Sociology and the problem of description

Vitellone, Nicole ORCID: 0000-0002-0826-5973 (2021) Sociology and the problem of description. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, 21 (3). pp. 394-408.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1468794120975974

Abstract

<jats:p> Howard Becker’s practice of description has been debated, critiqued and reclaimed in a range of fields including sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, Science & Technology Studies, critical drug studies and more recently Heather Love’s (2015) appraisal of deviance studies. Much of this debate concerns the uses of social research methods and their political effects. Taking up these issues with the construction of social scientific knowledge in Becker’s work, this article returns to the methodological problem of description in Becker’s research on drug use. Focusing on the legacy of Becker’s empirical studies of deviance and the critiques of his research methods, it addresses the problem of description in the research process. In reviewing the methodological relevance of Becker’s problem of description as a tool for thinking sociologically, the paper evaluates the contribution of descriptive methods for contemporary sociology and knowledge production. In so doing, it demonstrates how description is transformative of objects, problems and disciplinary practices. </jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Problems, problematisation, sociology, description, Howard Becker, Deviance Studies, drugs research
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Law and Social Justice
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	31 Aug 2022 14:02
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 20:46
DOI:	10.1177/1468794120975974
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3162955