the humanities and the social sciences (constructionist or interpretivist). With a focus on symbolic interactionism as one of several interpretive theoretical approaches, we present a critical analysis of the intrusion of positivism on the interpretive line of inquiry at epistemological, theoretical, and methodological levels. This chapter engages with discussions and critiques of positivism in contrast with interpretive frameworks, in general, and with symbolic interactionist theory, in particular. First, we shed light on how interpretivism takes the positionalities of researchers into account in the process of knowledge production and encourages them to be reflexive. Then, we highlight the role of the communities of interpretive scholars, such as symbolic interactionists, in providing a network of support and a trench of resistance to positivist approaches, intellectually and symbolically.

Keywords: Symbolic interactionism; Interpretive paradigm; Positivism; Meaning-making; Resistance; Reflexivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803926384
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781803926391.00009 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:21718_3

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().