Harris2004

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Harris2004
BibType ARTICLE
Key Harris2004
Author(s) Scott R. Harris
Title Challenging the conventional wisdom: recent proposals for the interpretive study of inequality
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Equality, Research Methods
Publisher
Year 2004
Language
City
Month
Journal Human Studies
Volume 27
Number 2
Pages 113–136
URL Link
DOI 10.1023/B:HUMA.0000022537.63478.66
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

The conventional wisdom among many sociologists is (1) that it is their prerogative to define, document, and explain the inequalities that exist in society and (2) that there are two general theoretical perspectives useful for studying inequality: functionalism and conflict theory. Some scholars have recently challenged the latter portion of this view by advocating the development of more interpretive, interactionist approaches. However, these scholars' agendas often tend to perpetuate the first half of the conventional wisdom. While interactionists (and other constructionist scholars) can choose to study inequality in any number of ways, I argue that the most distinctive contribution they can make is to focus on the meanings that inequalities have for people in everyday life, as well as how those meanings are achieved.

Notes