Interpretive Social Science

Abstract

Abstract Interpretive social science (ISS) positions human meaning‐making at the center of the research endeavor. Drawing on the hermeneutic and phenomenological traditions, interpretive researchers study social phenomena – for example, institutions, public policy, violence – in terms of the discourses, actions, artifacts, texts, and so on, that constitute these within specified geographies, cultures, and histories. This orientation toward contextuality implies that meaning is understood not as given nor fixed, but as constructed and dynamic. And differences in meaning are consequential: whether the estate tax is understood as an “inheritance tax” or a “death tax” affects its legitimacy; conceiving of immigrants as “illegal” or “undocumented” shapes their treatment; and depicting the public as “citizens” or “consumers” motivates the design and delivery of public services, to take but a few of myriad examples.

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