1. Chapter 5
The Politics of Qualitative
Research

2. Research And Politics: Together But
Mostly Apart
• Limiting Personal Bias by Exposing It:
Embracing Transparency and Falsifiability
– Transparency
– Pursuing Falsifiability
• Research as a Means for Championing
Rights: Social Justice and Social Science
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3. Politicizing Research Without
Compromising Science
• Clusters of Values: Truth, Sociological
Imagination, and Social Justice
– Enlightened Skepticism
• Politically Engaged Science: Different
Strokes for Different Folks
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4. Political Engagement In Theory And
Interpretation
• Mounting a Critique of Existing Concepts
– And Constructing Alternative Concepts That
More Accurately Capture Social Realities
• Critique of prevailing concepts
• Dissecting Misrecognition
– Partial Penetration And Its Consequences
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5. Political Engagement In Theory And
Interpretation
– Nike Town
– The Necessary Illusion Of Family
• Controversy Over Context
– Making Sense Of Dead-end Work
– False Consciousness
– Tell It Like It Is
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6. Engaging In Public Discussion
• Combating Stereotypes
– Taken-for-granted assumptions
• Exposing Misrecognition and Debunking
Stereotypes
• The Dangers of Trying a Little Politically
Motivated Tenderness
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7. Engaging In Public Discussion
• Critical Examination of the State of Social
Services and Government Policies
– Critical analysis of institutions and practices,
• Identifying Inequalities in Service Delivery
• Critique of Organizational Practices
• Studying the Rich and Powerful
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8. Activism: From Spokesperson To
CBPR
• Limited Access To Power
• Politics Of Vocalizing For Others
• Realistic Ways for Sociologists to Assist
Struggling Communities
– Advocacy groups; expert witnesses, social
autopsy
– Community-based participatory research
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. The Critical Analysis Of Research
Methods
• The critical analysis of research methods
can reveal that the methods in question:
– Do not “do what they were designed to do”
• The Politics of Researching Research: A
Critique of Respondent-Driven Sampling
• Case Study
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. The Critical Analysis Of Research
Methods
• The critical analysis of research methods
can reveal that the methods in question:
– Do not “do what they were designed to do”
• The Politics of Researching Research: A
Critique of Respondent-Driven Sampling
• Case Study
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.