Interpretivism (social science)

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Interpretivism in the social sciences refers to a method, or group of methods, that holds that the social sciences ought to be concerned, not simply with quantifying what actually happens in social phenomena, but in providing an interpretation of events and phenomena in terms of how the people involved perceive and understand their own experience. Its earliest prominent proponent was German sociologist Max Weber.

Interpretative sociology deals with the reality of what actually happens in a social phenomena, not only observing it with the senses. It tries to find reality through the experiences of individuals involved in the phenomena.

Interpretivism starts from the assumption that the study of human society and human beings is of a different order from the study of phenomena of the natural world. Hence, research objectives and techniques that are appropriate to the natural sciences are not necessarily the best to use in sociology. Interpretivists are interested in how people make sence of the world around them, and in discovering the motives that lie behind people's actions. The fact that researchers are humans studying other humans is, for interpretivists, a strength rather than a weakness, as it gives them insight into other people's behaviour - something referred to be Weber as 'empathy' or 'verstehen'.