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Interpretation and its others

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Roderick Rhodes

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Abstract

An 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. © 2005 Australasian Political Studies Association.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Bevir M, Rhodes RAW

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Australian Journal of Political Science

Year: 2005

Volume: 40

Issue: 2

Pages: 169-187

ISSN (print): 1036-1146

ISSN (electronic): 1363-030X

Publisher: Routledge

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10361140500129974

DOI: 10.1080/10361140500129974

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