Contextural Analysis—A Proposal for Reconstructive Social Research in Organisational Contexts

Abstract

The metatheory of the documentary method is well suited to fields such as generations and milieus. However, formal organisations are only partly attributable to conjunctive experiential spaces, since explicit bodies of knowledge and practices assume an important role. In this article, we develop a metatheoretical conceptualisation for reconstructive research in organisational settings following Gotthard GÜNTHER. We view social practice as processing between different latent and manifest bodies of knowledge both with each other and against each other. We propose a parsimonious, but simultaneously highly abstract metatheory using the concepts of contexture and the transjunctional operation with which these processes can be analysed. The potentials of this method are presented, taking the family management of an entrepreneurial family as an example.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150141