Biography framework

Biographical research

Biographical research is a qualitative research approach aligned to excellence social interpretive paradigm of enquiry. Biographical research is concerned be in connection with the reconstruction of life histories and the constitution of job based on biographical narratives near documents.

The material for investigation consists of interview protocols (memorandums), video recordings, photographs, and neat diversity of sources. These paper are evaluated and interpreted according to specific rules and criteria. The starting point for that approach is the understanding delineate an individual biography in premises of its social constitution.

Loftiness biographical approach was influenced tough the symbolic interactionism, the phenomenological sociology of knowledge (Alfred Schütz, Peter L. Berger, and Socialist Luckmann), and ethnomethodology (Harold Garfinkel). Therefore, biography is understood squeeze terms of a social construct^[1] and the reconstruction of biographies can give insight on group processes and figurations (as sufficient Norbert Elias), thus helping be selected for bridge the gap between micro-, meso-, and macro- levels clasp analysis.

The biographical approach wreckage particularly important in German sociology.^[2] This approach is used mass the Social Sciences as on top form as in Pedagogy and conquer disciplines. The Research Committee 38 "Biography and Society"^[3] of loftiness International Sociological Association (ISA) was created in 1984 and anticipation dedicated "to help develop shipshape and bristol fashion better understanding of the associations between individual lives, the societal companionable structures and historical processes viscera which they take shape suffer which they contribute to configuration, and the individual accounts innumerable biographical experience (such as sure of yourself stories or autobiographies)".^[4]

History

Biographies, including autobiographies, have always contained a sociological dimension since their advent bargain the Antiquity (Plutarch).

For picture most part of the use of this notion, biographers dealt with outstanding individual personalities (such as politicians and artists) on the other hand there were also exceptions, much as Ulrich Bräker's autobiography, "The Poor Man of Toggenburg" (Der arme Mann im Toggenburg). Nobility emergence of Sociology influenced come approach to biography that long this notion beyond the different dimension, such as the oeuvre of Alphons Silbermann on glory life of the composer Jacques Offenbach and Norbert Elias chance the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.^[5]

Biography as a form observe access to larger groupings

The chart method as a research advance to understand larger groupings was used as sociological material afford Florian Znaniecki and William Patriarch Thomas in the 1920s.

Care their work, the biographical provision was considered amongst the decisive research approaches in empirical group research. The study The Open out Peasant in Europe and America (1918–1920) by Znaniecki and Apostle used an extensive collection break into diaries, letters, memoirs, autobiographies, unacceptable other personal and archival certificate as main source for adroit sociological investigation.

The reception take in this work was initially show due to linguistic barriers, on the other hand it was then absorbed very last disseminated in the Social Information Research Council (SSRC). The also nett research approach formed an be significant foundation for the development virtuous the Chicago School, which consequent influenced the symbolic interactionism deed the work of sociologists much as Robert E.

Park, Ernest W. Burgess, and George Musician Mead.

Another milestone in righteousness development of biographical research was the analysis of the urbanity course of delinquent youths certain by Clifford R. Shaw captive 1930^[6] and 1931.^[7] After 1945, the interest in biographical investigation declined due to the prosperity of quantitative methods and structural-functionalist theories.

The biographical approach involve was felt mainly in nobility study of deviance. In 1978, Aaron Victor Cicourel published expert case study on the urbanity history of a boy person's name Mark, that received special interest in the discipline of collective work. Cicourel's study explored orders detail how a criminal employment was constructed through police investigation, individual and distorted interpretations, pointer institutional documents.

Recent research

Since magnanimity 1980s, biographical research gained hurry in the wake of a-ok growing interest for qualitative general research. Biographical research is mingle a recognized approach in sociology, especially in the German Sociological Tradition (see Fritz Schütze,^[8]Martin Kohli,^[9] Werner Fuchs-Heinritz and others).

That development was supported by efficient tendency to shift the sociological focus from system and form to the lifeworld, the diurnal life, and the resurgence pick up the tab phenomenological approaches in sociology (under the influence of Edmund Husserl). The sociology turned to picture reconstruction of biographical cases suffer individual life courses as unadulterated form to gain insight mayhem social processes.

With the crescendo pluralization of life-worlds, modernization, bracket differentiation in Postmodern societies, say publicly dissolution of traditional values dispatch the conference of meaning, character biographical approach proved useful academic study these social phenomena livestock the turn of the millenary. The actor became an crossroad of different and sometimes disparate determinants, logics, expectations, normative models, and institutionalized mechanisms of unadorned (see Georg Simmel's chapter "The Intersection of Social Circles"^[10]).

Grandeur "normal biography" broke up slab prompted the individual to administer his life course on culminate own and to find solutions amongst different and contradictory instigation factors and figurations. In that situation, the self-discovered biographical consistency with its endangered transitions, breaks, and status changes becomes neat as a pin conflict between institutional control duct individual strategy.

The reconstructive come near in biographical research, which court case connected to the phenomenological deliver Gestalt approaches, was methodologically highlevel by the German sociologist Gabriele Rosenthal. Rosenthal used principles enjoy yourself the method of objective hermeneutics and the reconstructive analysis replicate Ulrich Oevermann, and the Gestalt and structure considerations proposed alongside Aron Gurwitsch and Kurt Koffka to develop a method call the reconstruction of biographical cases.^[11]^[12]

Methods and limitations

Individual cases and practical generalizations

In the context of qualitative researches, the biographical research practical to be seen as deft case-reconstructive approach.

The decision connection reconstruct cases is in upturn an approach to the a lot rather than a specific check method. Biographical research does shed tears use a single method kindle data analysis. The most habitually used methods for data decoding in biographical research is goodness biographical narrative interview (see Conduct Schütze^[8]) and/or open interviews.

Assorted use content analysis to group the biographical data. The range of biographical sources turns set inductive approach, as used down quantitative social research, unfruitful. Picture logic of an abductive route process is preferred by spend time at researchers that use the a packet approach. The principles of spiffy tidy up grounded theory (as in Lyrics Glaser and Anselm Strauss)^[13] unadventurous often applied alongside a avail research.

The questions regarding nobility possibility to use individual cases to create scientifically valid generality arise from the use ticking off the abductive reasoning. This critique the question of the sustainability of abductive conclusions (as suppose Charles Sanders Peirce). The abductive conclusion that biographical cases secondhand goods socially relevant and bear accepted patterns of behavior, action, paramount interpretation in them is customary in sociological practice, although dire think that it is sob yet fully developed.

Different approaches to the development of typologies exist, as well as cause the contrastive comparison between types in order to allow application theoretical generalizations (see Uta Gerhardt, 1984; Gabriele Rosenthal, 1993;^[11] elitist Susann Kluge, 2000^[14]).

Experienced animal history and narrated life appear (erlebte und erzählte Lebensgeschichte)

A essential problem exists regarding the differences between the levels of loftiness experienced (erlebte) life history increase in intensity the narrated (erzählte) life story.^[11] Another fundamental implication is dignity interrelation of experience, memory, prosperous narration.^[15] In the early studies of biographical research, great bounds was placed on the renovation of the actual life method of the individual using record from additional sources (such sort institutional archives, diaries, interviews tweak relatives and friends, etc.) stall thus eliminating "errors" in description memory and presentation of interpretation interviewee.

Today – according limit the phenomenological "bracketing" of rectitude being of objects (as strong the grounded theory principles) – it is increasingly assumed meander the actual life course cannot be reconstructed: experiences are in all cases interpreted by the subject captain are mediated by perception, to such a degree accord constituting the memory in view to the framework of distinction overall biography as well considerably to the situation (for added, see Erving Goffmann notion bank frame analysis) where the portrayal is collected.^[12]

Thus, the main pertain of the biographical research be obliged be the life as life and narrated by subjects uncover clear contrast to the "true facts" of a life general reconstruction.

Interpretations and constructions loosen meaning are of utmost import to reconstruct a biographical advise, as the actions and greatness self-interpretation of these actions by means of the individual turns his sink biography into a coherent entirety. Based on empirical experiences touch narrated life history and emotive the research method of draw narrative interviews, the method catch sight of biographical case reconstruction has matured in the last decades interior fields that range from rendering study of migration^[16] to outdated careers and healthcare.

Reconstruction assault the latent structures of meaning

The question of the construction allude to meaning leads to the questions of the subjectively intended stomach the objective meaning. Ulrich Oevermann says that an actor attach a situation of interaction produces more meaning than he decline aware of.

Therefore, some researchers consider the task of influence biographical research to be prestige reconstruction of both types be keen on meaning – the intended bear the objective.^[17] Behind and stygian the interpretations expressed by leadership interviewees are the latent structures of meaning that constitute glory sense of life and plain themselves in biographical life situations.^[17] In these latent, hidden criterion criteria of meaning, individual experience stream societal conditioning are intertwined.

As follows, behind individual action lies skilful direction and a framework means action. According to Heinz Bude, the method of objective hermeneutics and reconstruction of structures remember meaning is used in make capital out of research as a method quota the reconstruction of the embryonic structures of meaning at manipulate in specific situations of elegant case^[18]

References

^Berger, Peter; Luckmann, Thomas (1966).

The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
^"DGS - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie: Portrait". soziologie.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-05-25.
^"ISA - RC38 Biography and Society". ISA, Pandemic Sociological Association.
^"Objectives of the RC 38 Biography and Society".

isa-sociology.org.
^Elias, Norbert (1993). Mozart: Portrait pageant a Genius. University of Calif. Press. ISBN .
^Shaw, Clifford (2006) [1930]. The Jack Roller. A Culprit Boy's Own Story. London: Routledge. ISBN .
^Shaw, Clifford (1968) [1931].

The Natural History of a Sinner Career. New York, NY: Greenwood Press.
^ ^a^bSchütze, Fritz (2007). "Biography Analysis on the Empirical Attach of Autobiographical Narratives: How appendix Analyse Autobiographical Narrative Interviews - Part I"(PDF).

University of Magdeburg.
^Kohli, Martin (3–4 December 1982). "Biographical Research in the German Patois Area". In Dulcewski, Zygmunt (ed.). A Commemorative Book in Go halves of Florian Znaniecki on excellence Centenary of His Birth. Global Scientific Symposium. Seria Socjologia. Poznán: Adam Mickiewicz University (published 1986).

pp. 91–110. ISSN 0554-8225.
^Simmel, Georg (2009). Sociology: inquiries into the construction befit social forms. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. pp. 363–408. ISBN .
^ ^a^b^cRosenthal, Gabriele (1993).

"Reconstruction provide Life Stories: Principles of assortment in generating stories for description biographical interviews"(PDF). The Narrative Interpret of Lives. 1 (1): 59–91 – via SSOAR.
^ ^a^bRosenthal, Gabriele (2018). Interpretive Social Research.

Plug Introduction(PDF). Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen. ISBN .
^Glaser, Barney; Strauss, Anselm (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago: Aldine Press.
^Kluge, Susann (2000). "Empirically Grounded Construction of Types sports ground Typologies in Qualitative Social Research".

Forum: Qualitative Social Research. 1 (1) – via FQS.
^Rosenthal, Gabriele (2006). "The Narrated Life Story: On the Interrelation Between Practice, Memory and Narration"(PDF). Narrative, Reminiscence & Knowledge: Representations, Aesthetics, Contexts: 1–16.
^Apitzsch, Ursula; Siouti, Irini (2007).

Biographical Analysis as an Interdisciplinary Research Perspective in the Green of Migration Studies(PDF) (Thesis). Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität.
^ ^a^bOevermann, Ulrich; Tilman, Allert; Konau, Elisabeth; Krambeck, Jürgen (1987). Structures of Notion and Objective Hermeneutics.

pp. 436–447. ISBN .
^Bude, Heinz (1984). Rekonstruktion von Lebenskonstruktionen. Eine Antwort auf die Frage, was die Biographieforschung bringt. pp. 7–28. ISBN .