Symbolic Interactionism and Qualitative Network Research―Theoretical and Method(olog)ical Implications for the Analysis of Social Networks

Abstract

In network research, qualitative approaches have increasingly become established for the study of social relationships and social networks. What is lacking so far, however, is a specification of a genuinely qualitative perspective on the network as an object of research as well as a consistent research practice in the sense of a methodical holism. In this contribution, we discuss which theoretical and methodological perspectives in line with symbolic interactionism in the tradition of Herbert BLUMER are implied in the qualitative study of social networks. The point of departure of an interactionist understanding of reality are the interpretations of actors and which meanings they create in interaction and via symbols in situations. In accordance with this perspective, we understand social networks at the theoretical level as meaningfully structured, interactively negotiated, and situated processes of ordering. The key thrust of an interactionist-empirical approach to social networks is to extrapolate from situations and their linkages how social networks become visible and exert an effect. With our situation generator, we introduce a way of empirically addressing situations and discuss method(olog)ical consequences for an interpretive and reflexive analysis of social networks.