Reading Foucault: Genealogy and Social Science Research Methodology and Ethics
Foucault's work has given rise to an increased methodological sensitivity of the political dangers associated with traditional qualitative approaches in the social sciences. There is a growing awareness that the widespread use of the research interview is not indicative of a deepening insight into the workings of culture, but is part of a broader social technology for its reproduction. In an effort to re-imagine interview methodology, scholars have read Foucault to suggest the need for greater attention to the active co-construction of research conclusions arising from interview based research. Specifically there are concerns that the authenticity of interviewee experience may be overwritten by the predispositions of the researcher. This paper questions this interpretation of Foucault's work and argues that Foucault rejects the view that knowledge emerges from the active social constructions of agents, but sees knowledge as an outcome, often accidental, of interrelated historical practices and discourses that produce the subjects and objects of social science discourse. The implications of Foucault's work for thinking about research ethics is not a return to authenticity, but a rejection of representational claims. The paper comprises a review of social science responses to post structural insights, coverage of the critical epistemological differences between Foucault's method and other key social theory paradigms, and a discussion of the critical ethical issues these differences raise for the social sciences.
Year of publication: |
2009-03-30
|
---|---|
Authors: | Bastalich, Wendy |
Published in: |
Sociological Research Online. - Sociological Research Online. - Vol. 14.2009, 2, p. 3-3
|
Publisher: |
Sociological Research Online |
Subject: | Social Sciences | Methodology | Research Ethics | Research Epistemology | Foucault | Qualitative Methodology |
Saved in:
Online Resource
Saved in favorites
Similar items by subject
-
Social sciences and research ethics in developing countries : the perspective from Nigeria
Akpabio, Emmanuel M., (2014)
-
"Stay - we will serve you plov!". Puzzles and pitfalls of water research in rural Uzbekistan
Oberkircher, Lisa, (2011)
-
"Stay - we will serve you plov!" : puzzles and pitfalls of water research in rural Uzbekistan
Oberkircher, Lisa, (2011)
- More ...