File(s) under permanent embargo
Interpretation and its Others
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 00:28 authored by Rhodes, RAW, Bevir, MAn interpretive approach to political science provides accounts of actions and practices that are interpretations of interpretations. We develop this argument using the idea of 'situated agency'. There are many common criticisms of such an approach. This paper focuses on nine: that an interpretive approach is mere common sense; that it focuses on beliefs or discourses, not actions or practices; that it ignores concepts of social structure; that it seeks to understand actions and practices, not to explain them; that it is concerned exclusively with qualitative techniques of data generation; that it must accept actors' own accounts of their beliefs; that it is insensitive to the ways in which power constitutes beliefs; that it is incapable of producing policy-relevant knowledge; and that it is incapable of producing objective knowledge. We show that the criticisms rest on both misconceptions about an interpretive approach and misplaced beliefs in the false idols of hard data and rigorous methods.
History
Publication title
Australian Journal of Political ScienceVolume
40Pagination
169-187ISSN
1036-1146Department/School
School of Social SciencesPublisher
Carfax PublishingPlace of publication
Rankine Rd, Basingstoke, England, Hants, Rg24 8PrRights statement
The definitive published version is available online at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journalsRepository Status
- Restricted