Hermeneutic Sociology of Knowledge

Abstract

RESUMEN:Este artículo tiene como objetivo presentar la sociología hermenéutica del conocimiento fuera de la investigación social cualitativa convencional: para delinear sus principios, enfoques y necesidades y sugerir posibles áreas de aplicación. PALABRAS CLAVE:Hermenéutica, sociología del conocimiento, métodos cualitativos, lógica de la investigación, abducción, Conocimiento. ABSTRACT:This article aims to present hermeneutic sociology of knowledge outside of conventional qualitative social research, so as to outline its principles, approaches and requirements and suggest possible areas of application. KEYWORDS: LA COMPRENSIÓN DE LO SOCIAL / UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIALThe world is a world of meaning (Mead, 1983: 347)1 DEFINITION AND AIMHermeneutic sociology of knowledge is an evolving, complex theoretical, methodological and operational concept which essentially has its foundations in the work of Hans-Georg Soeffner and has since been developed and differentiated by various researchers including Thomas Eberle, Ronald Hitzler, Anne Honer, Hubert Knoblauch, Michaela Pfadenhauer, Jür-gen Raab, Jo Reichertz, Bernt Schnettler and Norbert Schröer. It sets out to (re)construct the social meaning of every form of interaction (linguistic and non-linguistic) and all types of interaction products (art, religion, entertainment, etc.). Initially, the name 'sociological hermeneutics' was often used to refer to this method. Hermeneutic sociology of knowledge has emerged in this form partly out of the criticism of the 'metaphysics of structures' in the objective hermeneutics of Oevermann (cf. Reichertz, 1988), and partly through the debate on the socio-phenomenological research tradition (Schütz, 1972).

Social Innovation in Rural Regions: Urban Impulses and Cross‐Border Constellations of Actors

“…[…] It sets out to (re)construct the social meaning of every form of interaction (linguistic and non‐linguistic) and all types of interaction products (art, religion, entertainment, [innovation] etc. )’ Reichertz , p. 1).…”

Emerging patterns of crack use in Mexico City

“…In the process of interpretation, we assumed the “abductive attitude”. We challenged our old a priori assumptions of crack use with newer understandings based on the application of the 4 dimensions in concert with knowledge gained from our ethnographic fieldwork (Reichertz, 2004). The end result of this hermeneutic process was the four-fold typology (see Table 1).…”

The Human Right to Social Security and Its Impact on Socio-Political Action in Germany and Finland

“…In general, objective hermeneutics follows the logic of reconstruction and opposes classificatory approaches that aim at simple subsumption (cf. Oevermann et al 1979;Oevermann 1981Oevermann , 2000Reichertz 2004;Wernet 2009). According to the objective hermeneutics, the world is meaning-structured and constituted through language and texts.…”